Here in the U.S., we’re obsessed with erasing age and its effects. We diet and exercise, undergo plastic surgery, and try to dress young. Actors and actresses—actresses particularly—begin to bemoan the dearth of juicy parts when they hit 40. The “it’s all downhill” mentality has hit us hard.
But I digress. This post is about how you can address your advancing age on a resume, and like the other posts in this mini-series, owes much to Toni Bowers of TechRepublic.
Here are her suggestions:
- Avoid the word “experience” ‒ What you should do, instead, is “focus on particular technologies you’ve had hands-on experience with.” Ms. Bowers writes for a technology audience, so feel free to substitute your own particular competencies. Not sure I agree with this one, but it’s certainly true that you see the “professional experience” header or the word “experienced XXX executive” in many resumes.
- Don’t broadcast your age ‒ Don’t hide it, either, but don’t list graduation dates or anything else that tends to reveal your age. Bear in mind that your resume is probably being screened, at least initially, by someone much younger than you.
- Ditch the chronological format ‒ I tend to find functional resumes, which Ms. Bowers suggests as an alternative, kind of dodgy. And apparently many hiring managers do, too. They think you’re hiding something. In fact, in her post “The pros and cons of a functional resume,” Ms. Bowers says, “If you can avoid using a functional resume, you should.”
- Keep it short ‒ If you’re over 40, you may have worked in quite a few places. Still, you should limit your resume to 2 pages at the most. Longer than that and you look older and may cause your reader to fall into a doze.
- Be modern ‒ Don’t refer to old technology, about which a screener or hiring manager may be dimly aware. Instead, reinforce the impression of continuous learning.
When you consider the labor market, what is “old” or “too old” to you? Is it 40, 45, or older? And what have you decided to do about it?