Every week, I get requests for resume reviews from
candidates who can't figure out what is holding them back
from landing interviews. In many cases, these job hunters
are inadvertently highlighting their age on the
resume-—all while hoping that employers will focus on
something else.
If you think you might be screened out of the running for
choice jobs due to your age, read on for some common
scenarios that are easily prevented with a few changes to
your resume (even if you're in your 60's!):
- Cut to the chase on your career history. Does any
employer really care what you did 25 years ago? Most hiring
managers want to see fresh experience, and consider
achievements from the past 10-15 years to be most relevant.
Even leadership resumes, while showing much-needed
progression up the career ladder, should be focused on what
you've achieved lately.
If you just can't let go of that Bank President title from
the 80's, add it (without dates) in a one-liner at the end
of your professional history.
- Are numbers hurting your chances? Is your best
accomplishment mere survival? It can look that way if you
begin a resume summary with "...over 23 years in the
banking industry...".
Your strongest qualifications are better demonstrated by
describing achievements that generated profits, cut
bottom-line costs, or retained customers—instead of
focusing on longetivity.
- Just the facts... please. The date of every degree
program is NOT necessarily positive, enticing fodder for
your resume. Is it really pertinent that your MBA was
completed 18 years ago? Will showing an engineering degree
from the 1970's actually help—or does it kill your
chances?
Most employers requiring a degree focus mainly on the
program itself, with less emphasis on the graduation date.
Cut the date, but keep the degree.
- Don't make employers read a book. If your strategy for
updating your resume throughout the years was to just add
your latest job, and then add the next, and the next...
it's time to stop.
Hiring authorities don't have the time to wade through
pages of your career to find out the relevance to their
needs. Summarize your credentials up front, and then
chop—ruthlessly—from the back, until you've
narrowed it to 2 or 3 pages.
- Everything else has changed... so should your resume
format. The Internet age has dawned...should you still be
using a font that looks as if it were produced on a
typewriter?
As I've emphasized before, the most compelling resumes are
actually marketing documents. Therefore, they deserve
BETTER than a stock template or a dull list of job duties.
In other words, presentation really IS everything! To be
considered for a leadership role, use an attractive,
well-formatted document reflective of your value
proposition, plus the results you can deliver.
Remember, employers are in constant need of industry
knowledge, consistent results, and flexibility from their
employees, especially in today's culture of constant change
and economic turmoil.
Market qualifications, not age, as you advance your career
to the next level—and reap the benefits of your
well-earned expertise by gaining more attention from hiring
authorities.
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A unique resume authority specializing in helping
professionals win the job of their choice, Laura
Smith-Proulx of An Expert Resume
(http://www.anexpertresume.com ) is a published resume
expert and former recruiter with a 98% interview-winning
success rate.
Get Laura's FREE E-Course, "The 7 Biggest Resume Mistakes
That Can Keep You From Your Dream Job... and How to Avoid
Them," at http://www.anexpertresume.com/ecourse_signup.htm .
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