Mature Job-seeker Just Wants a Good Job

Anonymous writes:

Five years ago I went back to work (permanent part-time) after sporadic work as an advertising media buyer while raising young children. That job lasted five years — great hours and great pay, but the bad economy forced me out. Now I’m finding that trying to find another job like it is very difficult. I’m wondering if it may be because my resume dates back 23 years, and some people that I am applying to were barely in grade school then. I think that they may not want to have someone my age work for them. How can I impress them with my experience but not intimidate them with my age? I really am not looking for advancement, I just want to do a good job and go back to my life. Is this a deficit?

The Career Doctor responds:

Without even seeing a copy of your resume, I can tell you with much confidence that your problems most likely fall into two areas: your resume and your attitude.

Let’s deal with your resume first. Older job-seekers need to take a refresher course on resume-writing because I see this problem all too often. First, list all job experience from 15 years ago and earlier as “Previous Professional Experience.” List in bare-bones fashion without dates. Next, you need to remove dates on your education. Remember that a resume is a sales document designed to get you to the next step — the job interview; thus, you want your resume to have all the ingredients (and none of the hindrances) that will get you that interview.

Moving to your attitude. I have found that seasoned workers often have a certain air of superiority when interviewing, especially when the interviewer is much younger. You don’t want to necessarily impress the prospective employers with your YEARS of experience — that’s not important — you want to impress them with how your unique combination of skills, education, and experience (accomplishments) makes you the ideal person for the position.

Job-hunting is about impression management. Fix your resume and then adjust your interviewing techniques and you should be on your way to getting some job offers.

For more advice, see this section of Quintessential Careers: Job and Career Resources for Mature and Older Job-Seekers — Including the Baby Boomers.