Who's the boss?
There is a steady undercurrent in the job search space about age discrimination. I believe it. However, what I don’t believe is that it cannot be overcome. People, it is all about packaging.
Think about it for a moment. Let’s say someone is 50 years old and has been in the workforce in varying capacities for roughly 30 years. This person has 30 years from which to draw accomplishments which are relevant to any job posting he applies to. Take someone who has only been in the workforce for 5 years. That person only has 5 years from which they can reference relevant accomplishments when applying for a job. This gives experienced job seekers a huge advantage over less experienced hires.
The key word here is relevant. What many job seekers fail to grasp is that the likelihood of their next job being an exact match of what they have been doing up to this point is nearly zero. When applying to a new job, there is invariably going to be some nuance of the job posting that the applicant is going to have to correlate to his experience to date. Examples could include,
- Managing other people.
- Setting goals and a course of action for projects.
- Working within a budget of varying sizes.
- Demonstrating some knowledge of government law such as safety, employment, environmental, etc.
Experienced job seekers, if they work hard to chronicle their career to date, would have a much easier time getting under the bar to fulfil what the employer is looking for. Then there are a host of subjective considerations that the senior job candidate is far more likely qualified.
- Conflict resolution among individuals, teams or departments.
- Proactive problem solving.
- Identifying the chain of command and working within it to get buy in.
- Generally more likely to be looked to as a leader by subordinates than by someone closer to their own age.
A cornerstone of JobTabs Job Search & Resume success has been its ability to easily manage a large number of resumes for a wide number of job opportunities. As the experienced job seeker applies to more and more positions, he gradually accumulates more and more supremely tailored resumes for different job descriptions. Here is the lynch pin . . . . as the experienced job seeker creates more resumes in JobTabs, it becomes easier and easier to create even more refined dead-on resumes for each job they apply to. The breadth and depth of their experience is pared down to only what is absolutely relevant to the immediate job posting – as it should be! Creating a copy of a resume that meets 80% of the requirements and bringing it over 95% becomes incredibly easy!
While the junior candiate has his own advantages, he does not have the experience pool that a 50 something job seeker has. This is a very touchy subject among many. If you have any enlightening comments to share with me I would readily welcome them. Otherwise, age discrimination is over!
John Coffey is the President of JobTabs, LLC. Through JobTabs Job Search & Resume, thousands of job seekers have taken control of their destiny in finding new and fulfilling careers. JobTabs Job Search & Resume motivates job seekers by making the job search easier by a huge order of magnitude. John Coffey can be reached via his website at JobTabs Job Search & Resume, by email via jpcoffey at jobtabs.com, and by phone at 404-255-0248.
