27 Feb 10 A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – XV

Personal meeting and job interviews are not the places where you can hide your age. It is simply not possible. So, why to try! And as it is so far in the series we have seen why you should play your age, and not try to hide it. But, one thing that may concern you during the interview is the age, not yours, but of the people around you, of the person taking your interview, and of the people with whom you have to work. Let’s see how you should deal with it.

Age should not matter

Neither yours nor your interview’s age should matter to you when you are on the interview table. The chances are quite realistic that your interviewer will be much younger than you. Do not get unnerved by that. Be calm and give him the respect you gave to your older interviewer when you were young. Treat anyone on the interviewer’s chair with respect.

Convey your desire to work with younger crowd

One of the main concerns of an employer hiring an older person is the new employee’s ability to mix with the young crowd. Make it clear to the interviewer that you do not have any problem in working with young people. Working with young people, particularly getting managed by them doesn’t go well with everyone. Many do not like to get managed by someone who is less experienced then him. You should make this clear to your employer that you do not belong from that group.

During your interview, you need to convey to your employer that you have the desire to keep up with younger crowd, and you are willing to learn new technologies and new way of doing things so that you could succeed. Do not forget to ask about the prospect of success in the organization you are being interviewed for.

Tags: Crowd, Desire, Interview Table, Interviewer, Job Guide, Job Help, Job Interviews, Job Search, People Meeting, People Working, Personal, Respect, Search People, Working People, Young People

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26 Feb 10 A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – XIV

This post contains the last set of tips on changes you need to bring in your résumé to get the job you want. Like the tips shared in the previous posts, these are bite-sized and actionable. Do not just read and forget. Work on it. And that too as soon as you can.

Keep it short and simple

I will not add stupid to above because I know you are not that. You are quite smart, and in your 45 years you have also understood the power of simplicity. And believe me when I say that simplicity works in résumé as well. No one likes to read a CV-epic, so keep it short and simple. Mention only those things that really, really matters for the job you are applying for. Keeping it short will help you keep it focused. Focus is another important thing.

Use chronological not function résumé

A new trend of using functional résumé —the type in which skills are mentioned in a cluster— has caught the fancy of young job seekers. Yes with young job seekers, particularly those who are looking for a career change, so let it remain confined to young people only. You do not need to follow the trend because in mid-aged job seekers the use of functional in place of chronological résumé is seen as an attempt to hide age. Well, I understand you do not intend to do that, and I am equally certain that you will not get even a 10 seconds of personal time with employers to explain this to them, so why take chances? Go with a résumé that lists your experience in chronologically. If you are too much in love with functional résumé then use it in combination of chronological one.

Write emphatic cover letter

Although cover letter has come at the end of pour discussion on résumé, it does not take away the importance assigned to a cover letter by your employer. A cover letter is your elevator pitch, and the emphatic it is the greater is the chances of your being called for a personal interview. A great cover letter makes your résumé stand out from the crowd of hundreds of faceless curricula vitae.

With this our discussion on résumé comes to an end. I hope you will apply these principles in your own CV. From the next post in the series we shall discuss about interviews and about ways to handle tough questions. Till then keep applying the principles taught so far.

Tags: 45 Years, Attempt, Career Change, Cover Letter, Crowd, Cv, Elevator Pitch, Epic, Job Guide, Job Help, Job Search, Job Seekers, Looking For A Career, New Trend, Personal Interview, Personal Time, Search People, Simplicity Works, Stupid, Young People

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17 Feb 10 A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – XI

Have you worked on your résumé lately? Keep the answer to yourself, I will get back to that in a while, but before that let me tell you without using so many words that there are quite a few things you need to do to your résumé to make it attractive. Your 10 years old résumé will not do. Let’s begin seeing what all you need to do.

Avoid dead metaphors and done-to-death cliché

Think like this: In a hiring season, an employer or HR manager has to go through hundreds of CVs every day before he could call any one person for the Interview. And the worst part is almost all the résumés he reads are written using same set of dead metaphors and done-to-death phrases. It is boring. If you want to make your résumé stand out from the similar-looking crowd of résumés then avoid using any clichés. Use your own language and make it appealing.

Update your resume

Now is the time to answer the question posed in the opening sentence. Have you or haven’t you? If your answer is no then go ahead and start constructing your résumé yet again. Add freshness to your dust-biting résumé.

Do not give complete work details

If you are 45 then chances are you have been part of workforce for close to 25 years, and it is but natural to have done many jobs in all those years. But do not put all of them in your résumé. No one is interested in reading 1000-page epic résumé, and no one cares about where you provide janitorial services during tough times. Only mention things relevant to the current job, and things that increase your chance of employability.

Even if heaven falls on earth, your résumé should not be longer than 2 pages. Not even and half pages.

Enough of reading for today, now it is time to start working on your résumé. Get going!

Tags: 10 Years, Crowd, Dead Metaphors, Earth, Employability, Freshness, Heaven, Hr Manager, Janitorial Services, Job Guide, Job Help, Job Search, Jobs, Opening Sentence, Phrases, Resume, Search People, Tough Times, Work Details, Workforce

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27 Feb 10 A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – XV

Age should not matter

Convey your desire to work with younger crowd

26 Feb 10 A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – XIV

Keep it short and simple

Use chronological not function résumé

Write emphatic cover letter

17 Feb 10 A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – XI

Avoid dead metaphors and done-to-death cliché

Update your resume

Do not give complete work details

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