So it is a common notion that as you cross an age band of 42 to 45, the scope of finding a potential fit job/assignment becomes limited.The age discrimination is still a regular practice followed by most of employers/corporations. Most of my clients who come to me often share that they are overlooked & not called with interviews since they appear too old in their resume.
Below are some key suggestions which will help you build a younger resume a unique selling proposition
1)Do not include traditional phrases in your resume
Gone are the days when your resume used to start with objective followed by your career target. Job seekers used to close the resume by mentioning “ references available by request”. This has been now replaced by executive summary mentioning about your experience, one top achievement & kind of roles you are seeking. This enable employers to determine what kind of position you are seeking in the first 10 seconds. This section is followed by a competencies section detailing your strength & key skills.
2) Crisp contract information
Contact information mentioned on the top of the page should be brief & include one e-mail, a mobile no, LinkedIn profile, link to your blog or url of your website. Make sure your voicemail sounds professional. Identify your name & request the caller to leave a message. Response to job /interview related voice message in a prompt manner. Avoid including mailing address or fixed line number as the same is no longer in practice now
3) Shorten professional experience section
Professionals over 42 to 45 years of age would have experience which dates back to the 1980’s or 1990’s. Your professional experience section should go back only 10 to 12 years. In case you have some notable achievements in earlier organisations where you have worked, you can combine earlier experience & show only the key achievements which can be a selling proposition when you interact with prospective employer. Showcase your achievements related to current industry & technology trends. For instance a CFO may want to include his skill set related to technologies within the finance space such as fin tech, data driven financial decision making etc.
4) Education section- remote dates from degrees received 7 to 10 years ago
A lot of us include education right from undergraduate done immediately after high school when they are 18 & graduate degree when they are 22. It is very easy for prospective employers to ascertain your age. Leaving your older dates out makes it harder for prospective employers to determine your age. Leaving it out of resume keeps you in potential candidate mix a bit long & may land you up with initial interview.
5) Include current set of skills
Prefer including current & digital skills that you have learnt/acquired. Exclude outdated skills such as old software programs. The best way is to study the job description for the role you wish to apply & include skills in union of your skill set & those required for the role. In case you are missing on those skills, take time to acquire them. If you possess a skill set which is outdated or no longer required, consider it leaving out.
6) Use simple contemporary writing style
Write your resume to the point & in small paragraphs. So include more than 5 to 6 bullet points for a particular role. Highlight the key phrases & accomplishments so that they stand out. Please make sure that your resume is properly formatted so that it can be read by application tracking system(ATS) since it faces issue in reading text in multiple columns & in text boxes & will ignore text in headers & footers. Use Industry keywords so that ATS can evaluate you as a potential candidate. Nowadays, ATS uses AI tool to determine years of experience, related skills & other high level thoughts. Make sure that your resume is prepared in standard format & is well written.
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