Expert: Janet Wendy Spiegel - 12/1/2008

Question
Although presently employed, I've been looking for another opportunity for the past year, with only 1 serious interview opportunity in that time. I have 30 years experience from middle to senior management in two different industries. Jobs I've been submitting my resume to, I know I'm qualified & maybe overqualified, but would have no problem providing the work/knowledge to do the job. I think once my resume is looked over, its easy to calculate my age (53) and am being viewed as too old and/or over qualified. How best should I approach that in a cover letter or adjust my resume accordingly to at least get an interview and address their concerns from there? I certainly will not lie about my experiences, and truly see that as a positive asset, but can't help but think that there is some 30 year old looking over the applicants and doesn't want to hire their father. How best do you tackle this in todays job market?

Answer
Hi Scott,

First of all, congratulations that you are employed!  Many of my colleagues and acquaintances have been laid off recently and at 50 plus, it is really, really tough to find new employment.  Your assumptions are very accurate -- you'll be culled from large searches because of your age (or your experience, or the fear of your salary requirements).

When you are a mature worker, you need to take advantage of every (and I mean EVERY) resource at your disposal.  That means going back to how you searched for a job when YOU got out of college...knocking on doors, seriously leveraging every contact you have and also integrating internet social networking and job search into your strategy.  Additionally, be prepared to send out hundreds of resumes in order to get any nibbles and be relentless in finding contacts at the company's you want to get into.  After 30 years of business experience, you may know someone who knows someone at the company you want to approach.  Your strategy is to get your resume in the hands of the hiring manager and that will mean finding contacts who can bypass the mass resume overload that recruiters wade through.  

However, it is ALSO very important to make sure that you tailor keywords in your resume for every job you apply to.  That means making sure that the important qualities in the job description are echoed in your resume.  Otherwise, you may not get picked up by the automated programs that most large recruiting groups use in today's competitive marketplace.

Your age will work against you and being aware of that makes it all the more important to have the resolve to deal with rejection. j

Finally, keep your eyes and ears (and your mind) open to all possibilities.  You never know when something will come your way that is completely different than you would have expected, but appeals to you as a potential fit.

Hope that gives you some ideas to get started.

Best regards,

Janet Spiegel
www.genplususa.com
http://genplus.blogspot.com