In this Job Market your Age is your biggest Asset

Are you frustrated by missing out on interviews and jobs? Is your age a concern for you? Do you fear getting a “no” and being rejected before or after an interview? Would you like to know how to secure the job that you want?

It’s Time to Start Using Your Age to Your Advantage

We are fortunate to live in a diverse society with people from different cultural, religious and economic backgrounds. Unfortunately, sometimes with this diversity comes personal prejudice.

Conscious or unconscious, we are always going to be faced with the challenge of personal bias. However, this is not to say our ‘differences’ can’t be used to our advantage.

While age discrimination does exist, we cannot help but sometimes feel mature jobseekers are their own worst enemy.

Looking specifically at the job market, too often mature jobseekers lament that their age is preventing them from getting a job. But perhaps maybe, it is their own personal bias working against them? Instead, a proactive and positive approach needs to be taken whereby the jobseeker can prove to the respective employer, that their age is an asset rather than a liability.

Here are a couple of tips from our awesome Dreamfedjob.com staff on how you can use your age to your advantage:

Does your resume make you look older than what you are?

Your resume is often the first impression you impose on your prospective employer, so it is imperative you get the message right here. Don’t feed any bias by listing 20+ years experience you may have in something that is completely irrelevant to the role you are applying for. Remember, the person who is reading your resume wants to know how you can fit in and contribute to the organisation – not how you have contributed in the past. Focus on highlighting achievements in various roles rather than responsibilities.

One of the biggest myths about mature jobseekers is that they are reluctant to change. Therefore you need to be able to demonstrate that throughout your career you have adapted and embraced new ways of doing things.

Stop apologizing – start selling

This is something we all need to be conscious of but even more so, those who may be suffering low self esteem. It appears when we doubt ourselves our natural defence mechanism is to apologize for it. In the case of a mature age jobseeker this happens more often than not.

Identify the aspects of your past that worry you, then, spend some time thinking about the positive attributes you gained from each of those experiences. For example, you may have worked in the same industry for over 20 years or been with the same agency just as long. But during that time you learnt to adapt and evolve with the company or agency. You may have also contributed to shaping the organization's culture by taking on informal mentoring roles with your younger peers.

Don’t simply fall into the trap of seeing exactly what the recruiter sees on the page. Acknowledge what you may think would be unappealing and have a positive spin ready for it.

The key to successfully securing a job at any age lies in your ability to effectively market yourself as we reiterate below.

An Attitude of Success

More and more employers are hiring on the right attitude. Often when two candidates have the same technical skills and experience, the one with the right attitude will stand out and succeed at interviews. Creating an attitude of success begins with your thinking. Fear of rejection or fear of getting a “no” is the major reason preventing people from doing well before and after interviews. If you have a fear of rejection, you may find yourself doing or saying things in an interview which has the other person respond with a “no,” and so they reject you anyway. Once you resolve these fears and limiting beliefs, your confidence will grow and you will more easily secure the job you want.

Watch your self talk

If the chatter in your brain is constantly negative, after a while you will start to believe it which will impact on your behaviour, and prevent you from securing a job. Think about your self talk. What are you saying to yourself as you talk with potential employers? Are you thinking that they are not interested in your skills or that age is an issue? Are you questioning the value you offer? Or are you worried about being too pushy, therefore procrastinate about taking action? Instead, start to fill your mind with positive thoughts using this simple technique:

1. With your eyes closed, think about your next eg. interview – where, when and with whom it will be.
2. Be clear about your outcome for that interview. What would you like to achieve at that interview?
For example, if it is a first interview, your outcome may be to secure the second interview or to be short listed.
3. Imagine a movie screen in front of you and see yourself in the movie like an actor/actress at that interview with the other person at the location of your interview.
4. As you watch the movie, see that interview turn out exactly as you would like it to be, hear the conversations you would like to hear and feel exactly how you would like to feel.
5. Notice how you now feel better about that interview when you focus on what you want, and how you now look forward to it. Open your eyes feeling good about your interview.

Highly successful people and athletes use this technique to visualise a successful event or game. Research shows those athletes who visualise rehearsing and having a successful game do as well on game day as do athletes who have physically rehearsed and practiced prior to the game! If you would like your next interview to be a winning one, do what successful people do – mentally rehearse success to attract success.

Remember…

An employer is always going to hire someone based on the organization’s needs, not yours. They want to know how your skills and experience can be used to solve their problem. Regardless of your age, if you bring the expertise required to the table plus an attitude of success you will always present as a potential candidate.