Age 40+ Job Seekers: Avoid The Perception Of Resume Deception

Nearly every career professional teaches you to lie on your resume, if you're over 40.

It's not only wrong, but it's dumb, because you've been taught to tell a lie that you'll can easily be caught telling, at many points in the hiring process. When you're caught in some points, you get screened out ... but get caught at other times in the hiring process, you set yourself up for face-to-face embarrassment.

This practice is so widely taught and used, that most job seekers don't even realize they're lying. But it's taught by nearly every outplacement firm, career coach, author, and resume writer. Your friends and mentors have probably given you this advice, because it's so widespread.

So if you're an age 40+ job seeker, you're probably making this same mistake and it's causing you to lose opportunities.

Almost every age 40+ job seeker has been given the crazy advice to deceive employers about their age on their resume, by hiding early positions and graduation dates. You've been told that these items are irrelevant, that they can cause your resume to be screened out by ATSs, and some advisors describe this as an "ageless resume".

But ATSs (like any database) can be used to screen out resumes with data missing where it's expected ... like dates. HR reps and recruiters are trained to look for this missing information, to screen out others who hide information, like candidates who are trying to hide really bad things (ex: theft, fraud, jail time) who also hide similar things. This causes unnecessary suspicion about what you're hiding and why.

And let's say you get a face to face interview after giving an employer the impression that you're 5, 10, 15+ years younger than you really are. In front of an interviewer (it's their job to judge you critically), in a stressful situation, it's highly unlikely you'll pull this off successfully - It's even worse in a video interview that makes us look heavier. No matter how young you picture yourself, or how great your friends tell you that you look, no matter how much you work out, or how much plastic surgery you've had, you face poor odds of success when you rely on deception. Instead, you set yourself up to be the butt of a hiring manager's or interviewer's break room jokes and stories.

It really boils down to this ... How can you build trust when you rely on deception to get interviews? When trying to deceive employers about your age, the odds of success are low and chances that you'll lose opportunities are far higher. Good thing there are better ways to make your age irrelevant.

I help people solve the most difficult job search problems, including job search acceleration, getting past ATSs, ageism, remote positions, product/job function/career/industry/ geographic change, unemployment, "bouncy" recent career path, job search turnaround, seeking raise/promotion, industry in decline/consolidation, long term gaps, family leave, or other of the most challenging job search issues.

Join me for my next free Resume Revolution! webinar (enroll at https://x.resumewebinar.com/register for no charge) to learn how accelerate your job search, so you can find your next job fast in 2023.

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