Your resume probably looks average to employers, and it's killing your job search, especially when you're over 40.
And since most candidates tell a similar story during interviews, your interviews also appear average, causing you to fail to advance, or fail to land offers when you're qualified.
Most age 40+ job seekers blame employer ageism, when they fail to get interviews, advance, get offers, or see little result for their job search efforts. Ageism is real, but it often isn't the underlying cause of losing opportunities when you're qualified.
There are reasons why most age 40+ resumes and interviews underperform and appear average, and here are a few ways you can change your results:
- Understand Expectations:?Employers have higher expectations for age 40+ candidates. You realize that you can do more than a less experienced candidate, and employers expect more senior candidates to do more. If you're not proving to employers that you're doing more in your resume and interviews, then why would they think that you'll do more on the job?
- Understand Employer Perceptions:?Employers perceive that age 40+ senior staff, managers, and executives have higher salary expectations, than their less experienced competitors. Relying on years of experience isn't enough to meet employer higher expectations in today's digital age (Were you a success or average in all those years of experience?). If you can't prove you'll do more than an average candidate, then how will you meet higher expectations?
- Set A Higher Bar:?Almost all resumes are written with the goal of showing that you're qualified - Including resumes from outplacement, most career coaches/authors, and professional resume writers. Being qualified is too low of a goal, because you compete against many other qualified candidates - When there are many qualified candidates, being qualified makes you average. If you're not standing out through your resume and interviews, it encourages employers to take a lower risk on a less expensive candidate, because you haven't proven that you're worth it.
- Average Candidates Often Fail To Get Interviews:?Due to the Great Resignation, employers expect 5-10 qualified candidates competing for each interview spot (50-100 qualified candidates for 10 interview openings) - So being qualified isn't even enough to get you an interview, because you appear average.
- Impact Beats Ageism:?When you boil it all down, a hiring manager is really looking for 2 things beyond being qualified: A candidate who understands and has already solved my key/priority problems, and a candidate who has a track record of impacting their teams, departments, and companies. When you fail to overwhelm an employer with impact in your resume and interviews, you appear average, underselling yourself. Employers react by choosing other candidates who are better at proving impact, less expensive (or both).
You'd already be overwhelming employers with impact if you knew how, and would be enjoying more interviews, advances and offers.
I help people solve the most difficult job search problems, including getting past ATSs, ageism, remote positions, product/job function/career/industry/ geographic change, job search acceleration, 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.
