"But I Was Told To Exclude Some Resume Info Because I'm Over 40"

I hear this all the time from job seekers in their 40s, 50s, and 60s who exclude early career and/or dates on their resume.

It's because they've followed some of the most commonly given advice to age 40+ job seekers ... and also the worst advice. The reply is defending that it wasn't their fault, because nearly all career coaches, outplacement firms and resume writers advise that candidates over 40 hide early career, dates of early career, and graduation dates.

But I specialize in helping age 40+ job seekers and here's why I advise against excluding early career and dates on your resume:

1. Rarely An Advantage, Usually A Big Risk:?The potential advantage you might possibly gain from this misguided strategy is small, but the risk of it blowing opportunities is large. It's a poor risk/reward for your job search.
2. Based On A False Theory:?The reason why you've been told to exclude this information to keep resume screening databases from using dates to guess your age. But this would require recruiters to search resume databases based on dates, leaving trails of digital evidence of age discrimination waiting for someone to sue or complain to government authorities. Since the Head of HR's job is to protect the company from lawsuits and keep compliant with hiring laws, they don't allow recruiters to screen based on dates, to protect the company and their own job.
3. Readers Can Tell You're Hiding Something:?But it is part of recruiters' jobs to do due diligence and screen out candidates who present risks ... like hiding something on their resume. If a recruiter or hiring manager is still reading your resume to the end of your resume when you present early career and education, they're paying attention (otherwise they would have already left). So they can tell you're hiding something, just not what you're hiding or why.
4. Interviewers Can Tell You're Hiring Something:?No matter how young you feel, how young your friends tell say you look, I haven't come across a candidate yet who can successfully convince an interviewer that they're 5 years younger than their true age. After all, an interviewer is supposed to be skeptical, it's a stressful situation, and it's even worse on Zoom calls (adding 10 lbs to appearance). When an interviewer thinks you're hiding your age, they wonder "what else are you hiding?", rather than "would you be a good fit for my team?". If you can't build trust, you're not going to land the job.

There are far more effective ways to beat job search ageism than age deception. I'll show you a number of them in my next free webinar: Beating Job Search Ageism.

During my next free Resume Webinar, I'll show you changes to your resume/interview/job search strategies that will help you beat employer ageism. When we're done with that, I'll teach you other ways to overcome age bias, so you can accelerate your job search when you're over 40.

Join me Friday, 6/2/23 at 11:00am ET/8:00am PT, for my free Resume Webinar (enroll at https://x.resumewebinar.com/register at no charge) to learn how to beat job search ageism and your next job faster in 2023.

#register ?#jobs ?#career ?#ageism