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It's pretty ironic, actually. When applying for a job, companies always emphasize their ostensibly non-discriminatory hiring practices, all the while knowing they'll hire who they want to anyway. That's because lawsuits involving discrimination are generally expensive and hard to prove; thus they can get away with it.
One discriminatory practice companies are engaging in today is age discrimination. Companies prefer younger workers or college grads because they are 1) less likely to complain; 2) more likely to work LONG hours to get ahead; 3) less likely to have health problems; 4) less likely to complain about low pay and long hours; and 5) more likely to have enthusiasm, stamina, and cutting-edge ideas.
Of course, all these are generalizations. But let's say you're fifty years old, and you find yourself looking for a job. What can you do to position yourself to get noticed by companies? Here's the run down:
1) Get your resume and work samples/portfolio online. The most effective site for doing this is Linkedin.com, where you can get your resume online and crawled by major search engines. Linkedin.com allows you to network and get recommendations too.
2) Under the education section on your resume, remove the year you received your degree. Just cite your school and degree, but not the year you graduated.
3) Place your personal profile (background, objective, etc.) at the top of your resume, followed by your great skills that the company really needs. The hiring manager's first impression will be "wow, what great skills this person has" rather than, "eh, I think this person might be more of a liability due to their age."
4) Revamp your entire image to look younger. If this means a makeover, by all means do what you can. Wear today's style of clothing, not something from 1987. Maybe your hairstyle could use an update. Just keep in mind, we're living in a sort of "hyper-youth" culture and that's what you're competing against.
5) Get a professional photographer to take some nice pics of the new, youthful-looking you. Take these photos and upload them to your Linkedin.com page and wherever else it might help you land a job.
6) Update your software skill set. Just knowing MS Office doesn't cut it anymore. Do you know HTML? What about video editing? Or image manipulation, or CSS? Depending on the position you're applying for, additional software skills can mean the difference between getting hired and not hearing from the company again.
7) Remember the resume basics: always be professional, don't include hobbies, and use action words such as "created," "developed," and "led."
Trying to land a job when you're older but not yet retired may be challenging, but it's not impossible. Good luck out there!
