Is Your Age Affecting Your Odds of Getting Hired?

The simple answer is YES, it very well might be. And it’s an issue on both ends of the spectrum – if you’re viewed as being “too young” or “too old”, you may be subject to ageism. In this post, I’m going to focus on ageism against older applicants as this has been a topic many of my career coaching clients have asked about lately.

First off, what is it really? Ageism is prejudice or discrimination against people based on their age. For example, has someone made you feel like you’re out of touch because of your age? Or that you’re slower or less productive because of your age? Or have you been asked your age in an interview when it has nothing to do with the work? Those are all examples of ageism.

We have a long way to go as a society to combat ageism and how it’s affecting the workplace. In the meantime, here are 4 things that could help you combat age-based discrimination in the workplace:

1.     Be up-to-date on trends in your industry and/or functional area. In your next interview, make it obvious that you know what is happening in your industry and in your functional area of expertise. Reference recent news and in particular anything the company you’re interviewing with would be impacted by.

2.     Take a course or certification to show recent education or training on your resume. If you’re most recent education or training was before the 21st century, it would be good to have something on your resume showing you value staying up-to-date with your skills. Something as simple as a low-cost, online course on something relevant to what you’re looking to be hired to do could go a long way.

3.     If you have over 20 years of experience, describe your years of experience as “20+” rather than the actual number. This could be on your resume, on your LinkedIn profile, and in conversations when you’re asked to describe your background.

4.     Consider updating your look to reflect current, age-appropriate trends. Still be you, but it isn’t a bad idea for all of us to refresh our look once in a while.  

Let’s be honest, this isn’t the most comfortable topic but it is unfortunately affecting some hiring decisions so hopefully these tips will help. And if you need help with your job search, check out my book or my online course.