How Not To Be 'Age Discriminated' - Mature Age Resume Tips

A great resume is the basic and key document for any job seeker or career changer or mature age candidate

Your resume is your passport into the world of employment - especially your mature age resume

Even if you’re found on LinkedIn by a hiring company, the hiring manager will request to see your resume

So, this is a document that requires time, effort, energy and money

Most of us find it difficult to distil our life’s work into a sharp, succinct resume which highlights how we can contribute to companies wanting to hire their next star performer

Young and fresh, these days, often equals star performer in many hiring managers’ eyes

As a mature aged candidate, it is your job to persuade the hiring manager otherwise

One of the ways you do that is to recognise when you need help and be willing to invest into getting that help

Career Coaching will never be a waste of time or money even if all you gain from it is how to present yourself in this digitally influenced world

Do you know the latest top 20 interview questions?

Have you got your answers lined up for a behavioural interview?

Does your LinkedIn profile match your resume?

How good is your virtual interview setup?

Let’s look at how to make your mature age resume relevant to the current job market

FOCUS ON THE LAST 10 YEARS OF YOUR CAREER

What was relevant twenty years ago is no longer relevant today

Companies today are focused on building their brands through social media so include some social media or tech knowledge on your resume

If you’re lacking in those skills, there are plenty of free online courses or low-cost courses that can quickly get you up to speed in social media and other relevant technologies

As a bare minimum, the absolute bare essential is to include a link to your LinkedIn profile - not having FaceBook or Insta or whatever is fine - but not having a LinkedIn profile will get your mature age resume rejected pretty quickly

HIGHLIGHT YOUR TRANSFERABLE SKILLS

Your years of experience in the workforce means you would have built up an impressive set of skills particularly in the areas of leadership, negotiation, communication, organisation, people management, team building, collaboration and so on

These skills are transferable to any industry so are worth highlighting with specific examples on your resume

Short examples of how you’ve succeeded with these transferable skills is a worthwhile exercise so don’t skimp on this part of your resume

Most hiring managers recognise that transferable skills only become solid over time and that they count for a lot more than specific job-related skills

Tech skills come and go - who remembers FORTRAN and COBOL - and who knows Ruby and how a DevSecOps environment works?

But... solid people skills, organisation skills, communication skills and basic respect - they're all timeless

MEASURABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

Long lists of responsibilities no longer cut the mustard in today’s ultra-specific job market 

Sure, it’s a white hot job market, but you’re still expected to put in the effort to say what you’ve done and what you’ve delivered

How and what you achieved with specific metrics to demonstrate the measurable achievement is the key focus for Hiring Managers and Recruiters

It’s about proof, isn’t it?

Proof that you’ve done what you say you’ve done 

Numbers speak to people

Saying you’ve increased sales by 20% year on year, looks a lot more impressive on your mature age resume than simply stating that you’ve met sales targets

A sharp, succinct and compelling resume is your passport to landing your dream job with your dream pay and dream perks so make sure yours is solid enough for a renewed career take-off