mature age candidates
BY WENDY ALEXANDER

  The flexible person who adapts rapidly to change is always going to succeed - so go ace your next interview to get the job, pay and perks you deserve

The market is still sizzling right now and we've got The Great Resignation still going on, so let’s keep talking about how to succeed with job applications and interviews

Only now I want to talk to my mature age candidates - the ones with the grey hairs and the battle scars…

You’re not wrong when you have age-bias concerns

It happens and anyone who says it doesn’t, has a Pinocchio nose

Our current world is all about the shiny and new and little value is placed on the elderly and experienced

Societies that do, like the blue zone areas of the world, thrive in social and communal ways that we, in our ‘modern’ society, only dream of

But that’s a whole other topic that we'll discuss another day

Remember to make your experience and age work for you, not against you

Let go of the mindset that your age takes you out of the running for most roles in the marketplace 

It does not

In fact, I'm seeing the opposite currently occurring in the hiring process especially now with a massive talent shortage 

My partner who works in Corporate IT and who’s been responsible for hiring and managing teams for multi-million-dollar programs of work has noticed a growing trend

Mature age candidates are being favoured more and more for projects requiring diplomatic negotiation, people leadership and a calm manner for when things get hard

It takes experience and going through some hard knocks that build the skills required to lead teams through ever-changing environments, tight budgets and constrained timelines

In recent years he has gone straight to his network of ‘grey hairs’ as he calls them, when he has had to hire people for challenging projects

They simply appear to handle the pressure better, have seen enough tough projects to know how to navigate the challenges and are in a position to apply past lessons and workarounds to get the job done despite the myriad of problems which inevitably arise in any project

Ultimately it comes back to your mindset

If you approach the job seeking and interview process with the mindset of offering your valuable experience and your mentorship to others, then you will succeed

If you’re open to constant learning and getting across some of the emerging technologies in corporations, there is a spot for you in most companies 

If you’re not threatened or awkward about being managed by someone younger than you, then there is opportunity for growth and learning on a team of forward thinkers or innovators 

You may get a question in an interview about how you feel about reporting to a younger person

Here’s one of the best answers I’ve heard when I was hiring a few years ago

“Age never enters my mind with regards to my managers or superiors. I’m here to be a support to any and all managers. I pride myself on doing excellent work and for me that means following instructions and requests without letting any personal attribute affect that”

Often, we are our own barriers to opportunities, limited by our mindsets or wanting to stay stuck in old ways, rather than opening up to new or changing ideas

Remember, the flexible person who adapts rapidly to change is always going to succeed, so go ace your next interview to get the job, pay and perks you deserve