Job Seeking Advice for Older Applicant
Work experience is a tough sell after a certain age. As a senior is there anything special I should be doing to find a job?
Research companies that will find value in your experience. I find that most customer centric companies prefer tenured applicants because of the social competencies they can offer. Use your network and become your own recruiter. Talk to everyone you know about your career goal and have a career pitch ready to deliver at anytime! Don't give up!!
I think that some of the biggest concerns hiring management would have with experience candidates are typically associated to the following: Pay - is it feasible to go beyond the budget to meet the salary requirements for a tenured applicant or is it a better option to recruit and train a recent graduate we can hire at the minimum. Use your cover letter or application to emphasize flexibility and willingness to negotiate in this area. Don’t undervalue yourself but starting this up front might get you to the negotiation table where you can sell you experse. Technology - The incorrect assumption that most experiences applicants lack the latest technical skills to compete in today’s workplace. Make sure you list all you technical experience on your resume. Experience with industry related software is key. Find online course you can take to further your technical skills. Highlight past experiences where you had to learn new software in a relatively short period of time. Demonstrate your ability to learn new technical skills. I don’t think it’s securing a job is impossible for you but it’s going to take a different strategy.
As a more experienced member of the workforce you have a lot of knowledge that would make you qualified to do well at a number jobs. But it can be tough to translate that in a way that makes sense to an employeer . Enrolling in a certification program or seeking college credit for such experience can develop the third-party credentials that would lead to a job. CAEL has built a college credit predictor tool that can help translate experience into college-credit equivalents. Here is the link to their site http://www.cael.org
make sure you show good technical skills on your resume.