I’m 64: Will you hire me anyway?
You’d never know it looking at me or talking to me, but… I’m 64! I learned a while ago to take any reference to my age off my resume, but as I list all my relevant positions and achievements, the reader has to figure, “This guy’s gotta be, like, over 60!” and boom, I’m done. The achievements, the relevant jobs, the references… buh-bye! I don’t know how to overcome this age discrimination without any opportunity for me to respond to it.
I recently applied to a position I really want, and in the cover letter to the company I wrote this:
"Perhaps the only negative in my candidacy, which I feel I must address here so that it’s out in the open, is my age. I am 64 years old, which I’m sure will strike many as too old. I can assure you that in my case it is not. I’m in excellent health, I still walk 36 holes [of golf] several times a season, I play singles tennis three times a week, I write my columns and blogs in my spare time, and my clients never even think about my age. Other than continually losing arguments with my wife, I show no signs of slowing down and fully intend to keep working full-time for at least another decade. There you go. It would be unfortunate if chronology worked against me, for no valid reason."
I figure, well, at least I’m open about it, and either it kills my chances or they actually think, “Hey, good for this guy to nip this in the bud.”
What’s your view? Ignore my age and hope they don’t notice or care? Raise it and hope they appreciate the strong position? Or deliberately hide it from all submitted material and let them reject me when they find out?
I know the feeling. I'm sorta in the same boat. I'm 65 and not ready to retire.
hello
If you are physically bent over, crossed eyed, and crippled with a rash, what is really important to intelligent employers is that the candidate being interviewed is able to do the job being advertised; they have acquired the work experience and they have earned the required credentials for employment.
I am interested in this job
Jobseekers let's have a discussion: Would you agree or disagree?
Does the hiring manager need to become educated as to what candidate qualities best meet the needs of their business operation? They need to understand the real value specific skillsets and abilities bring to running their business and solving all the problems they’re faced with. The difficulty is that they are so busy, with so many fires to put out, and have so many problems that they can’t handle, that they’re overwhelmed… which is basically why they’re looking for new hires to jump in and put out the fires so that they (the manager) can get back to doing the work they want and need to do. So it’s up to the candidate to explain clearly what their value is to the company in running the business.
This differentiation begins by educating them in terms of not only do you have the skills and abilities — but how you can impact the bottom line financial needs, as well as solve their business needs. This is where doing due-diligence of the company’s marketplace and competition is important in demonstrating your value.
Critical to this process is to educate the hiring manager on how the application of your skillset and knowledge becomes a strategic element in growing their business. How you can help them compete more effectively. How you can add insight to earning and keeping customers. How you can help them expand into new areas, thus shortening the time to market which lets them speed up their growth plans.
By demonstrating your skills, how you can apply them to the company’s needs, and define them in terms of value (feature/function/benefit) – you provide information that fits with their hiring needs. By demonstrating the application of your abilities in terms of financial impact, operational impact and strategic impact – you provide a tactical advantage for them in running their business, while showing them the strategic value of bringing you on board. As you add value to the data you demonstrate information. Add value to information and you demonstrate knowledge. Add value to knowledge and you demonstrate business wisdom. That’s where you provide value as a corporate asset.
Otherwise, you’re left out in the middle of the Colosseum with all the other competitors who rely on conventional job hunting and the HR departments — whose incentives are not to find the best candidate, but to eliminate as many as possible as fast as possible.
What's your view?
Steven Ransom You are so savvy ... Have you thought about being an independent consultant? I just ran a search on FlexJobs of "Quality Control" in Michigan and came up with quite a list of opportunities! I heart FlexJobs -- well-vetted and high quality postings. I am an independent marketing advisor and freelance writer and I've landed several projects utilizing them. https://www.flexjobs.com
Honestly trust that God will provide you with the strength to get through this