How To Hide Your Age In An Executive Resume
Of course, you know youò€™re not planning on walking away from your career anytime soon, but itò€™s sometimes hard to explain this to employers, which for many means disguising their age until theyò€™re able to get to the interview. If this is something youò€™d like to try in your resume, here are some tips to consider:Ò
Exclude Some Specifics of Your Professional Employment
One trick that you can use to disguise your age on your executive resume is to structure your professional employment so that it doesnò€™t focus on specific dates. For instance, if youò€™ve been working for over 20 years, you might summarize some of your early experience at the end of your resume ò€“ without dates ò€“ rather than including every job youò€™ve had chronologically.
Another option you have is to not mention the early years at all, unless theyò€™re so impressive that you just canò€™t leave them out. For instance, if you worked in retail at a local department store and your latest job was president of the department store nationally, you might want to include this to show your fast progression throughout your career. However, if you started off in retail at the department store and now youò€™re a top-level engineer, the connection is truly too weak to consider adding it to your resume, especially if youò€™re trying to avoid telling your age.
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Exclude Dates for Your Education
Another exclusion you might consider for your resume is your graduation dates. The training and education you"d received back in 1967 isn"t as applicable in today"s market as the experience you"ve picked up since then.
New technology has surfaced that wasnò€™t even thought of back then so thereò€™s no way your schooling could have trained you for everything you know now. This isn"t to discredit or downplay what you"d learned at college, but remember that most of what"s helped you through the years was a form of on-the-job training. Telling an employer the exact date of your graduation unnecessarily shows your age, although it"s important to mention all the education you"ve picked up--just leave out exact dates.
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When You Get to Your Interview ò€¦
So now youò€™ve been called in for an interview and youò€™re a little worried about becoming a victim of age bias. But keep in mind that the interview is where you have a chance to shine. You"re a good candidate, and the interview"s your chance to prove that you"re a great investment for the company.
Donò€™t let your age slow you down from getting the job you want. Being older than some of your competition gives you the unfair advantage of wisdom, skills and accomplishments. If you donò€™t forget this as you write your resume and go to your interview, you should be able to snag a great position in no time.