Community Chat

[feline groovy]

5 Things On Your Résumé That Make You Look Old

Age discrimination is still rampant in the workplace — and it often starts before workers even get hired.

A 2013 AARP study found that nearly half of all older job seekers reported being overlooked for a job because of their age.

That's why it's so important that you not make yourself seem old on your résumé, says author Marc Miller in a recent LinkedIn post.

"The format and contents of your résumé says a lot about your age," he says. And no matter how qualified you are, if your résumé makes you "seem" older, there's a good chance it'll end up in the "no" pile.

"You do not want to be filtered out by the staff who are screening initial résumés and lose the opportunity to demonstrate your talents and skills," he says.

To avoid this situation, Miller suggests you stop including these five things on your résumé:

1. Your home address.

"For many years, we sent our résumé and cover letter through the mail," Miller explains. "We put our home address right on the top."

Today there is no longer a need to put your home address on the résumé, since it's almost always sent electronically, he explains.

" If the employer needs your home mailing address, they can ask for it. "

2. Your Hotmail or AOL email address.

One telltale sign that you are over 50 is an aol.com or hotmail.com email address, or one from your cable provider, says Miller.

Create a Gmail account immediately.

3. Your home phone number.

Who under the age of 45 still has a landline?

"We ditched our home phone five years ago, and I am quite a bit older than 45," Miller says. "If you still have a home phone and do not want to give out your cell phone number, get a Google Voice number."

4. Double spacing after periods.

"I am going to go out a limb and declare that putting two spaces after a period is obsolete," Miller explains. "It is how most of us were taught to type on a typewriter. Therefore, most of us who do this (I have taught myself to stop putting two spaces after a period and it was hard) are over 50 years of age."

Miller says he has heard that this has been used as a method of screening out older candidates.

5. Your outdated skills.

Limit the skills you list on your résumé to current and relevant ones.

"I could list that I wrote MS-DOS control programs, wrote machine level code developing word processors, managed IBM mainframe computers, and lots of other obsolete technologies," he says. "Unless I was applying for a position that required these skills, all it tells the reader is I am over 50 years of age and maybe older."

[feline groovy]

Even if you're not looking for work, it's smart to always keep your resume relevant and up-to-date.

[BeckiWV]

The last resume I did, I listed all my jobs, with dates, going right back to my very first job. I remembered in high school business class being told that was the proper way to do it.

Even though I have very current tech/computer skills and a lot of training, admitting I went to work in the late 70's made me look OLD (I am 59). I got a bit of negative feedback. In other words, I got very few "bites."

I freelance now for people I know. I am hoping to make it through to retirement without having to do any more resumes.

[Lipstickdiva]

Seriously? I work in an office setting and we still put a double space after a period. And that includes the young 20-something attorney who just joined our firm.

I guess I have to read up on more recent typing skills.

[terrier3]

Most resumes are now read by machines, not people.

Even the pre-screening is done by outside companies.

I don't know how double spacing after periods will make you look "older." If that was a deal breaker, I wouldn't want to work for such a nit-picking person anyway!

You are the age you are. I think it's a better bet to find a company that values experience, rather than trying to become something you are not.

[RoughDraft]

Howaboutspacingbetweenwords?

[staciesmom]

Sad thing is that I have found that older workers tend to be more reliable and stable than younger workers.

[Luv2Decorate]

On 10/15/2014 RoughDraft said:

Howaboutspacingbetweenwords?

IDK,ru n a bizness?

[terrier3]

On 10/15/2014 StaciesMom said:

Sad thing is that I have found that older workers tend to be more reliable and stable than younger workers.

I am working part time in a health insurance call center in preparation for an outside sales job starting in November.

Today was Day #1 in Medicare enrollment. There were over 100 phones in the center - about half were staffed by seniors - people who had retired from the insurance company and come back every year for Medicare enrollment and other seniors who enjoy the part time work.

They are valued, important members of the team.

Seeing how well they are treated is one reason I took a job there myself! I look forward to part time work there when I finally retire someday.

[151949]

Any resume I have ever done has had to include my education and the school and the years I attended there. Also all jobs I ever had and the years I worked there. So unless the interviewer is brain dead they can fairly easily figure out how old you are from the year you graduated from HS. I find these tips to be pretty ridiculous.