Do you have any tips for 50+ age group when writing a resume?

by Dave
(Michigan)

I am age 57 and finding myself back in the job market competing with younger workers. Listing jobs 20 years ago, will this hurt my chances of finding a job in the IT industry?

Answer: Dave, this is a great question. Technically, age discrimination is illegal, but everyone knows that it still goes on. So any time you put down a degree earned long ago or more than 15 or 20 years experience, it's going to be pretty obvious to the employer that you are a man of a certain age. :)

But you never want to lie or provide half truths on your job documents, so it's not a good idea to try to disguise your age too much. You have to be honest and accurate.

However, more to the point is that only about the last 10 years of work experience are really relevant today in terms of skills and experience you're bringing to the table. So, most experts recommend you only include about 10 to 15 years of work history, at most on a resume.

What you need to start thinking about (and to include in a killer cover letter) is how your maturity and years of experience actually make you a stronger candidate for the jobs you want than a younger, less experienced job seeker.

To your success... Kathi