A recent conversation with an “experienced” IT professional who was worried about disclosing her age by including dates on her resume, reminded me of the many similar discussions I’ve had with this particular population of IT job seekers. These highly qualified candidates are fearful that the hiring manager may think they are too experienced, unable to fit in with a younger team, and/or not up-to-date on hard skills required for new technology.

There are a lot of reasons people with 20+ years of experience are reluctant to disclose details on their resume that may indicate their age.  For example, many job seekers leave off the year they graduated from college because they don’t want someone to do the math and consider them “old school”. While this is a difficult conundrum, my advice as an experienced IT recruiter is to include pertinent dates on your resume, including the year a degree was earned.  Why is this necessary? Because recruiters are often required to verify specific information included on the resume. We’ll get the facts eventually. And by not including important dates, the candidate may be raising a red flag that will give the recruiter even more reason to begin a search. Being upfront tells the recruiter that the person is detail-oriented and isn’t trying to hide something that may or may not be a deal breaker.

To show the recruiter and the employer that you ARE the best IT candidate, consider implementing these tips before your job search (if you haven’t already).

Only provide RELEVANT details on your resume. You do not need to show every bit of experience that expands your entire career.  Include only what is pertinent for the position you are applying for. Don’t worry about how long your resume is (within reason) as long as the work is applicable.  An employer is typically interested in the past ten years. If you have experience more than 10-15 years, and it is relevant to a job you are applying for, condense the details to highlight only those skills that compliment the new opportunity. Remove skills or technology that are considered “dinosaur” today (i.e. highly proficient in WordPerfect – who even uses WordPerfect today?).

Be active on social media. Recruiters and employers are increasingly using social media to find superior IT talent. Prove you are comfortable with today’s technology for networking, researching and communicating. Agile has written many blogs about ways IT job seekers can effectively utilize social media during their job search. Don’t give anyone a reason to think you are technology challenged or slow to adopt new applications and tools for collaborating and communicating.

Evaluate your appearance. Are your clothes up to date?  What about your hairstyle? You don’t have to be a designer or fashionista but ensure your wardrobe and “look” is up-to-date and age appropriate.  If your suit or hairstyle are from the 80s, it is time for a makeover!  Don’t look schlumpy. You’re a professional – and you need to look like one. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to look the part, but you do need to remember that people do judge a book by its cover more often than not.

Try to keep conversation to neutral topics. There is no need to discuss grandchildren in the interview process. Current events, sports and pets are age neutral. Talking about your 30 year old son who lives in the basement is not.

Pay attention to the pace in which others are talking. Try to mirror them and ask yourself if you could be talking too slow. Think about the terms you are using.  (ie data processing). By all means, don’t be condescending to the younger recruiter or hiring manager using “honey” or “sweetie” instead of their name (yes, this does happen). Although more mature workers are sometimes not as comfortable selling themselves, this is the time to tell what value you can bring and what your (relevant) accomplishments have been.

Be flexible. Don’t give anyone a reason to think you are set in your ways and unable to adapt to the speed of the new IT. Accept change and have examples of when you’ve quickly adapted to new technology, new management, or anything that affects completing a job successfully.

It may be unspoken, but employers know that mature workers typically offer a better work ethic, and have solid business experience that youth cannot replace. Companies desire mentors and role models for their younger team members. Let them know that you can fit it and fill those shoes. Update your resume and communicate those skills that are relevant today. Make sure you have an online presence, modify your appearance, speech patterns and habits if necessary, and then find common ground with the new IT. Once you do, you’ll no longer be as sensitive about including dates on your resume that precede “cloud computing”.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 1st, 2010 at 1:07 pm and is filed under IT Job Search, Job Seeker. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.