From the New York Times, some advice:
So what is an older person who still has bills to pay supposed to do? Even seemingly tiny changes can help. Ms. McCann’s advice: Keep up with trends in résumé-writing (for example, opening with a career objective is passé, she says); emphasize your technological skills to the point of overkill; develop a social-media presence.
Leave graduation dates and other giveaways off your résumé so you’re not making it easy for employers to reject you. Some online hiring platforms won’t allow you to move through the system without including those dates — which AARP has asked the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to address — so avoid them whenever possible. And everyone can take a lesson from New York: Bite back when someone makes prejudicial assumptions or treats you unfairly at work!I'm not to the point where I have to worry about age discrimination, but I know it's coming sooner rather than later....
Another way to deal with it: assume you will lose your job at 50 (or earlier) and have a lifestyle where you are able to save a lot of money. Which pretty much means never dating, never getting married, never having children, and never living in a nice neighborhood, and if you have a bad habit, make sure its inexpensive (mine is getting used Chem textbooks on abe books--cheaper than heroin!)
ReplyDeleteBe sure to network as much as possible. Older folks can compensate for age discrimination in the job hunt by having bigger networks after a long career.
ReplyDeleteAlas. In a recent online job application, I too encountered a website which demanded that the candidate enter graduation dates. Hence I entered the most unlikely date as possible for my doctorate. Afterwards, I called HR at the putative employer, and explained that because I found that question to be discriminatory, I had intentionally entered incorrect data into their form. This was acceptable to them.
ReplyDeleteOf course, you can't camouflage a publication list, so it's not perfect.