Ageism is all in your head
That doesn't mean it isn't real.
This headline isn’t clickbait.
What I mean is, there is so much about ageism that you can’t control: other people’s attitudes, corporate policies that discriminate against older people, a society that often doesn’t value experience.
All that you can control is your own mindset.
You can focus on what’s important with job hunting: how you can position yourself to best solve the employer’s problem.
That’s all you can do.
That said, there are things that can improve your chances when it comes to dealing with other people’s biases. Here are some concrete examples.
Eliminate dates from your job application materials whenever possible, especially with education. Why offer up something that may trigger a potential employer to think you are too old?
Watch for interview red flags, like “How long do you expect to work?” While questions like this show age bias, you can turn it around to your advantage, by pivoting back to your value and experience.
Stay up to date with technology. This is a huge one, and I will write more about this in the future. But just as a small example, if you still have an @aol.com or @hotmail.com email address, at the least, get a modern one like Gmail. Much better would be to own your own domain and set up email there.
Emphasize your ability to both lead and follow. Employers often believe older people will be resistant to taking direction from younger people. You can use examples to show that you can lead but also be part of a team.
Potential employers have a lot of biases. They are people. They also are dealing with a lot of factors and situations that you will never know anything about. So worrying over what they are thinking or doing is a waste of time, and can actually trip you up.
Do what you can, and let the rest go.
Which leads to my recommendation for this week, admittedly stolen from Nick Kossovan, whose Substack The Art of Finding Work I heartily recommend for anyone reading this one.
Nick recommends taking out a pad and making two columns. In the first column, write out all the things you can’t control: who is hiring, the outcome of the next Presidential election, the price of eggs - everything you can think of, but especially topics around job hunting.
In the second column, write out all the things you can control: your application materials, who you reach out to, your online presence, your attitude. Make it a long list. Keep pushing to add items to this one.
Then tear the list down the middle and throw away the first column. What’s left is what you can and should focus on.
I believe in you. We’re in this together.
Finally, a bonus link from Nick Kossovan related to our discussion today:
As a Job Seeker Look for Your Tribe
Great tips, and I love the recommendation! Sometimes I worry that not putting my college graduation date on my profile will make people think I must be old. But I still don't include it. And I don't include my first couple jobs, because they were so long ago and aren't really relevant.
When I made a career change in my fifties I was worried I'd encounter ageism. I didn't at the time (and I also looked younger than I was, which may have helped, and worked in tech), but I feel like I have now and then since then. However, I do find that a lot of people appreciate my experience. My main client right now is over 20 years younger than me but super mature and also respects me.
I did have a funny experience recently with another consultant who was showing me how to use a website for a client. I'm pretty experienced with WordPress, and he told me that their tool was even easier to use — so easy that his 69-year-old mom could do it! I'm 61, but thanks to Zoom filters he likely had no clue. ;-) (Also, I thought he looked too old to have a 69-year-old mom — ha!) Now, if I'd been his boss I would have had a talk with him about not being ageist at work, but as it was, I let it go.
For jobhunting, I use an email thru a smaller Internet service provider that frees me from getting judged by my email domain. I still have an ancient yahoo.com address that's likely so uncool it's now retro, but that one is mostly for providing to store clerks who demand an email address.