How to Keep Your Age a Secret in an Executive Resume

Careers, Featured, Resume Help — By on January 1, 2010 10:09 am

When you’re looking for an executive level job, chances are good that you’ve been working at your career for quite some time. As you know, when competing for work, especially in a strained economy, some employers choose to go with candidates who present a greater promise of longevity – something a seasoned professional may not always bring to the table in their eyes.

Of course, you know you’re not planning on walking away from your career anytime soon, but it’s sometimes hard to explain this to employers, which for many means disguising their age until they’re able to get to the interview. If this is something you’d like to try in your resume, here are some tips to consider:

Exclude Some Specifics of Your Professional Employmen

One trick that you can use to disguise your age on your executive resume is to structure your professional employment so that it doesn’t focus on specific dates. For instance, if you’ve been working for over 20 years, you might summarize some of your early experience at the end of your resume – without dates – rather than including every job you’ve had chronologically.

Another option you have is to not mention the early years at all, unless they’re so impressive that you just can’t leave them out. For instance, if you worked in retail at a local department store and your latest job was president of the department store nationally, you might want to include this to show your fast progression throughout your career. However, that’s a weak connection, and if you’re trying to avoid showing your age outright you’ll really want to avoid putting this type of thing on your resume.

Exclude Dates for Your Education

Another exclusion you might consider for your resume is your graduation dates. The training and wisdom you’ve picked up since you received your degree in 1970 might be far more valuable than the degree itself.

New technology has surfaced that wasn’t even thought of back then so there’s no way your schooling could have trained you for everything you know now. Not to discredit what you’ve learned, of course, you just want to keep in mind that much of what you know now is basically from on-the-job training. So while it’s always important to mention the education you’ve acquired, mentioning the date of your graduation would be an unnecessary disclosure of your age.

When You Get to Your Interview…

So now you’ve been called in for an interview and you’re a little worried about becoming a victim of age bias. Remember that the interview is your chance to make a big impression. You’ve got more experience than your competition, and now’s the time to show your commitment, your intelligence, and how you’re a good return on investment for the company.

Don’t let your age slow you down from getting the job you want. Your younger competition won’t be able to compete with your extra knowledge, skills, and accomplishments accumulated over your longer career. If you don’t forget this as you write your resume and go to your interview, you should be able to snag a great position in no time.

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  • Brave Captain of Industry

    Lets not even say a word about plainly illegal and immoral practices- lets talk about how to lie on our resumes instead !

    Yay America !

  • http://www.recruitinganimal.com RecruitingANIMAL

    None of these scams work. We’re not stupid. If you leave out a graduation date we know you’re hiding it to hide your age.

    And when I’ve been shy about asking for specifics, my clients insist that I do.

    And if you only include the last ten years of work my client is going to ask me to ask you what you were doing before you became a manager.

    And if you use a functional resume instead of a chronological resume, we immediately know that you’re hiding your age or your lack of experience. And we have to investigate.

    So, here’s the lesson job hunters: you can run from your age but you can’t hide it.

  • http://twitter.com/amykoehler Amy Koehler

    So glad I stumbled upon this. It took me a while but I have come to suspect that, perhaps, I have not been considered for some positions because of my age . (50) It is hard to believe and I am still wrapping my head around the possibility but now I will take this advice.

  • http://www.qworksgroup.com/ VM

    I personally do not like the idea of hiding information. At some point in time in an interview process the “age” thing gets discovered anyway and then it can be very embarrassing. It is much better to be proactive and explain your experience and successes. Most people should be proud of their experience and leverage that as much as possible. If companies want to hire recent college grads for little money then let them. But if they want a seasoned professional who can document a list of accomplishments and successes, then you will be of interest.

    I am sure when you ask ten different people about a resume you will get ten different opinions, but I feel very strongly about sticking to the truth, especially in a business where the truth is often stretched. A recent study claims that over 80% of resumes include some fabrication of facts or gross exaggeration. But with background checks, college degree and income verification, and the extensive networking possibilities, it has become much easier to validate the contents of a resume. Sooner or later the truth will come out!

  • http://www.qworksgroup.com/ VM

    I personally do not like the idea of hiding information. At some point in time in an interview process the “age” thing gets discovered anyway and then it can be very embarrassing. It is much better to be proactive and explain your experience and successes. Most people should be proud of their experience and leverage that as much as possible. If companies want to hire recent college grads for little money then let them. But if they want a seasoned professional who can document a list of accomplishments and successes, then you will be of interest.

    I am sure when you ask ten different people about a resume you will get ten different opinions, but I feel very strongly about sticking to the truth, especially in a business where the truth is often stretched. A recent study claims that over 80% of resumes include some fabrication of facts or gross exaggeration. But with background checks, college degree and income verification, and the extensive networking possibilities, it has become much easier to validate the contents of a resume. Sooner or later the truth will come out!

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