Combatting Age Discrimination As a Younger Worker
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
Everyone knows ageism exists against older workers however statistics also say it exits against younger workers, too. Here are 4 ways to combat ageism as a younger professional.
00:00 Introduction
01:47 Don’t draw attention to your age
02:15 Stay current
02:41 Focus on experience/successes
03:04 Attitude
03:25 Get support
03:54 Outro
Do Companies Expect People to Have Those Big Laundry List of Skills?
We all know that age discrimination is illegal in the United States. You can fight that if you’re 40 years of age or older, under the Age Discrimination in Employment that it’s illegal to ask questions about age, race, gender, religion, and other protected characteristics. However, as a younger worker, you’re also subject to age discrimination as well.
I’m Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. People hire me for no BS coaching and career advice globally, because I make things easier for people in their job search and other areas of their career.
But I want to point out to you, as I go into this, there are ways for you as a younger worker who’s dealing with ageism, that deal with it as well. And I’ll start off by saying, I’m not talking to those of you who are recent grads, because there, there’s the additional issue of how much do you really know about the 
workplace that you’re going to be entering. What experiences do you have that are going to prove to an employer that you’re qualified to do the job that they need to have done?
For many of you, it’s next to nonexistent except for coursework, and companies often devalue the coursework as being somewhat simple. So for those of you who have some amount of experience, here are four ways that you can deal with it, because you’re not eligible for the EEOC or other legal entities to fight in that way.
So the first thing is, don’t draw attention to your age. It may be obvious, and I’ll speak of myself who always looked older than I actually was (And now that’s not a great quality to have at my age, but that’s a different conversation). But age is something you shouldn’t be highlighting on your resume or in your interviews. Focus on your skills and experiences. And let your qualification speak for themselves.
Stay current on trends in technology. This is particularly important today, as we’re evolving into AI-centric work. And I’ll simply say, where you can take time to get some professional wins synthesizing artificial intelligence into the workplace, you’re going to stand out from older workers. Focus on your experiences.
The third thing one of the best ways to combat ageism is to focus on experience, highlighting achievements and successes in your resume and interviews, and showing potential employers that you have skills, knowledge and experiences an, now with AI, that you can incorporate this technology into your workplace.
And the last thing I’m going to bring up is your attitude. Attitude is incredibly important to how well someone performs on interviews. It’s really easy to get down and to feel defeated. But I’ll simply say, you can defeat the biases that exist against you.
And I’m going to encourage you get some support from others. There are groups and forums, and Reddit, of course, where you can connect with other people who are going through similar things to you and you can find out how they’ve been dealing with it. Don’t get involved in the arguing and, and the super criticism, critical stuff about the world is against you. Focusing on solutions, when that’s the most important thing.
I’m Jeff Altman Visit my website, TheBigGameHunter.us There’s a tin the blog that can help you plus you can find out about my video courses, books and guides–again a lot there that will help. Also connect with me on Linkedin at linkedin.com/in/TheBigGameHunter. Mention that just saw the video; I like knowing I’m helping some folks. Also at my website, the blog is phenomenal. And you can schedule time for a free discovery call or to have your questions answered by me through Trusted Advisor Services.
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ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
People hire Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter to provide No BS Career Advice globally because he makes many things in peoples’ career easier. Those things
can involve job search, hiring more effectively, managing and leading better, career transition, as well as advice about resolving workplace issues.
Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us
He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2600 episodes.
Website: https://www.TheBigGameHunter.us (schedule a paid coaching session, a free discovery call or ask questions using my Trusted Adviser Services)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/TheBigGameHunter
Courses: https://www.TheBigGameHunter.us/courses
Main YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jobsearchtv
No BS Job Search Advice Radio Podcast: https://anchor.fm/nobsjobsearchadviceradio
Video Podcast of No BS Job Search Advice Radio: Spotify
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeffaltmancoach
Medium: jeffaltmancoach.medium.com
Resume & LinkedIn Profile critiques www.TheBigGameHunter.us/critiques
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