Dealing with Age on Interviews | JobSearchTV.com
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
Finding The Career That Fits You
Ageism obviously exists. Here are a few easy ways to deal with it on interviews.
Ageism exists. People blame ageism much too often for why they failed on interviews. That’s my opinion. I find that people who are unprepared for interviews, who are in their 50s, 60s, and beyond, will blame the interviewer for coming up with hard questions that they shouldn’t have been able to answer if only they were prepared. So dealing with ageism is often a process, and calming yourself down and focusing on what you can do to help this manager, help this VP or beyond be successful in their role. So that involves how you connect the dots for them.
Sometimes, the way the bias will show up is in the question about, ‘gee, you’ve been more senior than this job. Are you really sure you want to do it?’ ‘That’s why I’m here. I believe, at this stage in my life, you can have the headaches that come with this role.’ And you put a big smile on your face, ‘you can deal with those headaches, and I’ll support you in whatever way that I can. I’m not here to Monday morning quarterback you. I’m at a stage professionally, where I’m not trying to be the hyper-achiever anymore. What I’m trying to do is, I don’t wanna say, ease up. As you’ll see, I work incredibly hard. But I want to focus on roles that support other people being effective.’ So that’s how you deal with it straight on.
Indirectly, you have to deal with it by dressing a particular way. So if you’re on camera, and they’re only seeing you from the mid-chest on up, you want to be dressed in a particular way that they can see that you look well and dress well. Where you can, you want to make sure that your girth does not appear on camera, if you’re overweight. You want to make sure that you’re well-shaved, if you’re a man, and whether you have a beard or not is irrelevant here. Male or female, you want to have appropriate hairstyles for your age. And it shouldn’t be 25 years out of date, if you know what I mean.
Also, limit your jewelry. So, the nature of earrings, if you wear them is, is going to be more conservative, because you don’t want them to be a distraction that you’re wearing big hoops and you’re going for a role where that would appear to be a distraction. Your goal is to demonstrate that you can do world-class work in support of a leader.
And if it’s in a leadership role, I want to be clear, your job is to be world-class at everything that you present. So again, it’s about your appearance, your presentation, and your energy, So much that goes into it that will allow you to demonstrate that they don’t have to worry about you being tired, burned out, a has been–those biases that they hold them in the back of their mind, based upon their assumptions of people your age.
AARP periodically talks about when they’re trying to encourage older workers, they want you to be technologically savvy, as though most of us are not technologically savvy. Most of us were there and helped create the technology. We were the early users of the technology, and we’re up to date with the technology, but they bring up this ageist bias, which is really interesting coming from AARP, because most of the business world doesn’t think that way anymore. Never did. Never will.
However, understanding that you’re going to be dealing with this in the workplace, and being proactive in how you address it is important in every interview that you conduct yourself. So the goal is not to present as being defensive. Have a big smile on your face. Be comfortable in your own skin. Present yourself well. you’ll defeat the ageist bias just for your manner and allow them to see you as someone who’s comfortable and can be effective.
I hope you found this helpful. I’m Jeff Altman. My website is TheBigGameHunter.us Go to the site and go exploring. There’s a lot there to help you in the blog. Plus, you can schedule time for a free discovery call to see if I can help you with coaching. You can schedule time for a coaching session, for which I’ll obviously charge you. You can find that out my courses that you can rent or buy, my books and guides. There’s just a lot there to help you.
Also, connect with me on Linkedin at linkedin.com/in/THeBigGameHunter. Have a terrific day and be great!
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. His work involves career coaching, as well as executive job search coaching, job coaching, and interview coaching. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2400 episodes.
Are you interested in 1:1 coaching, interview coaching, advice about networking more effectively, how to negotiate your offer or leadership coaching? People hire me to provide No BS career advice whether that is about a job search, hiring better, leadership, management or support with a workplace issue. Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us
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