How do I overcome age discrimination when looking for a job?
SEEK’s Resident Psychologist sits down with host Kyran Wheatley to discuss tactics for getting employers to see past your age during a job search.
Read the transcript
Kyran: Brett wants to know ‘How do I overcome age discrimination in my late 50s, even though I have extensive and relevant experience?’ I'm sure that's facing a lot of people.
Sabina: Yes, that's a really common one too. So, I think the first thing is to think about is what being your age means to you. If you think that being older means that you've somehow passed your use-by-date, then you're going to share that belief with potential employers.
Instead of looking at yourself through that lens, what does age bring to you that's positive? Wisdom, experience, clarity, maturity, you can mentor other people. There is so much that you bring through years to the workplace, and to your peers, and I think it’s a matter of selling that. Not maybe overtly but believing that yourself. And the other thing that I think on a practical level there is if you feel that age is holding you back, perhaps you're not getting interviews, people are discarding your cv prematurely, leave your age off. There is no legal requirement to put your date of birth on a resume and other factors that might indicate your age, let them go. So you don't need to say what year you finished school or university, you don't need to list jobs you did in your 20's.
Sometimes I think we can go too far back and instead of looking at where we've been we need to look at where we are going.
Ends