How to get past the gatekeeper
With the ageing of baby-boomers, the Australian workforce has a surplus of mature workers, yet bosses appear reluctant to hire them.
By 2011, mature age workers will make up the bulk of our workforce, the Australian Bureau of Statistics predicts, but recruiters believe many employers have negative views about older workers.
“Some employers are actively ageist,” CITI recruitment director Steve Wilson said.
“Older guys are perceived as out of touch or too experienced and employers often tell us they think an older worker wouldn’t fit in, culturally.
“In IT, for example, if you’ve hit the age of 35 and you’re not in a management position, it’s perceived as something wrong with you.”
Ron Browne, director of PLUS40, a recruitment firm specialising in mature workers, believes employers should harness the experience and knowledge that older workers bring.
“Mature-aged workers are a far more valuable and reliable workforce,’’ he said.
“They have lived through previous down cycles; they know what to do in tough times.”
Mr Wilson accepts the value of older staff, but believes they need to step back and let young people make their own mistakes, if they are to be accepted in a younger workplace.
“Older workers need to recognise when their ‘words of wisdom’ can stop becoming advice and start sounding like a lecture,” he said.
“They’re often just trying to help by sharing their years of wisdom, but younger workers don’t see it like this. They see it as criticism.”
Mr Wilson’s firm offers advice to mature-age workers seeking re-employment—primarily, that they can overcome some prejudices through re-wording their resume.
“I say to some mature workers looking for employment: `You need to make changes to your resume’,” he said.
“Some people list in chronological order every job they’ve had, right back to 1982, and I ask: `Why are you listing this stuff from 20 years ago—it just pre-prejudices you’.”
He advises highlighting skills, without drawing attention to your age.
“Take off any photos of yourself and take off your age ... if you finished university in 1982, just put your degree—there’s no need to list what year you completed it. List the things you can do in your resume and how it’s relevant to the job. Without resorting to lying you can make it look like you’ve been working since 2002.”
These changes can help you make it to the interview, without being held back by ageist prejudices. After that, Mr Wilson said, you’re on your own in convincing the interviewers that you suit the role, regardless of age.
“You need to do anything that gets you past the gatekeeper, who is, more often than not, a 25-year-old HR manager, who has just finished uni.”
