Should you hide your age in a resume?

Should you hide your age in a resume?

In a Netshare "Ask the Coach" webinar this week, I was asked if you should show your entire career in a resume. I get variations of this question all the time from candidates self-conscious/concerned about exposing they are later in their career than other peer level candidates they might be competing with for a job opportunity.

Regardless of age discrimination being against the law in the US, it is human nature some people are concerned about being labeled with euphemisms such as "Over Qualified" or hearing "We want to hire someone - uh - that can grow into the role."

My advice to candidates with more overall career experience than other peer level candidates they might be competing with that are earlier in their careers is - do not - truncate your career experience in your resume in an attempt to disguise your age. It will become obvious you did when you interview.

The most common way I see candidates truncating their career experience in their resumes is to begin their work chronology with their first position where they held an executive title (e.g., Vice President). Obviously, most people don't step into the professional workforce as an Executive.

Other candidates throw out the objection: "Nobody is going to hire me because of what I did in my early career."

That is flat out - not - true.

I coached one individual who received a CEO job offer after I suggested he'd be better off including his early career in his resume given it all was additive to his current executive value proposition. That was true in his situation:

During college and a year after graduating, this candidate manage an evening shift responsible for taking client calls for crashed mainframe computers, and dispatching the appropriate parts from warehouses and labor located around the world to get their client's mainframe up and running ASAP. The board and founders of the company he received his CEO job offer from were extremely interested in this specific experience. Why? Because the company developed software to equipment vendors for supporting service calls and warehouse part and labor dispatch. The candidate's early career work experience was absolutely additive to the candidate's value proposition.

It's simply human nature a hiring authority or recruiter would ask themselves:

"Why isn't the rest of this person's career on their resume?"
"Is it not relevant, how much of their career is not relevant?"
"Why do they think it isn't relevant?"
"I wonder how long ago they stepped into a professional role?"

Or worse: "What is this candidate trying to hide?"

It is much better to be upfront with your career. Anyone that is going to have a problem with "how much experience you have" is going to nuke you in the interview process, and you will have only wasted your time and theirs.

Be proud of the career you've put together, your value career value proposition is typically much greater than a peer level candidate that is "earlier in their career."

Happy Networking,

Ron Bates
Managing Principal
Executive Advantage Group
rbates@executive-advantage.com

www.cv-advantage.com
www.job-search-campaign.com
www.thenetworkingedge.com

Internet Presence, Job Search Advice, Resume Writing, network, networking, sales, selling, relationships, job, search, career, resume, CV