All job seekers face challenges in articulating their value and fit for open positions. Recruiters and hiring managers who evaluate candidates may make judgments and draw conclusions based on factors that have more in common with perceived group characteristics or irrelevant superficialities than individual skills and abilities. These assumptions are known as stereotypes. Modern “politically correct” sentiments and diversity training are supposed to ameliorate the impact of these factors, and yet they persist. The effective experienced job seeker will be mindful of common stereotypes of older workers and devise a communication strategy that indirectly and directly combats these preconceptions.
[Read: How to Beat Age Discrimination in Hiring Practices.]
Energy. Perhaps the most common stereotype about older people that leads to hiring misconceptions is that older workers lack physical and mental energy. Energy levels are communicated through body language, posture, handshakes, eye contact and voice modulation. A job seeker needs to project vitality. A candidate can steer the conversation toward active hobbies and interests to further cement the concept. Bone-bruising handshakes and piercing eye-staring are not necessary, but the effective job seeker will want to remove all doubt that energy will be a problem.
Technology. While few positions in the contemporary workplace require a mastery of Snapchat, Instagram or Tinder, employers may assume that older workers lack an ability to adapt to the use of contemporary workplace technology. Younger managers may not even know or appreciate that desktop computers have been office mainstays since the ’80s and ubiquitous Internet usage since the late ’90s. The job seeker can telegraph technological mastery by discussing personal experience and by carrying a late-model smartphone or tablet while meeting interviewers. Similarly, the job seeker will want to be sure that her social media presence, especially LinkedIn, is up to date.
Inflexibility. Younger hiring managers may harbor a fear that an older worker will be too set in his ways to adapt to the new workplace. This fear of inflexibility may be addressed by telling stories of adaptation and innovation in the context of the one’s personal career narrative. “That is when I realized we need to adopt a fresh approach to reach our goals” is a powerful way to convey fertility and adaptability.
[See: 10 Ways Social Media Can Help You Land a Job.]
Trainability. The adage that one cannot teach an old dog new tricks is usually applied to humans. Hiring managers may fear, unjustly of course, that workers are harder to train when they are seasoned. Like the issue of inflexibility, the experienced job seeker needs to convey an aptitude, willingness and even eagerness to learn. Using terms like “I am a lifelong learner” or “I am a voracious reader because I love to learn new concepts and techniques” is an effective method for communicating trainability.
Sexism, racism and homophobia. Some younger hiring managers and recruiters may harbor a bias against older employees because they assume that they exhibit out-of-date attitudes about minorities, women or people of other sexual orientations. Of course, these issues should not even come up in interviewing situations, but if they do, it is important that the job seeker stays up to date with the often-changing diversity vocabulary. Similarly, while it was never appropriate to make comments or jokes of a provocative or political nature, it is especially critical to avoid that faux pas today.
[See: 8 Careers for Creative People.]
In a perfect world, those evaluating job candidates would do so with open minds free of bias or prejudice. In practice, the world is far from perfect. Job seeking is a practical exercise, and candidates must not hesitate to communicate and convey themselves in the best light possible. By using tactics to address these common stereotypes, the older job seeker will have the best success in reaching the next career milestone.
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Overcoming Stereotypes as an Older Job Seeker originally appeared on usnews.com
