![]() It is illegal to discriminate so blatantly. But, she adds, "Sometimes people have jobs early in their career that are so cool they become nifty interview stuff." In that case, she lets the especially interesting early job have its own entry. This approach works best for older job seekers considering junior positions, Enelow says. Here's an alternative that both Enelow and Kursmark use on occasion: Group several early-career jobs into a single resume item and state the combined time span during which those positions were held. "They can make you look too old even if you're vigorous and energetic," she says. Kursmark goes further still, calling dates from the 70s or the 1960s "the kiss of death" for some jobs. Yet Enelow says she almost never includes education dates from the 1970s because it's not essential information and may cast too strong a light on the age issue. "Companies don't want a CFO to be 28," says Enelow. Enelow follows a similar approach for the mid- and senior-level executives that compose most of her clientele. She says companies seeking to fill senior openings expect older applicants. Kraft, who focuses her business on finance executives, dates all work experience. The more experienced the hiring manager, the more you look for these things." "A lot of times, people develop patterns in their job history. "It helps chronologically to follow a person's background," Kass says. Indeed, Steve Kass, a Robert Half International district president who oversees some 300 recruiters in the Midwest, feels strongly about including dates. Is it a curiosity that attracts somebody or is a recruiter going to say, 'What is it that they don't want me to know?'" "Resume writing is all about strategizing and you have to think about what you're doing when your resume raises a red flag. "Any time you omit something that's standard, you put up a red flag," says Cindy Kraft, the founder of The CFO Coach. They also warn that there are risks in dispensing with dates. To be sure, resume experts stress that candidates should never try to deceive recruiters. "1) How relevant your earliest positions are to your objective 2) How old you want to appear on your resume." She adds: "Most employers have an age range they consider to be ideal for a particular job.A well-written resume uses dates to lead the employer to deduce that you are the ideal age for the job you are seeking, regardless of your actual age." "To help you figure out how far back to go (in work experience), consider these two things," Ireland writes. ![]() In an article on her Web site, Susan Ireland, author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Perfect Resume, suggests at times omitting early work experience and the dates of educational degrees. Employers don't expect to learn everything about you from the resume," she explains. ![]() "The resume is designed to entice employers. ![]() Although Kursmark includes full work dates on almost every resume she crafts, she says providing an effective work story line can be the most effective approach. "There is quite frankly age discrimination," says Louise Kursmark, principal at Best Impression Career Services and a co-author with Enelow on a number of resume writing books. In response, a few career experts suggest older candidates eliminate some dates to avoid being screened out based on age. While eliminating a candidate based on age is in theory illegal, the reality is that many organizations are more apt to hire younger workers - often because they command smaller salaries. Some are concerned their longer experience may weigh against them. "Every situation is different, depending on who you are, what job you're applying to and where you're going in your career," says Wendy Enelow, author of more than 30 books on resume and cover letter writing and other career issues.Īs older workers entered the job market in larger numbers over the past 18 months, the issue of how to present themselves on a resume has loomed larger. It's acceptable to exclude or massage early work and education dates that could highlight age at the expense of job qualifications and skills. Should older job seekers make it difficult for employers to gauge their age from a resume? While this is no time to scrap the traditional resume with work experience carefully dated, there are circumstances where older candidates needn't reveal all, resume consultants and recruiters say. ![]()
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