Is it ageism? Or…

the hiring team can't instantly figure out what you're good at?

Spend too much time on here and you’ll be thinking that everybody but you has a straight-line career trajectory. Onwards and upwards!!! But you’d be wrong. Many career paths are messy. They zig, they zag, they go off the rails a little. And that’s OK. But it’s not going to help you tell your story. And if you can’t tell your story, you’re going to struggle to get hired. What to do…

First, if you’re not sure what it is you’re good at, try the golden thread exercise (link in the comments). It’s a great tool for helping people with meandering careers figure it out. Once you know what you’re good at (your golden thread), you can work that into your resume and your personal positioning statement. You have to tell the hiring team what you’re good at, because they’re never going to take the time to try and figure it out.

Next, get your resume into shape. Your summary paragraph at the top should reflect your golden thread. Jobs you had more than 15-20 years ago, cut them. You’re not going to get hired for them anyway. Cutting them will help you focus your resume on your recent skills and experience - what you’re actually good at. 

When you get interviews, your response to “Tell me about yourself” is your personal positioning statement. And that too should include your golden thread.

Getting hired in your 40’s is different from getting hired in your 20’s. But many of us don’t evolve our approach. We just keep adding to our resume without pruning. We never take the time to reflect on what it is we’ve become really rather good at with our years of professional and lived experience.

Declutter your resume, figure out your golden thread, and center your job search on it.