Is it ageism? Or is it….

A lack of focus in your resume? 

When you’re over 40 and struggling to land interviews it’s easy to label it as ageism. And you might be right. But there are other factors too. It’s obvious, but I’ll say it anyway: The older you are, the more work experience you have. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻, 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆. 

For example, Claudia is 6 years out of college, started their career as a copywriter for a Fortune 500 company, then moved to a boutique PR agency as a client success manager. A short career to-date, but a simple, clear logical progression. Claudia is doing well, no eyebrows raised.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗺𝗲 - 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗺𝗲. Twenty plus years into a career. Enterprise software marketing, tech research analyst, market research for medical devices, and then…renewable energy marketing. On two sides of paper, it’s not a clear career trajectory. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗮 𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗴𝗲, 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗻’𝘁 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝘁𝘀. And if a recruiter can’t quickly join the dots, you’re done. The older you get, the more likely you have this issue. It’s natural, just a factor of time. Not age as such, but a lack of career clarity.

What to do…? I’ve posted elsewhere about pruning the dead wood out of your resume. In summary, nobody is going to hire you for what you did 20 years ago, it’s not helping, cut it. But figuring out your golden thread can be immense. 

The golden thread exercise helps you to identify the one key skill, characteristic, and/or passion that runs through your career. And crucially, articulate it in 20 words or less. Once you have your golden thread, plug it into the summary on your resume. Say it in your personal positioning statement. 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺, 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲.