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3 Ways Your Resume Makes You Look Old

3 Ways Your Resume Makes You Look Old
  • March 13th, 2024
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3 Ways Your Resume Makes You Look Old

For a variety of reasons, baby boomers are staying in the workforce a lot longer. However, this demographic faces a number of challenges, including experience discrimination, an issue where baby boomers struggle to get employment opportunities because millennials have enough relevant experience to be just as valuable, but at less of a cost.

Because the pool of baby boomer employees has grown so significantly, employers are starting to change their views on the 65 and up demographic, and are at least giving them a closer look. Just because you are of a certain age doesn’t mean your resume should reflect that age!

One of the keys to staying attractive to potential employers is to not look or act out of date—in person or on paper. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use a photo on your LinkedIn profile. Profiles without pictures only make recruiters and potential employers wonder what you may be hiding. And the truth is they are going to meet you during the interview process. So there’s no reason to hide.

Still, there are many ways you can date yourself without realizing it. Here are three ways your resume can make you look old.

Having An Objective Statement

Older man on laptop updates his resume so it doesn't make him look old

Over the years, styles change. You wouldn’t wear the same suit you wore 20 years ago. Unless you’re a collector, the car you’re driving looks a lot different too. The same is true for resumes. Having an objective statement on top of the resume used to be all the rage! They were used to let employers know that a candidate had some career direction.

Today, having an objective statement on your resume makes it seem obsolete. Maybe even worse than being outdated, an objective statement implies that your focus is on you.

Big mistake.

Like most of us, employers are listening to station WIIFM (what’s in it for me?). They want to know how you can solve their problems. Removing your objective statement and creating a succinct experience summary (a list of skills at the top of your resume) updates your resume and puts the focus on what you can do for the employer.

Having An Old-Fashioned Email Address

via GIPHY

Back in the 90s, having an AOL email address indicated that you were ahead of the curve, an early adopter of new technology. That was last century. Today having an AOL email address, even a Yahoo email address, makes you look decidedly outdated.

The trendy email address to have today is Gmail. The good news is that Gmail is free and easy to join. No need to eliminate that old AOL email address—use it to keep up with friends and family.

When you do create a new email address, opt for one that sounds professional. For example, your name or a variation of your name that will look appropriate on your resume. Cutesy email addresses like talketome@ or carguy@ are best kept for personal use.

Too Many Clichés

One thing that’s sure not to impress potential employers is a resume filled with clichés. Every day recruiters get resumes from out-of-the-box thinkers and team players. Tired phrases like detail-oriented or excellent communication skills are not likely to impress anyone either. Neither are bullets that begin with responsible for or duties included.

You’re much more likely to get a recruiter’s attention by including examples that actually show what you can do. That means a resume that highlights your skills and achievements. A resume that illustrates how you saved time, saved money, generated income, etc. for a previous employer.

Will making these changes make you look 20 years younger? Not likely. Nor should you want them to, particularly if you are looking for a more senior position. But they will keep your resume looking fresh and up to date.

Remember: Your resume may be the first time a potential employer meets you. Shouldn’t it reflect someone who’s on top of their game, who’s still relevant and in demand in their industry?

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This article was originally published at an earlier date.

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5 Tips For A Career Change Resume

5 Tips For A Career Change Resume
  • January 16th, 2024
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Writing a career change resume can be tricky. How can you effectively market yourself to employers in a different industry when you don’t have nearly enough experience as the average candidate applying for the same job as you?

If you’re looking to make a career change, optimizing your resume becomes even more important than it normally is. It’s also critical to write a disruptive cover letter and make strategic networking and intentional branding the priority.

Follow these five tips for an effective career change resume so you can land your dream job in a new industry.

1. Create An Interview Bucket List

An interview bucket list is a list of 10-20 companies you’d love to work for. Before beginning your job search as a career changer, having an interview bucket list is a must.

How can you identify the right companies to add to your interview bucket list? Well, it’s simpler than it sounds. Think about the companies you admire—for their mission, the product or service they provide, or both. Then, determine whether you could find an opportunity at these companies that aligns with your career change goals.

When creating your interview bucket list, you’re ultimately looking for companies you connect with. Why are you passionate about working for them? Tell that connection story in your disruptive cover letter. Then, you’ll be able to tailor your resume for specific job openings at these companies, customizing it for each position that you apply for. This leads to our next tip for a career change resume…

2. Highlight Your Transferable Skills

Man on laptop writes a career change resume

Transferable skills are hard skills that are in demand across many different roles and industries. As a career changer, highlighting your transferable skills on your resume is the key to looking as qualified as possible for the position you’re applying for.

Never include soft skills on your resume. It doesn’t matter whether you’re changing careers or not. Soft skills cannot be quantified. Therefore, they do not belong on your resume.

For example, “detail-oriented” is a soft skill, and “project management” is a transferable skill. You may not have experience managing the types of projects in the industry you’re looking to get a job in, but if you have the skill, you’ll likely be able to transition into a role that requires project management smoothly.

3. Focus On Your Accomplishments

Woman on laptop writes a career change resume

In the “Work History” section of your resume, you’ll want to focus on what you accomplished in previous roles, keeping your transferable skills in mind. For each role you list, you should have at least three bullet points detailing your quantifiable accomplishments.

Employers want to see what you accomplished in your previous roles and how those accomplishments could translate to success in their industry. They don’t care what your tasks or responsibilities were. That won’t tell them the value you provide as a business-of-one.

What accomplishments are you most proud of in your career? Write those down. Hiring managers will probably be impressed by them too.

4. Avoid Irrelevant Information

Man on laptop writes a resume for his career change

Any irrelevant information you include on your career change resume will hurt your chances of getting an interview. Hiring managers spend only seconds reviewing each resume that comes across their desk. If they can’t easily identify relevant information, they’ll assume you aren’t qualified for the position and toss your resume.

Only including relevant information on your resume will be difficult if you’re changing careers. But if you follow the tips above, you should be on the right track.

5. Use The “Additional Experience” Section To Your Advantage

Woman on laptop writes a resume for her career change

The “Additional Experience” section of your resume is the perfect place to showcase more relevant work or volunteer experience for the industry you’re looking to switch to.

Did you volunteer at an organization within the same industry? Have you worked on special projects that involved the industry in some way? This section is where you should include any remaining relevant information you believe makes you qualified for the job you’re applying for.

These five tips will help you write an effective career change resume. Just remember the importance of strategic networking and intentional branding in your job search as well.

To get your resume in front of hiring managers, you’ll likely need to go around the ATS and focus on networking your way into companies by connecting with current employees of these companies on LinkedIn. Customizing your resume, writing a disruptive cover letter, and having a solid networking strategy will help you successfully change careers.

Need more help with your career change resume?

Become a member to learn how to land a job and UNLEASH your true potential to get what you want from work!

This article was originally published at an earlier date.

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How Recent Grads Can Quantify Their Accomplishments
  • April 27th, 2022
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Quantifying your accomplishments on a resume is very important since employers do not make important hiring decisions based on qualifications only. Recent college graduates often struggle with how to quantify their accomplishments. However, accomplishments aren’t only about big numbers—anything that contributes to the company’s goals is an achievement.

How To Quantify Your Accomplishments As A Recent College Grad

Even as an intern or recent college graduate, changing a process to improve the ease or speed of a task is an accomplishment. You should be able to find some achievements from your course or work experience. It is easy to impress the interviewer with examples of increasing profits, decreasing costs, or streamlining processes.

When asked about accomplishments, don’t say clichés answers like: I got 2:1 or I got a driver’s license. Having a degree is hardly going to make you stand out from the crowd. Ideally, you would want to mention something tangible that you can measure (e.g. if you raised money for charity, how much did you raise in the end?).

As with competency-based interviews that usually focus on behavioral questions, you should aim to use the STAR technique when quantifying your accomplishments.

  • Situation: Give the interviewer some context. Describe the situation and why the accomplishment was significant. Why was it difficult to achieve?
  • Task: What specifically did you aim to achieve?
  • Action: Explain what your specific actions were to achieve that goal.
  • Result: Make sure it is specific. If you’ve saved time or money or received great feedback, say it.

If you’re still struggling to come up with something, think about whether you’ve done any of these:

  • Trained for and finally completed a marathon or other sporting achievement
  • Set up a new student society or turned a struggling one into something more successful
  • Overcome a fear by completing something you were frightened of
  • Given a presentation at an event and got over public speaking worries
  • Raised a certain amount of money for charity
  • Helped others to succeed, for example, by teaching them a new skill

Here are some examples of quantified accomplishments for recent college grads:

  • Worked as a part of a team of students who created a multi-media campaign that increased student enrollment by 45%
  • Named class representative of 5,000 students during final year at college, owing to consistently acquiring “A” grades and exceptional personal conduct
  • Streamlined 3 university admissions office procedures by introducing centralized online enrollment procedures
  • Received 8 awards for drama and music during the 4 years spent at college
  • Attained the Dean’s Award for Excellence following distinctions in 5 languages and 3 sports

You can choose a professional accomplishment that’s related to the role, such as exceeding sales targets in your part-time job, but you don’t have to—it’s more important that it’s an achievement you’re genuinely proud of.

Good luck quantifying your accomplishments on your resume! We’re here for you if you need any more help navigating the post-grad job search.

In fact, we’d love it if you joined our FREE community. It’s a private, online platform where workers, just like you, are coming together to learn and grow into powerful Workplace Renegades.

It’s time to find work that makes you feel happy, satisfied, and fulfilled. Join our FREE community today to finally become an empowered business-of-one!

This article was originally published at an earlier date.

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