Your age can sometimes hinder a successful job search. Age is something you can’t control and learning how to maximize the most out of your experience and leadership can lead you on the path to success.

A job search is a process that can take time, ensuring you have made the right connections and are getting seen by the right people in addition to creating a professional resume, biography, cover letter and LinkedIn profile. Once all of this is done, you don’t want something like your age to obstruct your experience. There are several useful tools that you can use to highlight your suitability for the job rather than your age.

• Make it clear that you are a vital and valuable leader in a fast-paced economy. It’s vital to keep up with trends, technology and understand the importance of these tools in business.
   
• Have a check list of your online profiles and make sure they are regularly updated; this shows you understand how to use these tools, which is a concern of search consultants when they see your age. This includes LinkedIn, Twitter and looking at your online reputation and visibility.
   
• Create the best perception of who you are and your values. Having worked in business for a number of years, you have a better understanding of professionalism, how to work with people and you have collected strong values which would be an asset to any good business.
   
• Making your accomplishments (and not your age) the centerpiece of your CV/resume. You have experience which can give you an edge over the competition, so it’s vital you use this experience to highlight who you are and how your leadership skills have resulted in success. There is no counting for experience.

--

This article was written by Gabrielle Williams of the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC).
 
About BlueSteps
BlueSteps is the exclusive service of the AESC that puts senior executives on the radar screen of over 8,000 executive search professionals in more than 75 countries. Be visible, and be considered for up to 75,000 opportunities handled by AESC search firms every year. Find out more at www.BlueSteps.com.