When it comes to age discrimination, there's usually only five concerns that a hiring manager
or a certified HR representative has in the back of their mind.
In today's video I want to discuss those five concerns and how you can best address them
before you even walk into the interview.
I want to talk a moment about some of the research studies that have been conducted
in regards to age discrimination.
In one of the largest, 418 empirical studies examined the research that had been done on
age and 39 different variables, preconceived notions that hiring managers and HR representatives
had when it came to an older worker.
Of these 39 variables, five really kind of rose to the top.
These are five that you can actually address before you even walk into an interview.
Let me share with you some examples of this.
The first, and I've talked about this one in many times, many earlier videos, is that
there's a preconceived notion by many hiring managers and HR people out there, the older
worker is not going to have the energy or the drive or the ambition to do the work.
Now, by the way, of all these empirical studies, there was no evidence found on this.
I want you to understand this right off the bat.
There was a preconceived notion but there was no evidence that backed this up.
So how do you deal with this?
Number one, you probably know as well as I do that a lot of people out there in their
30s and 40s don't seem to have any drive or ambition or the energy to do the job.
I've seen people that actually seem like they're falling asleep when I'm talking to them, and
yet I've seen people in their mid-60s and even mid-70s be extremely energetic and I
wouldn't have any doubts whatsoever that they would not be able to do the work.
Your job is to make that solid impression within the first seven seconds of meeting
that individual.
How are you coming into the interview to present yourself?
One of the things that I often recommend to my clients is there is a really cool video
out on Udemy, udemy.com, and I'll leave the link below, by an individual by Vanessa Van
Edwards.
She's a body language coach and she has this video out there.
I think it's called the seven scientifically proven steps to increase your influence.
It's a completely free class.
I'm not affiliated with Vanessa Van Edwards in any sense, but she has some really good
resources out there.
Again, I'll leave this resource, a link to this resources in the notes section below.
Definitely one you want to check out.
The second concern that many hiring managers and HR people have is that the individual
is going to not have the willingness to participate in training and self-development classes.
Now, by the way, of all these five that I'm citing here in this video, this is the only
one that does have some empirical evidence behind it, that they have found when they've
done research studies, that an older worker often will not participate in these kind of
training classes, so you need to participate in these before you even walk into the interview.
One of the best ways to do this is through continuous online training and development.
In an earlier video, and I will put this link also in the notes section below, or you can
click it in the upper right hand corner.
In an earlier video that talked about resources out there that are available to you right
now, where you can participate in some online training.
There's you to me.
There's Udacity.
There's coursera.
There's Linda.com.
I have all of these links and a little bit more about all this information in the video
that's linked above.
The third is an element of distrust.
They feel that the older worker, the more mature worker, is not going to have the trust
that other, say younger workers will have.
This is what you need to do to address this.
You need to have your accomplishments there in your resume and when I say accomplishments,
a lot of people talk about ask related issues.
I want you to give bullet points of your accomplishments.
Some of these bullet points of your accomplishments, I want to be success stories, where you are
using words like collaborated with other team members or whatever it is, to show that you
worked with teams, other departments, because that shows that you have worked and that you
have developed trust with these other individuals.
Not only that, not only have your accomplishment statements there, but be prepared to talk
about these and the wins that have happened with the teams.
You're going to use star stories and sore stories.
If you don't know what these are, I have another video, the links should be showing up right
now, in the upper right hand corner, plus I'll put it in the notes below, of earlier
videos I've done informing star stories and sore stories.
It's a whole different video, but what you need to do, is you need to create some stories
of the accomplishments that you've had working with other individuals.
That's how you're going to address the trust issue.
The fourth concern that a hiring manager or HR representative may have towards the older
worker is resistance to change.
Oftentimes, a more mature worker is perceived as someone who is going to be more resistant
to change.
So just like the trusting issue, where I'm suggesting to have some bullet points on your
successful accomplishments that include a collaboration, I want you to have some successful
accomplishments on your resume, bullet points, that show how you either drove change, initiated
change or supported change.
But it doesn't stop there.
You also have to have some star or sore stories that show that you'll be able to discuss during
the interview when one of these bullet points is brought up, or even better so, if you're
asked a question, can you tell me a time when, or can you give me an example of, that you
bring up one of these star stories that involves how you drove or supported change.
You can eliminate that concern right off the table by a star story or a sore story and
with a bullet point of accomplishment on your resume.
The final one is health problems.
This is kind of an unspoken one, because it's not going to be asked about in the interview.
Do you have any health related issues, however this could be a concern of the hiring manager
or the HR individual.
By the way, again I wanted to talk about this and go back to this.
Of all of these that I'm citing, the only one that had evidence behind it was a lack
of willingness to participate in training.
Health related issues, there was no empirical evidence behind it, but it still could possibly
be a concern of a hiring manager or the HR person.
This is the only way that you can really address this because it's not going to really come
out in a question, but what I want you to do is I want you to go in to the interview
with essentially this mantra in the back of your head.
I am a professional.
I create no problems.
I have no problems.
I'm going to solve all of your problems.
This actually works for every one of those concerns.
I'm a professional.
I have no problems.
I create no problems and I'm going to solve all of your problems.
This is the image that you need to project out when you're in the interview.
By the way, I need to end this video on this note here.
It was your resume and it was the phone screen that validated your confidence.
You know, so many individuals, they go into the interview believing that it's going to
be a mistake if they don't hire me because I'm the most qualified for this position.
I'm 150% qualified for this position, but at the end of the day, the interview is not
about your confidence anymore.
Sure, you're going to be asked some questions regarding your confidence, but really what
it boils down to now is about compatibility and likability.
You see, the hiring manager, you may think that you're 150% fit for this position, but
when it comes to the hiring manager, he has three or four other individuals that he's
interviewing that in his mind are just as competent to do the job.
Who is he going to get along with best?
Who is going to be the most compatible?
Who's going to be the professional?
Who's not going to have the problems?
Who's going to not create any problems and who is going to solve all of his problems?
That's the image that you want to project when you walk into the interview.
I guarantee you, that's going to move you up to the top of the pyramid there.
So, I hope you found this video informative and useful, and if so, make sure that you
subscribe to this channel, as I do upload a new career strategy every Tuesday.
Finally, I'm excited to announce a new online course that I recently created called "Finding
a Job that Fuels Your Passion."
So if you're currently in career transition, definitely check it out.
You can even test drive one of the courses at no cost.
It's in, the link is in the notes section below.
Thank you for stopping by, and I will see you in the next video.