Use A Functional Or Combination Resume
As mentioned earlier, good resumes for experienced professionals often use the functional format. That’s because this resume type lets you show off your skills before having to deal with dates of employment.
Virginia Jeyapal of career services firm Shadow Management Consulting, advises:
“There are many important elements to integrate and consider when writing a successful resume that will land a jobseeker an interview, hopefully many. I have seen mid-career professionals, as well as C-suite executives struggle with their branding and presentation on paper. My advice is always: focus on the achievements and the big wins. What is your value added? It is not just about performing the basic duties of the role, what did you do beyond that? List career accomplishments and big wins with as many quantifiable details, percentages, and dollar values. This shows that you are high-achieving, top-performing, and exceed expectations.”
Wondering whether you should simply omit the dates on a resume for older workers? I’ll tell you why this is a bad idea in the next tip.
Dont Summarize Your Entire Work History
Its tempting to talk about your entire work history in your cover letter. After all, youve earned it! Plus, given the depth and breadth of your career, youve got a lot to offer an employer.
And while you may have a lot to offer, its not necessary to talk about everything in your cover letter . Mentioning your entire background may only draw attention to the fact that youre an older job seeker.
Instead, spotlight the relevant skills the employer is looking for based on the job description. In your cover letter, emphasize how youve got those skills and how you can use them to benefit the company.
Lean Into Your Resume Gap
Whereas some older workers have to overcome the perception that they have too much experience, others need to explain a gap in their resume. If you stepped out of the workforce to raise children or care for parents or have been unemployed due to layoffs, you may be wondering how to handle it on your resume.
Fortunately, hiring managers are familiar with resume gaps, so this isnt necessarily a cause for alarm or worry. If youve been out of work for a while, dont try to hide it. Be honest and be prepared to address your resume gap positively and professionally if you land an interview.
To get that interview, list on your resume the years you held each position before you left the workforce. Also, be sure to include volunteer and community engagement work you may have done in the meantime. If you were on a board of directors or an advisory board, add that, along with officer roles with responsibilities in national organizations and associations, co-op boards, parent-teacher organizations, and so on. List any achievements or skills you attained in those roles that meet the requirements of the job for which youre applying.
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Resume Example For Older Professionals
Here is a sample resume for an older professional using the template:
Linda Browne
Professional SummaryDriven communications manager with over 10 years of experience leading corporate communications departments and managing crisis communications. Proven record of communicating key messages to internal and external stakeholders using both traditional and online campaigns. Excellent written and verbal communication skills and ability to stay calm in high-pressure environments and situations.
Professional ExperienceCommunications manager at Minnhead, Inc.
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Oversaw a team of 15 communications professional to plan social media strategies, develop press releases and produce creative materials
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Managed communications plans to provide key information regularly to over 3,000 stakeholders using internal and external materials
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Generated interest in company by working with leading trade publications to publish 12 articles
Assistant communications manager at Pine Health Centers
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Developed strategies for social media platforms that resulted in a 30% following increase within six months
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Managed internal monthly newsletter that reached over 250 employees and consistently received open rates of at least 45%
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Promoted to assistant management role from original position as communications specialist
Relevant Skills
Restrict Your Cv To Two Pages
While there are some exceptions, most professionals should strive for a two-page CV length even those professionals with decades of experience. When you have so little time for your CV to impress employers, it’s important to provide them with a succinct document that summarises your experiences, education and qualifications. To achieve this CV length, reduce jobs older than 15 years to the bare essentials: your job title, the organisation’s name and its location. If you’ve worked in jobs that fall outside of the 15-year window and do not support your current job goals, you have the option to remove them completely from your CV.
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What Is An Equalities Monitoring Form
When you apply for a job, you may be asked to complete an equalities monitoring form.
This will often ask you about your date of birth, your ethnicity, if you have a disability, and possibly your religion and sexual orientation too. This may seem intrusive or you may be concerned about what this information will be used for.
These forms are confidential and should always be kept separate from your application. They should not be used to discriminate against you because of any answers you supply. Many organisations use the information on these forms to help them be more inclusive and build a more diverse workforce.
Many forms will have an answer where you can select Prefer not to say if you dont feel comfortable providing the information.
Seek Help From Career Services
If your college is like most, it has a career services office whose primary goal is to provide career counseling for its students, including resume and cover letter writing, assessments, interview help, internships and job placements. These services are usually free as long as youre enrolled as a student, and some offices even provide access to computer workstations with resume-writing software.
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Highlight Your Technology Skills
Most jobs today require some technical knowledge, which means your resume should promote your relevant proficiencies. When a job description mentions a specific technology, either show how you have used it in your experience section or list it in your skills section. Avoid mentioning any outdated technology. You want to emphasize that your skills are up to date with current trends, and you are comfortable learning new technology as needed.
Review Your Resume Before Sending It
Always check for typos or grammatical issuesâan error-free resume ensures you appear professional and have attention to detail. Try to have someone you trust review it to catch anything you may have missed or offer general feedback on it. As an older professional, you may want to have someone younger read it to provide advice on how to modernize the document.
You will most likely submit your resume online, either via email or uploaded to a job board or company website. To ensure your formatting appears correctly, you can email a copy to yourself and check how it looks in different programs. Your best approach is to upload a PDF version, so make sure that the resume looks as intended before submitting it.
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Aim For Visual Balance
If content is king in a resume, then design is queen. How your information is formatted is just as important as the information itself. Focus on leveraging a combination of short blurbs and bullet points to make it easy for the reader to quickly scan your resume and find the most important details that support your candidacy.
Join The Linkedin Bandwagon
LinkedIn is a valuable platform for connecting with others in your industry and uncovering new job opportunities. It’s also an important place to advertise your candidacy to prospective employers. In fact, a study by recruiting software provider Jobvite found that 93 percent of employers admit to reviewing candidates’ social network profiles regardless of whether the candidates provided that information.
If you’ve avoided using LinkedIn in the past, now’s the time to create a profile that supports your career goals. Then, and add it to the top of your resume to ensure recruiters find the right profile for you.
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Advice For Age Proofing Your Resume
Limiting what you include on your resume, from a chronological perspective, can help job seekers avoid the stigma of being considered “too old” by a prospective employer.
Also, showing that you’re up to speed with the latest technology and skills needed for your profession will help maximize your chances of getting selected for an interview. The following resume writing tips for older job seekers will help market your candidacy and showcase your skills to employers without highlighting your age.
Rid Your Cv Of Older Dates
Delete the dates related to work experience, education and certifications if they are 15 years or older. While you may want to consolidate older work experience in a separate section or a ‘Career Note’, including the dates of employment for these jobs is unnecessary. Similarly, it’s important for your CV to include your older credentials, but not the year in which you earned them.
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What Do Employers Want From Reference Letters
Dear :
This reference letter is provided at the written request of , who has asked me to serve as a reference on behalf. It is my understanding that is being considered by your organization for the position of . Please be advised that the information contained in this letter is confidential and should be treated as such. The information should not be disclosed to or anyone in your organization who would not be involved in the hiring decision regarding this individual. Additionally, the information should not be disclosed to anyone outside of your organization without the consent of the student.
I have known for the past as has taken the following courses which I teach: . As professor, I have had an opportunity to observe the student’s participation and interaction in class, and to evaluate the student’s knowledge of the subject matter. I would rate the student’s overall performance in these subjects as average. This is evidenced by grades-.
As part of grade in , the student was required to prepare a paper. The paper was designed to measure the student’s ability to research, to analyze the results of the research, and to write. Based upon this, I rate the student’s skills as competent, but not excelling.
The one area in which the student performed above average was in oral communications.
Based upon the student’s academic performance and my understanding of the position for which the student is applying, I believe the student would perform .
Sincerely,
Bring In The Prosfor Free
It’s not the easiest thing to write a resume that highlights your skills and experience but doesn’t make your age a focal point. Looking for a simple way to increase the chances that your resume will be noticed? Get a free resume evaluation today from the experts at Monster’s Resume Writing Service. You’ll get detailed feedback in two business days, including a review of your resume’s appearance and content, and a prediction of a recruiter’s first impression. It’s a smart move no matter what stage your career is at.
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Medical Jobs For Seniors
Consider A Hybrid Resume
For many older job seekers, it may be best to use a hybrid resume. This resume style allows you to highlight your relevant skills at the top of the resume without drawing attention to your dates of employment. While you include your work history in chronological order, it doesnt take center stage. Instead, you draw the recruiters attention to your relevant skills and experiences without advertising how long youve worked somewhere.
That said, there may be relevant or important work experiences that you want to include on your resume. In that case, consider adding an additional related experience section to your resume. You can put it just below your regular work history but before your education section. When you list the additional experiences, dont mention dates. Heres an example:
The one problem with a hybrid resume, though, is that some hiring managers consider it a red flag. Some people use a hybrid resume to hide blemishes in their work history . A recruiter may jump to the same conclusion about your hybrid resume, even when thats not the case.
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How To Present Skills Section In Senior Resume
To attain the seniority and experience in any field requires commitment and solid technical prowess as seen in senior resume samples. The best way to project your skills in the best limelight in a C-Level Resume is by referring to your exceptional professional values relevant to the job. These may include innovative specializations or solutions in your respective field as well as bonus software or computer knowledge.
Your experience in working with WordPress to JAVA, Microsoft Office, Adobe, Pinnacle Studio, Edius, EHR, Ableton, and Minecraft to present a clear picture of your technical skills to the interviewing committee. Listing individual software that you have expertise in is a fine way to outsmart the other candidates in your senior CV. When you compare multiple resume samples in your field, you might find diverse relevant software that youre aware of. Being updated with the technology is a big bonus to resumes at present!
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How Do I Write A Cv
To improve your chances of getting a job you need to maximise the impact of your CV.
- The first thing you should do is look through the person specification – it’s usually included with the job details. Itll show you what specific skills the employer is looking for.
- Think about how your skills and experience fit the jobs you’re applying for.
- You can then tailor your CV to the role – its tempting to use the same CV for every role you apply for, but youll increase your chances of getting an interview if you tailor it for each application.
- Make sure your CV is no more than two pages. That may mean leaving some things out, which is fine if they are not relevant to the specific job.
If you write a skills-based CV, you can easily highlight the skills that you have and make sure that they reflect the personal specification for the job you are applying for.
You could make key words on your CV stand out by using bold text or bullet points.
Ditch The Objective Statement
Avoid using a run-of-the-mill objective statement that’s full of fluff and focuses solely on your wants and needs. Instead, replace it with your elevator pitch. In a brief paragraph, known as a professional summary or executive summary, explain what you’re great at, most interested in, and how you can provide value to a prospective employer. In other words, summarize your job goals and qualifications for the reader.
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Finding Success In Your Job Search Regardless Of Age
Heres one last bonus tip: consider using a hybrid resume to help draw attention to your skills and away from your age. Its a great way to highlight everything youve got to offer a potential employer without going in chronological order on your resume.
Of course, weve got tips for formatting your resume, how to deal with ageism in your job search, and even how remote work is changing the game for older job seekers. For even more tips to help you with the intricacies of writing a cover letter, FlexJobs has an entire cover letter section on the blog to help you along the way.
Brie Reynolds and Carol Cochran contributed to this article
A version of this article was originally published on March 4, 2012.
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