Ageism can begin as young as age 35, if you can believe it. And even though age is a protected class under the Age Discrimination Employment Act of 1967, you might still be feeling the effects of ageism in your job or job search.
What is ageism? It’s discrimination against a person based on age – that sense that you’re getting pushed out not getting hired because you’re older. You might see that jobs are going to younger, cheaper hires, and you keep getting left out in the cold on interview after interview. Or, you might see that those getting laid off tend to be those who are older as well.
But it doesn’t have to work that way!
Of course, there are always going to be people and companies that have ageist practices. Those are companies you don’t want to work for anyway. Trust me.
But then there are those companies who are simply comparing apples (you) to apples (your twenty-something) competitor, and seeing that your apples cost a heck of a lot more. Which apples would you buy?
Stop Ageism: Get Them To See You’re An Orange
But what if you could make that hiring manager see that what they’re really doing is comparing apples to oranges?
That’s exactly the tactic I’ll teach you in this blog post, and the thing that will help you bust through ageism, if you can do it right.
Asking The Right Question To Beat Ageism
It all starts with knowing the answer to this question:
With your skills and experience, what problems can you help solve?
I’m not asking for a laundry list of all the things you can do. I know there’s a lot.
I’m asking for the specific things you enjoy doing, that the market will pay you for.
When you can identify what you like to do, that you have the skills to do, that you can get paid to do, you can start using your skills and experience as an asset, rather than a liability.
Because apples don’t have your skills and experience. That’s what makes them apples. But if you can highlight the specific problems you can solve because of your skills and experience, companies are willing to take notice.
Home In On You As A Solution
Once you know the specific problems you solve, you can talk with employers about how you can solve their problems. After all, you have years of experience solving problems like this, and younger people don’t.
So think about it hard. What is it that you do? How do you make an employer’s life better?
It doesn’t have to be industry-specific, either. You might do it now in your particular industry, but it could translate across to another industry that you might have an interest in, or some other compelling reason that someone would hire you for that industry.
When You Position It, Age IS An Asset
When you can present yourself as a solution to an employer’s problem, and you have the experience to back it up, you’ll get hired for that great job you want, regardless of your age.
A Tool That Can Help:
For a more in-depth solution to this problem, you might be interested in my guide: Beat Ageism in the Workplace.
Have questions? Leave them in the comments below, or send them to me at jessica at wishingwellcoach. com