Mature job seekers, particular those over the age of 50 or so, need to ensure that the resume style they choose highlights their experience, without focusing too much on achievements that are in the far past. We offer some tips on how to keep your resume current and targeted. Mark Swartz, MBA, M.Ed Monster.ca Career Coach

1. Employee GET
& Job- YOUR
Seeker 50 PLUS
Tip RESUME
John Rossheim
Monster Contributing Writer RIGHT

2. 1.
CHOOSING AN
AN APROPRIATE
RESUME FORMAT

3. 1.1 PLAY UP YOUR EXPERIENCE, OR HIDE IT?
• Many 50-plus job seekers adopt an "I am what I am"
approach. They simply update the top of their traditional
chronological resume with a brief description of recent projects,
subtracting a few lines from the bottom for brevity
• The opposite tack, often taken out of fear of age bias and
professional obsolescence, is the "I am whatever they want me
to be" approach. These mature job seekers start from scratch,
selectively creating from their past a chronology-free
professional identity that precisely matches the needs of the h
iring company du jour. The resulting functional resume is so
artful that it could be mistaken for fiction

4. 1.2 TAKING THE MIDDLE GROUND
• Career experts recommend the middle path
• Workers should highlight their latest and greatest
accomplishments in terms that will appeal to youthful recruiters
and hiring managers, customizing each resume to directly
address the needs of prospective employers without pandering
to each job posting down to the bullet point
• "There's no reason to disguise the dates in a work history; just
don't use your entire history," says Sarah Hightower Hill, CEO of
Chandler Hill Partners, a career search strategies firm.
• Setting a time limit on work history may be O.K. , because
experience more than 10 years old can become obsolete

5. 2.
EMPHASIZE YOUR
ACCOMPLISHMENTS, NOT
YEARS OF EXPERIENCE

6. 2. EMPHASIZE YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS, NOT
YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
• Another common mistake is to brag about depth of
experience as a virtue unto itself. By contrast, recent
accomplishments that are relevant to the job opening
automatically make a candidate appear more youthful
• As you draft your resume, "compare yourself to younger
workers, who are engaged with the job market and know
what employers want," says Karen Riggs, a professor of
telecommunications at Ohio University and author of
Granny@Work: Aging and New Technology on the Job

7. 3.
ADDRESS THE
TECHNOLOGY ISSUE
HEAD ON

8. 3. ADDRESS THE TECHNOLOGY ISSUE HEAD ON
• Whether you're a programmer or a cosmetics executive, your
resume must confront any reservations the prospective
employer may have about your technical aptitude
• The greatest concern employers have about hiring older
workers is that they won't keep up with technology, according
to a survey by the Society of Human Resource Management
• So flaunt what you've got when it comes to technology,
whether it's recent certifications or a simple mention of
office-productivity software training you've undertaken.
• Also ensure you show up in a social media search

9. more on this topic:
Get Your 50 Plus Resume Right
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