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Hmm, well see, I trimmed old technology off my resume not because it gave
away my age but because it was irrelevant. Maybe that was just giddy
innocence (it wouldn't be the first time). But the date on my Masters
degree is 1977. Gee, was I an Infant Phenomenon? I left off that date once
and a recruiter almost immediately told me that was a dead giveaway of
hiding one's age. It might work if everyone did it, but since they don't,
it can only mean you're worried about being perceived of as too old. So I
put it back.Maybe it impacts who calls me, but if they call, at least they
aren't surprised when a slightly middle-aged woman walks thru the door.
I also trim away stuff I have been exposed to but don't ever want to work
with again. The worst part of my last gig was that it was working with
software requirements docs, which just bore me silly. Because they were the
most recent, I couldn't very well leave them out, but of course the phone
wouldn't stop ringing with people who wanted to talk to me about doing the
same thing again. Aargh!
Aren't there companies out there still running AS/400 or Windows 95? New
people have to learn that technology when they come on board, don't they?
So maybe they did just learn it yesterday.
Maggie
techwr-l-bounces+maggie_secara=capgroup -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com wrote on
09/26/2006 12:51:29 PM:
>
> --- Maggie_Secara -at- capgroup -dot- com replied:
> > I'd say dumping the outdated technology was the
> > significant change. That's
> > not about your age. No one cares how much you know
> > about stuff no one uses
> > any more, which is also probably stuff you haven't
> > used in years.
>
>
> Maggie, I have to disagree. Age definitely was the
> concern here. Anyone who was not concerned about Liz's
> age, and who read her resume before she knocked off 10
> years, could have simply ignored references to old
> technolgy. But obviously they did not ignore those
> references.
>
> Familiarity with older technology implies an older
> worker - pure and simple. If your resume lists
> software that hit the open market 20 years ago, nobody
> is going to assume you studied that software last
> year. They're going to assume you were using it 20
> years ago, and that means they're going to assume
> you're older than the guy who lists only stuff thats 5
> years old or less.
>
> My own experience echoes the experience Liz had. I
> noticed a significant increase in the number of emails
> and calls I got from headhunters and hiring firms
> after I trimmed my resume to remove possible clues to
> my age.
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