Applying for lots of jobs, not getting interviews, am I just too old?

agrinnall

I'd certainly leave ancient qualifications off the CV, although if you are honest and complete about the jobs you have had then it'll be pretty obvious you are no longer in the first flush of youth (I speak as someone 2 years older than you!). A bigger problem is application forms that insist that you fill in every little detail of your education and career, as anyone looking at those will have a pretty good idea of your age. And it's my experience that it can count against you, and it's almost impossible to prove age discrimination.

My suggestion would be to use contacts to find vacancies rather than adverts, either through asking people you know personally or through the likes of LinkedIn.

getmore4less

I think one thing to consider is focus on positions where you can make a difference because you have the skills and experience.

This might be a startup or small growing business that need to beef up their finance department.

Or maybe a slight change in direction eg. does auditing need experienced people that have seen all the tricks.


The problem with the I will take a lesser job on lower pay does give a suspicion that maybe you are looking for a cushy number to see out a few years rather than leveraging the skills and experience.

Caroline_a

Right. Firstly, age is a number. There are ancient 25 year olds and exceptionally youthful 90 year olds. I'm older than you and have never had a problem getting an interview, in fact the week I got my current job I had 6 interviews! As others have said, drop any irrelevant dates, such as those on your qualifications, off your CV, and also I only tend to go back 10 years with my job history.

Regarding interviews, be yourself, but be upbeat, positive and enthusiastic about the role and the company.

Good luck!

Thomas_The_Tank_Top

Caroline_a wrote: »

Right. Firstly, age is a number. There are ancient 25 year olds and exceptionally youthful 90 year olds. I'm older than you and have never had a problem getting an interview, in fact the week I got my current job I had 6 interviews! As others have said, drop any irrelevant dates, such as those on your qualifications, off your CV, and also I only tend to go back 10 years with my job history.

Regarding interviews, be yourself, but be upbeat, positive and enthusiastic about the role and the company.

Good luck!

Well said Caroline ma'am.

I'm the same age as the OP and have no problem getting interviews. In fact I was invited to one this coming Monday if I want it.

Get yourself a DV. Companies fall over themselves trying to get you through the door.

easy

Thomas_The_Tank_Top wrote: »

Well said Caroline ma'am.

I'm the same age as the OP and have no problem getting interviews. In fact I was invited to one this coming Monday if I want it.

Get yourself a DV. Companies fall over themselves trying to get you through the door.

erm, what is a DV please?

ThemeOne

motorguy wrote: »

Any manager with any level of ability / self confidence wont have any issue with an older person working for them.

I've worked in many roles with people under me with more experience in a given field or are older than me. You use that to the teams advantage, not see it as a threat.

I agree, it's just that managers of that calibre, in my experience, are not that common.

I do like the idea about working with startups, your experience could really make a difference to companies in the early stages, and there would usually be good job satisfaction.

daytona0

easy wrote: »

erm, what is a DV please?

According to http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/ it could stand for:

DV Digital Video
DV Darth Vader
DV Disbursement Voucher
DV Delivery Verification Certificate
DV Differential Voltmeter
DV Direct Viewfinder (camera technology)
DV Decoy Vehicle
DV Diversity Visa (US Department of State)
DV Disabled Vehicle


I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that it meant "Differential Voltmeter" :beer:

(but seriously, define your abbreviations before using them!!! Can be forgiven with CV though..)


OP, reading your post I see that you are finance manager but you are applying for accounts admin jobs? My very first impression is that you are kind of in charge right now and you want to move to a lower grade? Is that right? If so, that's a bit of a red flag for employers...

And what sort of management jobs are you looking for, which are not linked to being a finance manager? Do you have relevant experience? Or are you just looking to move company? Have you explained WHY you are moving from the company?

Aside from all of that, depending on the types of jobs you are going for you just have to be mindful that it takes a lot of time and effort to get somewhere else! Sometimes it can take multiple rejections to find one!

agrinnall

daytona0 wrote: »

According to http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/ it could stand for:

DV Digital Video
DV Darth Vader
DV Disbursement Voucher
DV Delivery Verification Certificate
DV Differential Voltmeter
DV Direct Viewfinder (camera technology)
DV Decoy Vehicle
DV Diversity Visa (US Department of State)
DV Disabled Vehicle

You missed out Developed Vetting, very useful for a job with MI5 or GCHQ, although I'm no sure they'd accept one you've obtained for yourself!

daytona0

agrinnall wrote: »

You missed out Developed Vetting, very useful for a job with MI5 or GCHQ, although I'm no sure they'd accept one you've obtained for yourself!

IS that what it meant?!

Probably shouldn't have cherry picked the (mainly) nouns!

FBaby

My experience is that the 30 something will know that the 50 something has more experience and they will not want to risk being outshone.

Really? It's not mine at all. I manage staff a decade or two more than me and it's never come to my mind that this is an issue. There is a difference between years working and level of experience.

I also appreciate that not everyone cares to be a manager. As a matter of fact, one of my staff said that she wouldn't want my job for all the money in the world! She is happy with her role, and yes, she is 12 years older than me!

OP, I agree that the issue is most likely that they might feel that you are applying for the job a gap whilst looking for another better paid role, maybe because of threat of redundancy for instance.

Do you include a cover letter to your CV and if so, do you give an explanation as to why you are applying for a less paid job?