Looking for a tech job - too much experience?

July 23, 2006 12:35 PM

I'm having a difficult time finding a tech job two thirds of the way across the US from where I am now. I'm wondering if it’s because my age is showing through, or if it's something else.

A little background: Ten years ago while working for a Big Company as a systems analyst, my wife and I decided to move from the midwest to the northeast. I set out to find a job in a small market, and almost immediately I was getting responses from prospective employers. During the course of that search I was flown out 5 times to interview with different companies. In the end I accepted a job with a small company where I stayed for 4 years or so. Fast forward and I am now on my third job here, still with a small company. Now we want to move again. This time to the southwest US, in what is a slightly larger market.

My skills are mostly with SQL Server databases, Visual Basic and MS Office tools. I've done some web work using Cold Fusion and more recently with .NET. While that makes me more of a language generalist, I think my strength is an ability to take a broader look at business and apply technology as needed. At a small company that includes dealing with vendors, hardware and networking, besides software development. Though I am well compensated for what I do, my salary is towards the lower end of the prevailing range for both where I’m live now and where we want to move to.

So far, so good. But even though my resume reads pretty well, I haven't had heard back from companies I’ve responded to from ads on dice, monster, and the paper local to where we want to live.

My resume shows 23 years of experience in various jobs that combine development and management roles in IT (I’ve managed to keep it to 2 pages). I'm starting to think that either "too much experience" or implied age is turning prospective employers off. The reason that I'm resistant to shortening my resume to reflect, let's say the last 10 years, is though I have some college I don't have a degree, so I want to emphasize my experience. And I also had a blue collar life prior to those 23 years. Though I know age shouldn’t matter I’m concerned about misleading an employer, since I'm over 50.

So what do I do? Here my options, as I see them:
1. Move without a job (I don't tend to live quite so dangerously).
2. Learn a more marketable technology (not sure what that is).
3. Shorten my resume to show only the last 15 years or less (not terribly truthful, might miss some of the earlier highlights).
4. Start my own consultancy where we want to move (that seems dicey since I have no contacts there).

Am I missing something, or is it just a cooling job market? I know most readers here are younger than me, but what would you do in my position?

posted by anonymous to work & money (5 comments total)

Cut the early years. When you apply for a job tailor the cover letter to the job and mention the earlier experience if it applies, it doesn't have to be on the resume. Your cover letter is more important than the resume.

What the recruiter is looking for is someone who can tell time, not someone who can tell them how to build a watch. you could also try Indeed for your job search.
posted by ptm at 12:58 PM on July 23, 2006

Seems like these days, sending resumes to a company directly or via Dice/Monster etc. is virtually guaranteed to result in no responses. With your background, you're highly recruitable - I would suggest getting in contact with some contracting companies in the town in which you want to move, and get a recruiter looking for work for you.

As far as your resume goes, focus it on results, not on duration - two pages max, with a summary at the top listing your top five career achievements (bullet points, not paragraphs), which you can then expand on in the body of the resume.
posted by pdb at 2:39 PM on July 23, 2006

What kind of jobs are you applying for? The stuff you describe doesn't sound like a job except at a company with one "tech guy". A lot of companies are going to expect someone with your age + experience to be either fairly specialized or a solid manager. "SQL Server + VB + Office" jobs are usually filled with someone half your age at half your salary who'll work twice the hours.

I think you need to talk to a recruiter who works at the management level, if not a career counselor. Not having a degree is going to be a problem, no doubt, but they can help you shape how you present yourself to compensate.
posted by mkultra at 2:59 PM on July 23, 2006

Have you thought about finishing your degree? It really is never too late, my sister just got her BS at the age of 50 and going to start grad school next year. Or at least maybe look into some certificate programs to freshen up your skills, VB and SQL Server are not exactly cutting edge. Maybe try to pick up some LAMP skills: PHP, MySQL, Python, etc.

But I'm just guessing off the top of my head here, I agree with mkultra that you need to talk to a recruiter to find out what the market is looking for. I don't know about the part of the country that you are moving to but in a lot of places, that kind of work is often done by contractors working through agencies. Try to see if you can get an appointment to talk to a recruiter from a hiring agency to get an idea of what kind of work is needed there.
posted by octothorpe at 5:41 PM on July 23, 2006

I have found that true recruiters are getting harder to find, seems they have all converted to consultant/contractor agencies. I'm 53 years old and have had luck working as a contractor at many different jobs here in Oklahoma. I would suggest searching for a reputable consultant/contractor agency. that's what I did after trying "recruiters". Also many consultant/contractor agencies have "Contract for Hire" openings where you eventually become an employee of the company where your placed at.
posted by BillsR100 at 6:09 PM on July 23, 2006