Combating Ageism in my resume
March 30, 2024 7:44 AM Subscribe
I am a full stack developer in my mid-50's who is going to need a new job soon, who intends to work at least another ten years before retirement, and who is fully aware of ageism in the hiring process. I have very specific question about my resume and am looking for your feedback.
The prevailing advice as I understand it is to remove any jobs from your resume older than twenty years, as well as not including things like graduation dates in your education background so as to not telegraph your age. I have already done that, I removed my first two jobs in tech both because they are old and also not relevant anymore.
That being said, I worked at one job for nineteen years from 2001 to 2020. However, that job happened in three distinct phases where, from 2008 - 2010 I still had the exact same job but our department was spun off into an entirely separate company. After two years of that I was folded back as a direct hire to the original company and was the sole software architect on a single project for ten years.
So from a hiring manager perspective, is my resume more attractive if it lists the one job for nineteen years, or is it more advantageous to lop off the first nine years and have my oldest resume item be as a software architect from 2010 - 2020?
After that I have a two year stint at another job, because the pandemic happened, and then my current gig of nearly two years that seems to be wrapping up. Those I am fine with.
So what say you? Am I "too old to hire" if I list twenty three years of experience, or am I less attractive if my resume only says I have fourteen years of experience?
The prevailing advice as I understand it is to remove any jobs from your resume older than twenty years, as well as not including things like graduation dates in your education background so as to not telegraph your age. I have already done that, I removed my first two jobs in tech both because they are old and also not relevant anymore.
That being said, I worked at one job for nineteen years from 2001 to 2020. However, that job happened in three distinct phases where, from 2008 - 2010 I still had the exact same job but our department was spun off into an entirely separate company. After two years of that I was folded back as a direct hire to the original company and was the sole software architect on a single project for ten years.
So from a hiring manager perspective, is my resume more attractive if it lists the one job for nineteen years, or is it more advantageous to lop off the first nine years and have my oldest resume item be as a software architect from 2010 - 2020?
After that I have a two year stint at another job, because the pandemic happened, and then my current gig of nearly two years that seems to be wrapping up. Those I am fine with.
So what say you? Am I "too old to hire" if I list twenty three years of experience, or am I less attractive if my resume only says I have fourteen years of experience?
Response by poster: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronmiles
posted by Lokheed at 10:50 AM on March 30, 2024
posted by Lokheed at 10:50 AM on March 30, 2024
Obvs not the OP, but can ananci (or anyone else) advise on an AI resume builder that will yield the results touted? Thanks in advance for those who respond!
posted by ivanthenotsoterrible at 11:46 AM on March 30, 2024
posted by ivanthenotsoterrible at 11:46 AM on March 30, 2024
Go with software architect from 2010 - 2020 and the issue is less "an AI builder" than having an ATS readable, ATS friendly resume. It's not some new "AI is taking over the world and will kill us all" technology; it's dumbware keyword matching. It's doing all of the first-round applicant screening and has been for about 10 years.
PS: I'm not endorsing that resume service, just the article explaining what ATS is.
posted by DarlingBri at 12:43 PM on March 30, 2024 [7 favorites]
PS: I'm not endorsing that resume service, just the article explaining what ATS is.
posted by DarlingBri at 12:43 PM on March 30, 2024 [7 favorites]
Listing software architect 2010-2020 and your two recent jobs sounds reasonable to me, from the perspective of signalling that you're able to stay on a project for a while without job-hopping, and also signalling that you've worked in a few different places during your career and can adapt to a new situation.
There might not be a one-sized fits all CV best suited for all roles and organizations. It's possible that listing your full years of experience may be advantageous when applying for certain jobs -- anecdotally, I have heard that some orgs have an informal minimum age requirement to promote someone into an architect role.
I don't have any data either way, one option could be an A/B testing approach -- make two different versions of your CV and run experiments to see which one appears to get more traction. I'm not sure how many jobs you'd need to apply for to get a signal.
posted by are-coral-made at 2:45 PM on March 30, 2024
There might not be a one-sized fits all CV best suited for all roles and organizations. It's possible that listing your full years of experience may be advantageous when applying for certain jobs -- anecdotally, I have heard that some orgs have an informal minimum age requirement to promote someone into an architect role.
I don't have any data either way, one option could be an A/B testing approach -- make two different versions of your CV and run experiments to see which one appears to get more traction. I'm not sure how many jobs you'd need to apply for to get a signal.
posted by are-coral-made at 2:45 PM on March 30, 2024
I'm very close to your age, in a similar field, and I don't see anything wrong with your LI profile at all. Your skill base is current and highly relevant.
So from a hiring manager perspective, is my resume more attractive if it lists the one job for nineteen years, or is it more advantageous to lop off the first nine years and have my oldest resume item be as a software architect from 2010 - 2020?
I'm gonna get wacky here and say...neither.
The magic of LinkedIn is that you can cram that page with as much as you want. If this work took place in three phases, then list them all! If it's the same company with the same logo, so what?
As an interviewer I am way more interested in seeing a trajectory to your history. If you spent 20 years at one place that's not a problem as long as you were moving around and/or moving up in that period.
You're going to do fine. My only other advice is to, at all costs, avoid telling war stories until you've been on the job a year or so. A wise person once told me "old age is recalling the past at the expense of the future". You've been blessed with a rich set of experiences that will serve you well, and it will show when you interview. Let them try to figure out how old you are after the fact, not before. Because it doesn't matter.
posted by JoeZydeco at 3:56 PM on March 30, 2024 [1 favorite]
So from a hiring manager perspective, is my resume more attractive if it lists the one job for nineteen years, or is it more advantageous to lop off the first nine years and have my oldest resume item be as a software architect from 2010 - 2020?
I'm gonna get wacky here and say...neither.
The magic of LinkedIn is that you can cram that page with as much as you want. If this work took place in three phases, then list them all! If it's the same company with the same logo, so what?
As an interviewer I am way more interested in seeing a trajectory to your history. If you spent 20 years at one place that's not a problem as long as you were moving around and/or moving up in that period.
You're going to do fine. My only other advice is to, at all costs, avoid telling war stories until you've been on the job a year or so. A wise person once told me "old age is recalling the past at the expense of the future". You've been blessed with a rich set of experiences that will serve you well, and it will show when you interview. Let them try to figure out how old you are after the fact, not before. Because it doesn't matter.
posted by JoeZydeco at 3:56 PM on March 30, 2024 [1 favorite]
Unsolicited feedback:
"full stack developer" has the whiff of recent coding bootcamp graduate these days. Suggest rebrand as "software developer" or "software engineer"
But, what kind of role are you looking for? With your current architect role, I'd be worried that your current scope is too advanced to be a senior software developer on my team. Are you looking for staff+ IC roles? Architect roles? People management? Do you really want/need to be working on the front end a significant percentage of the time? (another area where the bootcampers are cheap and hungry)
SQL is weird to mention without mentioning the specific database tech-was it MySQL, Postgres, MSSQL?
In general that profile is light on reassurance that you can handle infrastructure, operationalization, testing, observability. Can you build and test and instrument 2020s cloud-native applications, or are you stick in a 2000s or 2010s paradigm? That's what I would be finding out about in my interview with you.
posted by Kwine at 4:35 PM on March 30, 2024 [4 favorites]
"full stack developer" has the whiff of recent coding bootcamp graduate these days. Suggest rebrand as "software developer" or "software engineer"
But, what kind of role are you looking for? With your current architect role, I'd be worried that your current scope is too advanced to be a senior software developer on my team. Are you looking for staff+ IC roles? Architect roles? People management? Do you really want/need to be working on the front end a significant percentage of the time? (another area where the bootcampers are cheap and hungry)
SQL is weird to mention without mentioning the specific database tech-was it MySQL, Postgres, MSSQL?
In general that profile is light on reassurance that you can handle infrastructure, operationalization, testing, observability. Can you build and test and instrument 2020s cloud-native applications, or are you stick in a 2000s or 2010s paradigm? That's what I would be finding out about in my interview with you.
posted by Kwine at 4:35 PM on March 30, 2024 [4 favorites]
Your LinkedIn literally has no education. If you literally didn’t go to college for more than a couple of years, that’s okay. Otherwise not.
Your bullet points have random line breaks implying that you pasted in from a word or PDF resume and didn’t know to delete the source line breaks to let LinkedIn insert breaks organically. Bad look.
Everyone will know your approximate age. Don’t fail to show important qualities and experience in an effort to delay that.
posted by MattD at 9:25 PM on March 30, 2024 [1 favorite]
Your bullet points have random line breaks implying that you pasted in from a word or PDF resume and didn’t know to delete the source line breaks to let LinkedIn insert breaks organically. Bad look.
Everyone will know your approximate age. Don’t fail to show important qualities and experience in an effort to delay that.
posted by MattD at 9:25 PM on March 30, 2024 [1 favorite]
My last job before retirement was with a small company (50 employees) in the insurance sector. I was, basically, the only IT employee. There were a couple consultants. I got the job by mailing a cover letter and resume to all the businesses in the local of Chamber of Commerce.
You are at the point in your career where breadth of experience is more valuable than experience with the latest development environment.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:07 AM on March 31, 2024 [3 favorites]
You are at the point in your career where breadth of experience is more valuable than experience with the latest development environment.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:07 AM on March 31, 2024 [3 favorites]
I’m in my mid-50s in tech, and I’m a woman. On both my resume and LinkedIn, I list 28 years of jobs, because they are all relevant. I have a huge breadth of experience. Every couple of years, I get recruited into new roles. I haven’t had to apply for a job since 2011.
I say all of this as a recommendation: put it all on there. Adding all of your relevant work experience shows your breadth of experience. It indicates your ability to work in multiple roles, which indicates your flexibility and ability to grow your skillset.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 2:17 PM on March 31, 2024 [2 favorites]
I say all of this as a recommendation: put it all on there. Adding all of your relevant work experience shows your breadth of experience. It indicates your ability to work in multiple roles, which indicates your flexibility and ability to grow your skillset.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 2:17 PM on March 31, 2024 [2 favorites]
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Run your resume through an AI resume builder and include the job description so it will tweak your verbiage to get past the reader bots everyone uses. It will ensure your resume looks modern and passes the HR software hurdle.
Make sure your LinkedIn is up to date and keyworded. I have friends your age in tech and they get hit up multiple times a week by recruiters. Some are bogus, so only reply to ones who are with legitimate agencies.
Ask A Manager is a great website and will have much more thorough answers on all job hunting topics.
Best of luck! If you want, maybe post your LinkedIn here - lots of Mefites work in tech. We're part of your network too :)
posted by ananci at 10:18 AM on March 30, 2024 [6 favorites]