EMPLOYMENT TIPS: Going back to work

Published: November 9, 2008

Going back to work

More older Americans are seeking jobs in order to meet financial obligations, according to Experience Works, a nonprofit organization that trains older workers and helps them find jobs.

"More and more, we are seeing older adults who can’t make ends meet, so they are seeking out employment to help pay for the increasing costs of everyday living,” said Stephanie Gauthier, Experience Works business and community liaison for Oklahoma. "For the seniors in our training programs, who are often on fixed incomes, it can come down to a choice between food and medicine. They need to work.”

She offers the following five resume-writing tips for older adults seeking to re-enter the workforce:

→Give it some punch: Start your resume with a tag line that emphasizes your desired outcome in your new position.

→Stick to the core: List your accomplishments and experience from your work history in terms of core competencies related to the position you seek, not based upon chronological order. The biggest error made by many older workers is to list all of their duties and responsibilities over the years, even those that have no relevance to the position sought.

→Keep it brief: Your resume should be no longer than two pages. Arrange your accomplishments in bulleted action items, not paragraphs. References do not belong in a resume; employers will ask for those in their application or at the time of the interview.

→Leave it out: As an older worker, you should de-emphasize dates and years in your resume by omitting dates of education, leaving out earliest jobs and inserting time frames only for relevant past work experience.

→Accentuate the positives: Emphasize the positive attributes of your age and experience, including your accumulated experience, strong work ethic, ability to make a contribution immediately, and your familiarity with relevant computer software and other technology.

If you are an older worker seeking employment or if you are an employer interested in recruiting older workers, contact Stephanie Gauthier at (877) 781-9953 or visit www.experienceworks.org.

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