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03.08

Résumé Tips for Engineers Over 40

By Gary Perman

In study after study, more and more engineers over forty are reporting age bias in their job search and engineers are increasingly wondering what they have to do to get a job in the second half of their careers.

According to a survey of senior executives by ExecuNet, 84 percent of those polled said that age discrimination is a serious problem in today’s marketplace. Additional interesting results from the survey included:

• 65 percent of engineers surveyed said they had encountered age discrimination in a job search — up from 58 percent who expressed that view in 2001

• 94 percent felt their age had resulted in their being eliminated from consideration for a particular position

• 40 percent feared they would be forced into early retirement

• 72 percent feared being victimized by age discrimination

• 36 percent feared they were getting too old to find a new job

As a technical recruiter for the past twelve years, I see age bias on a regular basis, and some employers are not shy about openly expressing their bias to me or even to candidates. More than a few candidates have told me that were passed over because of their age. And they are only the people that know age bias was the issue. Many employers use bogus excuses or vagueness to cover up the real reason they don’t want to interview older candidates. Others don't even bother to respond to their résumé submissions.

Why do some employers pass up qualified, skilled and experienced engineers? Some employers believe that older employers are more costly to add to the payroll because their health care costs are likely to be higher. Employers also think older employees may not be able to — or willing to — develop or use cutting-edge technology. Unfortunately, the “old dog, new tricks” adage has been true of some older employees, so, consequently, older employees must battle this undeserved stereotype. As a 40-something engineer exploring career opportunities, you must be able to convince prospective employers that you will have a positive — not negative — impact on the company's bottom line if they choose to hire you.

But how can you sell yourself if you can’t even get a foot in the door? It all begins with the résumé. In this day and age, seasoned engineers must carefully craft their résumé so that it doesn't trigger red flags that could lead to intentional or unintentional age bias.

Consider using the following résumé tips to help get you in the door and in front of the hiring decision-maker:

1. Focus your résumé. Concentrate on highlighting your two most recent or relevant jobs. Do not attempt to give equal attention to each of your past jobs especially when your experience has been diverse. Focus your résumé on the position you are applying to. Résumé reviewers can’t read between the lines. General, wordy or ambivalent résumés will be overlooked. Focus and concentrate.
    

2. Tailor your résumé to the specifics of the position you are seeking. If you are applying for a director of engineering position, and your résumé is one long paragraph about your business development experiences, you aren’t going to be selected for an interview.
    

3. Do not write a “functional” résumé for a recruiter/headhunter. The functional résumé rearranges employment history into sections that highlight areas of skill and accomplishment versus the chronological résumé, which is organized by job titles with the most recent position listed first. Recruiters are trained to red flag a functional résumé — alerting us that the candidate is attempting to hide something. Functional résumés generally indicate that the candidate is hiding an employment gap, lack of a degree or their age. Send a chronological résumé. If you have an employment gap, explain it. Show how it is relevant. Employers want to see that you were doing something if you were unemployed. Were you consulting? Were you looking for work? Or were you sitting on the couch watching TV?
    

4. Structure your résumé. Structure your résumé with a one-sentence statement describing the size of the company at which you worked, and what they do. Although you may have worked for XYZ Company, many people have no idea what that company does, or how big it is. Both factors are very relevant to a potential employers’ decision making.
   
   Example:
   
   Sr. Product Developer (title should be in bold) 1999 – present
   XYZ Company
   A $10 Million RF consumer product company.
    

5. Do not include work experience before 1980. It is generally not relevant anyway. If you were a tradesman back in 1973, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out your approximate age and eliminate you from the candidate pool.
    

6. List your technical skills and degrees. Don’t include college or trade school graduation dates on your résumé. If you list that you earned your EE degree in 1973, again, your age is exposed.
    

7. Always, always be truthful on your résumé. If you didn’t earn a degree, don’t say that you did. The trick is not volunteering information that will identify your age and cause your résumé to be eliminated before you get the chance to interview and prove what an asset you can be to a potential employer.
    

8. Don’t write an objective or summary introductory paragraph. No one reads them, so save use the space with more important information.
    

9. Be specific. Use bullet points and list achievements that show that you have increased revenues or saved past employers’ money. Employers only care about how you are going to be an asset to them — either make them money or save them money. Be specific.
    

10. Avoid dated words, clichés and weak words (e.g., people person, self-starter, and go-getter). Instead, use dynamic action/achievement words.
    Instead of “maintained” production, use: Improved production by 35 percent in 2007. Instead of “worked on” a project, use: Designed and developed xyz product.
    
    Other action verbs/phrases to use: accelerated, achieved, created, led a team, developed, designed, demonstrated, increased, implemented, organized, re-engineered and saved.
     

11. Show that you recover from downturns with few scars. Give examples of how you solved problems, recovered expenses, and learned to compensate for weaknesses in your organization. Emphasize how quickly such adjustments occurred. This experience can be invaluable in difficult times.
     

12. Use buzzwords, keywords and industry terminology. Often, résumés are scanned for buzzwords — if they're not present, those résumés are ignored. Using such words can show your familiarity with important issues affecting the industry in which you are seeking employment. This tip certainly applies to all job seekers, but for seasoned engineers, it will be especially beneficial if you are able to talk the talk.
     

13. List continuing education. Many prospective employers look more favorably upon candidates who have continued to educate and train themselves throughout their careers. This tells an employer, “Hey, I’ve got experience, PLUS I’ve continued to educate myself.” Will an advanced degree help you get a new job? Perhaps; it depends on the employer. Advanced degrees never hurt, and if you went to night school while working full time, the employer will see that you are dedicated, focused and have a strong work ethic.
     

14. Say "No" to one-page résumés. If anyone tells you that you need a one-page résumé…run. Seasoned engineers should have two- to three-page résumés, which is perfectly acceptable. Most “professional” résumé writers are former English teachers or people who are not working in the trenches. Before paying a résumé writer, ask for his or her qualifications or ask for a referral. What worked ten years ago doesn’t work today. A résumé is a marketing piece created and written to get you in the door for an interview. It is not a biography. It should be written to highlight experience that is relevant to the position for which you are applying. It’s ok to have multiple version of your résumés — each one tailored specifically for a different position.

Keep an Active Lifestyle

Companies don’t like to hire health risks. Many people in their 50s and 60s work hard and play hard. Many can outrace, outrun, and outwork people half their age. Join the health club, get out and hike, boat and bike. I know a 60-year-old VP of Engineering that mountain bikes every weekend. He loves it. And it keeps him active, healthy and fresh.

Always Be Networking

Network on an ongoing basis with peers, former colleagues, former bosses, and members of online or offline industry organizations. When the time comes, someone who knows you and your work will be in a good position to recommend you for a job. Their recommendation will do a lot to neutralize the power of age concerns. Online networking is critical as well. Professional networks such as Linked-In, and professional  networks such as the IEEE  and www.pdxmindshare.com are all good places to meet potential employers and allow them to find you.

Once you receive interest from a potential employer, what’s next? How do you handle the interview to make your age insignificant?

The Interview

Preparation is the key to a successful interview. An unprepared candidate will interview soft. Did the candidate do due diligence researching the company before interviewing? Did the candidate spend five minutes or five hours on the company Web site? Did the candidate have a list of questions prepared and organized into groups for rapid fire answers? In today's interviewing process, you must be prepared — for both phone and face-to-face interviews. Following are some tips for getting ready for the interview:

1. Research the company. Be able to converse intelligently about the company's current challenges and initiatives. Use your extensive experience and large knowledge base to think about ways you could benefit the company going forward. Use Google, ZoomInfo and local trade associations to familiarize yourself with the company’s culture, people, as well as their financials, products and history.
    

2. Study interviewing questions and answers. Did you know that most people invest more time into planning their next vacation than they do in preparing for their next job? Many Web sites (including ours) provide typical interviewing questions and answers for you to review. Read over them and then prepare and rehearse your answers. Practice, practice, practice. This is your career and future job we're talking about — invest some time preparing for it. Most people don’t interview every day. They are not professionals at it. Practice will help to alleviate some of the anxiety associated with the interviewing process, and enable to you perform your best during the interview.
    

3. What can you bring to this organization? Just wanting a job isn’t enough. What asset can you bring to the table that will make them want to hire you? Be specific. If you can’t, research their company and find out. Learn everything you can about the company before you walk in the door.
    

4. Join Toastmasters. “What? Are you nuts?” Yes, you heard me correctly. Toastmasters or other speaking organizations give you the opportunity to learn to speak “impromptu” — on the spot. They also teach you breathing control, gestures, body movements and posture — and you can have a lot of fun doing it too.
    

5. Practice watching yourself talk in front of a mirror. Pay attention to your walk, talk, posture and stance. These mannerisms reflect how you feel about yourself, your self image, how you carry yourself, and eventually — how you will reflect on others as a representative of the company.
    

6. Physical Appearance. I have a goatee with a good amount of grey in it. If I were going to an interview, I would color my goatee to get the grey out. If you have grey hair, you might give serious consideration to coloring it before going into an interview. You may be thinking, “If they don’t like me for who I am, I’m not interested.” But if you want the job, you may have to make certain concessions. Is embracing your grey worth losing an offer?
   
   Buy a new suit (classic or business casual) and dress the part. If the company is a young, entrepreneurial company, interviewing in a suit and tie may not be appropriate. Find out. Call the receptionist and ask. Wear matching socks. Polish your shoes. Color coordinate. Comb your hair. Get help if you need advice. You don’t want to appear like the absent-minded professor. Don't chew gum before or during an interview, but keep breath mints with you and pop one in when you arrive in the lobby.
    

7. Body language during the Interview. Present yourself as vigorous and energetic. Avoid leaning back and looking too relaxed.
    

8. Interview strategy related to age. Legal considerations will prevent an interviewer from asking your age, but that doesn't mean he or she isn't thinking about it. So stress the value-added benefits you offer as an experienced professional. Give examples of how you used your experience to avoid costly errors and false starts. Give examples of cases in which your judgment and experience made money, saved money or solved problems.
    

9. Don’t appear to be the “old dog” which can’t be taught any new tricks. Provide examples of how you have worked in recent team environments and taught and learned from your peers — younger or older than you.
    

10. Don’t offer a solution to their specific problems. You are not intimately knowledgeable about all the specifics of a company’s problems. Only offer solutions to similar situations you have experienced, and frame your language in that context.
     

11. Know your relevant accomplishments. Be prepared to talk about your professional accomplishments that are relevant to the position.
     

12. Breathe. It is natural to be nervous, so take a breath. Be specific and to the point in your answers. Do not ramble on or talk fast trying to get everything in. If you give an example, make it short and to the point. Be specific.
     

13. Listen when being spoken to. Don’t interrupt. This is another pet peeve of hiring executives and can eliminate you from consideration.
     

14. Thank them for their time and consideration. Then ask a leading question like “where do we go from here?” The interviewer will usually give you an idea of how you interviewed and an overview of the remainder of the hiring process.
     

15. Send a "thank you" note. If your schedule permits, hand-written notes are best. You would be amazed at how few interviewers ever receive a "thank you" for their time. So when you send a "thank you," you stand out from the other candidates. This also gives you another chance to reiterate how you can be an asset to the company, the interviewer and their team. Take advantage of this opportunity to promote yourself one more time.

Gary Perman is a certified recruiting professional and a twelve year veteran in the recruiting industry. He owns a national search firm called Perman Technical Group, that specializes in recruiting technology executives, managers and engineers. Gary is also a member of the IEEE and runs a technology blog at www.softwwareassociation.org. Contact Gary at gary@permantech.com or visit his Linked-In profile at www.inkedin.com/in/perman or his Web site at www.permantech.com.

Comments may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org. Opinions expressed are the author's.