WORRIED ABOUT YOUR AGE WHILE LOOKING FOR A JOB?

By Fernando Ratkoczy - Executive Career Management Consultant

If you believe that you’re too old or too young to get a particular job then you can easily prove yourself to be correct by simply not looking for that ideal job.

What is too old any way?  I have had 40 year olds who were worried about being too old.  The fact is that everyone is getting older and living longer and it shouldn’t matter how old you are as long as you are able to fulfill the requirements of the job.

In today’s world for better or worse things have dramatically changed. Did you know that jobs across disciplines in the United States only last 2.7 years as an average?  I know it sounds short but just think that this average has been the result of adding a lot of people that move quickly, maybe every six months or so.

But in any case it tells us that jobs are probably not going to be around for 15 to 30 years as a norm. There are some benefits to this new order of business that may benefit us as well. If you have been at a job and you would like to move on to another, it’s alright to do so now. In the old days if you changed jobs or even changed careers they thought there was something wrong with you. Now is almost welcome to have a variety of experiences and skill sets.

Your resume can have multiple jobs reflected in it and nobody is going to misjudge it. People get laid off in today’s job market place for no fault of their own as a normal business practice. Every time there is a merger the bigger fish eats the small fish and there you have redundancy and you get told “sorry, we are restructuring and streamlining operations to save costs”. A company purchases another one, a product has not done well, a relocation of the company occurs, and we can think of many more. But what is important is that every company knows that more than likely you are looking for a new position because an event out of your control happened and your situation is a direct consequence of it.

In summary companies don’t worry much about your age anymore since there is a good chance you won’t be there for that long. So long you can perform today and probably for a few years you will pass the age question. Age in many cases have an advantage, which is experience at the work place. You get more for the money when someone has done it all and does not have to learn everything on the company’s dime.

Does Age Discrimination exist in certain companies?  Absolutely! But do you want to work for a company that would discriminate and limit your opportunities for job growth and satisfaction?  No!  If they do discriminate then it simply means it wasn’t the right company and you need to go to the next company on your list that is a better fit for you.

© Copyright New Edge Productions

About the Author

Fernando Ratkoczy http://www.linkedin.com/in/fernandoratkoczy is an author and Founder of http://www.NewEdgeProductions.com . If you're looking for Job Search Training, then check out “The Fast Job Search Series”. If you try to reduce your job search time and improve results you found one of the most comprehensive programs in the market. You are welcome to review free previews http://www.newedgeproductions.com/job-training-videos.html