Navigating Ageism in the Workplace: Job Search Tips for Experienced Professionals

Ageism in the workplace is not a myth, and with less than 12% of DEI initiatives supporting inclusion, experienced workers have to get even more savvy. In this episode, I discuss: 

• Pre-interview practice
• How to build a growth mindset
• My #1 strategy for networking
• Plus top tips for navigating your job search as a seasoned professional

Chapters

• 0:00 Navigating Ageism in the Workplace
• 8:33 Job Search Mindset and Networking Strategies

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey everyone, this is the Career Refresh and I am your host, jill Griffin. Thank you for being here. This week we are talking about ageism in the workplace and on job interviews. It sucks, it's real. It's discriminatory. I'm hearing about it more and more. It's gross. But, like racism and sexism, it's real and it's happening and it's not in your mind. I just want to pause right and like take us back. And sexism, it's real and it's happening and it's not in your mind. I just want to pause right and like take us back Everyone.

Speaker 1: 0:28

When we think about ageism, we may not consider ourself in that group, right? We, I mean? I sometimes feel like I'm still 16. But we may be thinking of you know, the vision of a much older worker. You may picture someone that maybe moves slowly, or you're buying into the myth of someone being overwhelmed or confused by technology. Let's have an honest conversation. The average man lives to be 76. So, by the way, just to ground that's author Stephen King, rocker Robert Plant or Ted Danson the average woman lives to be about 80. So right now, we got Diana Ross, we got Joni Mitchell, we got Billie Jean King. So at 40 years old, which is when ageism is hitting, these workers are just midlife and they have lots more working, living, laughing and enjoying to do before they stop working.

Speaker 1: 1:23

And what I'm seeing and hearing right now is that workers are beginning, as early as the age of 40, to wonder if they're being part of the ageism conversation. Are there whispers behind their back? Are they being laid off, which we know? Based on your state and federal, it is illegal to be laid off from your age, but it is happening. There's no doubt that it is happening in pockets. Very hard to prove so. According to AARP, there's a recent study that says 91% of older workers have experienced age discrimination and that nearly two out of three workers age 45 and older say that they've experienced age discrimination. And callback rates for interviews for older applicants were much lower, with women having even lower callback rates if they were over 40 than men. In a study conducted by the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, the London Business School study showed that more people under 45 were exhausted than those that were over 45, 43% and 35% respectively, and the least exhausted age group were those over 60. And that makes sense, right, because we can make some assumptions that a younger worker might be raising children, whereas an older worker may have children that are already out of the household. So some of the priorities of how they're spending their day and what the activities that would lead to exhaustion have shifted when you're over 60.

Speaker 1: 2:53

I recently heard about a hiring manager that was around 30-ish interviewing a client of mine who was in their mid-40s and the way they approached the interview there was no eye contact. There was sort of almost like a disdain for the experienced worker. The interview ended with what kind of questions can I answer for you? As if they just wanted to get out of the interview early and while we're not in that worker's head, we don't exactly know what's going on. It was pretty clear from the description that the person shared with me that they wanted.

Speaker 1: 3:29

It's taboo for companies that are moving forward with diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging initiatives under inclusion, which is ageism in addition to disability, those end up being areas that are least talked about and least funded if they need to have conversations about how to work with more experience or workers with disabilities. So I want to talk about strategies that you can deploy when you're navigating the job search. I will also be dropping, because this is the other thing I'm hearing a lot of. Stay tuned for a future episode, which is okay. So now you're reemployed and how do you work within the workplace after being unemployed for a while as an experienced worker?

Speaker 1: 4:09

So one getting into some of the strategies you can deploy is is one I want you to practice your language. So don't emphasize necessarily your years of experience or that you've done something for years, or mentioning aging companies, or mentioning companies that no longer technically exist because they were acquired or their name changed, right, so you really want to do your research there. I worked in major advertising holding companies and many of the brands that I worked for technically don't exist anymore. They were absorbed into others. So that language was really date myself. If I'm having a conversation with someone and they're looking at me like huh, I don't know what you're talking about. So making sure that you have the most current language and you can do that with some gentle Google searching. If not, you're going to further exacerbate the emphasis on your age and the hiring manager is going to tap into that bias. So lean into your talents and talk about your strengths. Being in a much more positive mindset, enthusiastic, saying like this is why I love the work that I do, showcasing your energy, not necessarily your years of experience.

Speaker 1: 5:12

The other thing to do is connect with the interviewer and find ways to personally connect with them. This can be using current references or finding commonalities between their LinkedIn profile, the company website. Again, doing some general search and recognition is great. Don't do deep dives onto their personal Facebook or their Instagram. That's kind of creepy and gross. But anything within LinkedIn or the company website or any trade magazines, that's all fair game. So see if you can find ways to personally connect with the interviewer.

Speaker 1: 5:43

And if questions arise that start to feel a bit triggering, I'm just going to say take a beat, breathe and ask a question instead of answering a question. Huh, can you say more about that? Can you phrase the question in another way? Can you share more about what you're hoping to learn so I can address your underlying concern? It just gives you a beat to think versus actually getting into the. Um, well, you know, and then you go into like word soup and you don't necessarily answer the question. My next tip don't use self-deprecating humor. Do not use jokes that say like, well, I started when we were still on dial up or, you know, I was working pre-internet Hiring managers that are considerably younger than you do not want to hear these conversations.

Speaker 1: 6:31

They're only going, it's only going to feed any negative bias. So leave those out. And, as a side note to that, take a check and a peek at your email address, making sure that your email address is, you know, a Gmail, an Outlook. It can be your own name in the domain. Stay away from the AOLs, the Yahoo, the cable address domains. Those will absolutely date you. Plus, the people that you're meeting with most likely don't have cable. They're only using streaming services. And then, lastly, I want you to showcase your ability to work cross-functionally, using your experience and your tenure, that you are really experienced with working with most diverse groups, both internally and externally. That's a great way to talk about your experience versus like time spent in your experience.

Speaker 1: 7:14

Next is the growth mindset. If a person is interviewing you is considerably younger than you, then how you approach the interview is going to be crucial. Making sure that you're having it more as a consultant conversation, showing curiosity, and that you're in a learning mindset, coming in with a little bit of humility and a non-hierarchical attitude, will go a long way, as will having a list of open-ended questions next to you, finding ways to weave in your value and the value you bring to an organization is key here. Having those questions at the ready will show both how you're prepared and ready for this opportunity. It's a delicate balance between working on a team versus leading a team and, depending on your history, you may be of in a history in which you were mostly leading the team. Making sure, in your language, that you're giving credit to the team and the colleagues right, so that you're not focusing on well, when I led the team right, because that's not what the position may be about today. Making sure that you're showcasing how you personally contributed, the impact that you personally brought and those powerful collaborations is going to be really important, especially if you're interviewing someone who is younger than you. That is potentially going to be your supervisor or your boss.

Speaker 1: 8:33

The next is a little bit of a mindset tip. So if you're listening to this and you're in a safe environment, I'm going to tell you to like sit squarely in your chair, rest your shoulders like, disconnect them from your ears. My shoulders are always hunched up to my ears. If it feels right for you, downcast your eyes for a moment and just think about the day after you've accepted the job offer. How are you feeling? Confident, calm, a sense of knowing, opportunistic, excited, curious? I want you to think about it this way the fall is coming, autumn is coming and there's nothing you need to do to make it come. It is going to come.

Speaker 1: 9:16

What we need to do is decide what you're going to be doing between now and the fall right October it's coming. What do you need to do? You don't need to do anything. The fall right October, it's coming. What do you need to do? You don't need to do anything.

Speaker 1: 9:31

What you need to do is think about. Are you going to spend every day wishing it was still summer? Are you going to spend every day thinking about it being December? Or are you going to be living in the day, thinking and knowing and playing and enjoying where you're at and knowing that one day you are one step closer to the job that you're supposed to be doing next? That's what it is. It is constantly managing your mindset so that you're not spending all day in front of your computer or LinkedIn looking for a job and being in a panic. It's pausing and saying I know at some point I am going to have a job again and I can spend this time in a lot of anxiety and pre-traumatic stress, or I can spend this time continue to coming back to ways to calm myself, doing maybe some box breathing and really focusing in and being like, okay, how would I be acting if I already had the job? That's the way I need to go into looking for the job. You get to create that feeling now and you get to bring that energy into the interviewing and then you will be asking and answering questions from a different mindset. You'll find confidence and ease and it's very attractive, and that energy will show up in your actions, in what you say or do.

Speaker 1: 10:39

It's a common myth that experienced employees get put on them that their skills are outdated, and if that feels true for you, consider checking out some courses. Generative AI is huge right now. There's plenty of stuff on Coursera. There's also LinkedIn Learning. There's Grow with Google. Many of the Ivy Leagues have free, non-metric courses. The benefit here is twofold. First, you get to take some courses and learn some things which can build both your LinkedIn profile and your resume. Second, they offer great networking opportunities and it's another way that you can refine your skills. To offer a trade exchange. You bring your strategic consulting skills. They give you some tech tutoring.

Speaker 1: 11:20

One of the best tools I have found in networking is creating what I call a networking resume. It links your objective to a compelling career narrative that you might give out at either networking events or you may email along with your resume. It should have an objective. You know what are you looking for detail about prospective roles that you would be a fit. Show how your career narrative translates into these roles the type of companies you might want to work for. A clear call to action Like. I would really appreciate if you sent this to anyone who has connections at X, y and Z companies. You're also where you can assuming it's not confidential you're adding impact statements. If you have data or results from your previous roles. You want that in here. You want to show the impact that you can make based on the experience that you have.

Speaker 1: 12:10

And look, I know that dealing with ageism in the workplace is humiliating and it can be frustrating, but I want you to remember that you are bringing wisdom and experience to an organization and, while ageism exists, focusing on what you can control can help divert the attention away from your age and refocus on why you are the right person for the job. Why are you the solution to my problem? And lastly, look, this is going to be triggering for some people, but I want you to take a look at some of the choices that you may be making around your clothing. Experienced workers do not need to dress young or like an influencer, but if you haven't interviewed in a few years, and then we add on COVID, and then we add on remote work outfits, there's a chance that your closet might be remnants from years ago and that will also potentially date you. I'm not saying it's right and I'm not saying it's fair, but I'm always direct and honest with people. So here's the reality. I suggest that you shop your closet, you pull out the pieces that you love and you feel great wearing, and then I want you to make a decision right.

Speaker 1: 13:22

So what I tend to tell people to do is put things like pull clothes out, put them on your bed, correlate some outfits and things that you might wear and then look at okay, what's missing? Maybe you need to get a few pieces to round out your wardrobe. Don't aimlessly go shopping or surfing. We don't need to spend money. We don't need to Just get what you need and, friends, I'm going to tell you, it's often your shoes that will give you away. So if you are working remotely, no worries, no one needs to see your shoes. But if you're in a hybrid scenario, do some research Pinterest, tiktok see what other people are wearing and then decide what feels right for you.

Speaker 1: 14:01

Again, I know this can be a triggering conversation, but it is the reality of what we're working within today. I'll tell you, my shoes are mostly things like Doc Martens sneakers. I haven't worn, nor will I wear, a pump or heel in years, but that's me. So just be intentional and think about what works for you. I want you to show up with all of your gifts sparkling, and if you don't feel great in what you're wearing or in your clothes, or you're pulling at things because it doesn't feel right on you anymore, I don't want you to be in that position because you'll come off as fidgety and potentially self-conscious.

Speaker 1: 14:38

And a quote from Brene Brown which I always think is helpful. She would say don't shrink, don't puff up. Stand your sacred ground. Developing a strategy to face these barriers will enhance your confidence and provide you with a powerful plan of action. Before I go, who's helping you with your career strategy? I'd be honored to help you. I will put all the information in the show notes about how to work with me one-on-one. I also have a resume refresh program and I have a career success lab online self-guided program, which is also very popular and very helpful. Friends, I appreciate you. Have a great week, as always. You can send your questions to hello at jillgriffincoachingcom and I'll see you next time.