“Our words reveal our thoughts; our manners mirror our self-esteem; our actions reflect our character; our habits predict the future.” ~ William Arthur Ward
This week I encountered one of those people who was so angry and so frustrated, he just had to tell everyone within earshot how he has been wronged due to his age. The clash was over the top when this angry man shouted at two “millennials” about everything from their education, dress, type of cell phone, and ideas on what would be a dream job.
Just as I was stepping forward to ensure there was not an atomic blast, one of the young ladies this man was targeting with his angry spoke up. Her words spoken with a slight quaver in her voice turned more than a few heads. She shared that she thought ‘AGE’ was just an excuse. Then she shared how that excuse had helped her justify for 18 months, what she wanted to do or say without looking at the impact or the result.
She disclosed how she figured out something very important – to get interviews she had to play up her unique attributes and connect those to the employer needs and follow that by downplaying her unique attributes, including her preferred manner of dress that clashed with employer wants and/or needs or she was going to remain without a job and become homeless.
Her message was that when she stopped blaming AGE and started to think of ways to leverage her differences to provide mutual benefit and stopped her personal “WAR” with older candidates, employer systems and the authority of hiring managers she began to get interviews.
Are you waging a war?
Is AGE a blind spot in your job search?
Are you a highly qualified candidate, struggling to prove your value to companies?
Would you benefit from leveraging your value, attributes and differences?
Are your perceptions and expectations about AGE helping you connect with employers or encouraging them to call ‘security’?
What perceptions should you examine this week?
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