Free Career and Job Search Advice

Lou3000 · Posted: Sat May 06, 2006 10:43 pm Post subject: CV advice for a 56 year old!

I am a 56-year-old woman and have recently been made redundant after 9 years working for a small family-owned company. The boss retired on health grounds and the firm closed. I now find myself in the soul-destroying position of job hunting knowing that at my age, despite a wealth of experience and top-notch shorthand and typing skills, these qualifications are nothing compared to modern IT qualifications.

I have already been turned down for one job as a counter assistant at a local chemist. When I asked the reason for my failure (purely so I had some idea where I'd gone wrong), I was told that the manager felt my age was against me, that I might want to retire soon Rolling Eyes

and they had a policy of sending all their counter staff on a 12 month course in case they ever work behind the pharmacy counter. Hmm, and I was a medical secretary for 10 years prior to my last job!

I have spent hours and hours trawling the internet for CV tips. I have attended our local Learning Centre and enrolled on an ECDL Course; I have spoken to one of their advisors about how to present & word my CV.

My CV writing skills are fine, I think, although it is time-consuming when each job I've applied for has been quite different so I have to almost start from scratch to highlight different skills more pertinent to the job being applied for.

But my latest application is via application form downloaded as an email attachment. This means that my preferred approach of nice, clear and concise layout is rather limited!

Does anyone have any ideas about how best to include the information required on the form under the heading "Please explained how you meet the requirements of the job description". I saw a neat approach recently on my internet trawling where the applicant had two columns: Your Needs and My Qualifications. This idea works well when typed up on a blank Word page, but rather scrunched up when typed within the confines of the ready-made application form.

Oh! and whilst I'm here, I have been making brave attempts to talk up my life skills to compensate for my lack of degree or more modern qualifications. Lots of jobs ask for spreadsheet experience, for instance, and although I will be learning how to do those on my course, I can't do them yet! I can do computerised book-keeping but not spreadsheets/database Rolling Eyes

*tsk at life*

Waller · Posted: Fri May 12, 2006 10:59 am Post subject:

Hi Lou

I can understand how frustrating it must be - employers are really shortsighted when it comes to older workers, who have loads of experience to offer. With the balance between the number of older and younger workers changing so drastically, you'd think they'd be actively looking for older people.

Anyway, let's hope the change in the law in Oct brings an improvement. . .

Here are some ideas for your application form - hope it's not too late, I've just joined.

Read the person specification and jot down all the essential skills/qualifications and then go through them one by one, in the same order. Pick up on the keywords and use examples ie prove you’ve got what they want. Print out the form and make a couple of copies. Start on a piece of rough paper and keep editing until it’s short enough to fit! Then try it out for size on a copy. Use bullets and snappy phrases to deal with lack of space. Eg, if they start with communication skills and then teamwork:

Communication Skills
• Example 1
• Example 2
• Example 3

Teamwork Skills
• Example 1
• Example 2
• Example 3

If there isn’t enough room for all the headings, follow whatever format they use, eg if there is a list of Essential Skills , write Essential Skills and a list of bullets giving egs of how you meet each criterion. Use strong verbs and give figures if you can, eg increased orders by 25% in 2 months.

Here is a link for a list of companies in the UK which welcome older employees.

http://www.agepositive.gov.uk/template1.cfm?recid=166

Good luck

Waller

Lou3000 · Posted: Fri May 12, 2006 11:47 am Post subject:

Hi, Waller, and thanks for your reply!

I have already sent my application form for the job, but I think I made a decent fist of it in the end. I printed off a couple of copies of the application form, mainly so I would have back-up blank copies should my ink in the printer (for example) run out! Then it'd be the trusy typewriter to the rescue! Razz

I also emailed it to my daughter-in-law in Australia, who is herself a top-notch administrator and asked her to proof-read it and make any suggestions. Then I ran off a copy and asked my husband to read it to see if he could find any errors.

Nope, all totally perfect.

So, I had a another quick read through of my final masterpiece which had taken me well over a week to perfect and pressed 'send'. I then ran off another copy which would be the one I was sending in the post because the application form needed a date and signature. The date I had already typed in, so all in needed was my signature.....

The date. Embarassed

Despite checking everything myself and getting two other people to do so as well, it was only when I came to put my signature next to the date that I realised I'd typed 8 APRIL instead of 8 MAY!!!! Crying or Very sad

I was so furious with myself, particularly as I'd tried to hammer the point home in my application that I paid meticulous attention to detail! Aaagh! Of course, I was able to correct the date on the hard copy, but I hope and pray the emailed copy is not scrutinised too closely. I could kick myself.

Your link was extremely helpful and I have signed up! It's unfortunate, but I have the added handicap of living in the remote Highlands of Scotland, so I have very little choice of jobs.

My post has just been and I see I haven't even got as far as an interview with another job I applied for over a month ago. Ho hum.

Lou

Waller · Posted: Sat May 13, 2006 4:14 pm Post subject:

Hi Lou

Glad the info was useful, tho' I can see the disadvantages of living in such a remote area - have you considered setting up a business online? That's one way round both the physical location and the age question.

Good luck with the application - they probably won't notice the date. Wink

Waller

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