Your age signifies more than just on-the-job experience
Sometimes older workers have to chuckle when they hear younger upstarts mulling over problems that their experience conquered decades ago.
Most certainly this is true when you’re considering day-to-day tasks or industry – or institutional – knowledge. But, truth be told, your background brings a lot more to the table than simple task management and accomplishment.
Of course they want someone who can “do the job.” Fact is, many younger candidates can make that claim just like you can. But once you’ve cleared that turn around track, that’s where your real advantages will cause you to separate from the pack.
Let’s look at some of those “extras.”
Ability to adapt. One of the myths about older workers is that you’re set in your ways and you’re resistant to change. Really? Peel back the onion of older workers’ experience and you’ll most likely find that they’ve been adapting throughout their entire careers. Let’s face it. In many workplaces, you either adapt or you die. (Or the company dies.) Going to work is one adaptation after another.
How about working with employees of all ages, types, etc. Unless you’ve spent your entire work life as a monk, you’ve been dealing with people of all types: gender, race, religion, personality, temperament, agreeableness, et.al. Chances are you’ve seen them all and dealt with them all.
Technology. This is a big bugaboo for many employers. “Can you use a smart phone?” “Do you even know what an ‘app’ is?” “We have pretty sophisticated software here. Can you…?”
Of course you can. You’ve been learning new systems, processes, software, etc., for your entire life. What’s one more?
For an older worker in a job interview, doing the job shouldn’t be the question. If you couldn’t do the job, you would not have gotten this far. What you bring to the table goes well beyond simply “tab A into slot B.” And that’s one of the things that make you an ideal candidate.