You can’t “Google” experience
No matter how you slice it or dice it, older job applicants major advantage in the search for a new job is their experience. When talking to older candidates, one recurring theme is to remind their audiences that, when comparing themselves to younger applicants, experience is their number one unassailable asset.
The best argument in favor of older applicants when compared to young job seekers is “you can’t Google experience.” The meaning being that there is only one way to amass experience and that’s to work for it. You can’t get it in a classroom or a library, during a webinar or seminar; you can’t get it from a magazine article or a website. You have to live it.
It’s an argument that can’t be refuted. But wait, you say, things are so different now. The Covid-culture is changing everything about business. People are losing their jobs by the millions. Companies are closing. Entire industries are shutting down. No one has ever experienced anything like this before.
We say, “Bull!”
As an older applicant, you have BCE which stands for Business Cycle Experience. Having been in the workforce for as long as you have, you’ve seen it all and weathered the turbulent storms of our economic past. You’ve experienced the growth of the 1980s and the dot.com boom of the 1990s. But you very well may also have experienced the double-dip recessions of 1979 and 1981. And, if you didn’t, there was the dot.com bust of 2000 and the financial meltdown of 2008.
You’ve seen the rise of companies such as Microsoft, Google, Home Depot, Amazon and more. And you’ve also seen breakup of AT&T, the demise of PanAm and TWA as well as Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Saturn. You’ve also witnessed the withering of Sears and Roebuck, and the disappearance of Woolworth and Blockbuster.
That’s a pretty wide range of boom and bust.
You’ve seen it all and survived it all. And now you’re ready for your next challenge – regardless of the economic conditions.