First things first in the job search, then…
Most job seekers invest huge amounts of time and effort (and sometimes money) into maximizing their resumes. And that’s a good thing. Your resume is your foot in the door, your entree, your initial contact and first impression with your potential employer.
That’s all well and good but how many people do you know who have been hired strictly on the basis of their resumes? Yeah, we thought so.
But your resume is your foot in the door. However, from that point forward, it stops being about your resume. Now it’s about you. Your resume may get you a date for Saturday night, but ultimately you have to sell yourself if you want to go all the way.
Advantage here to the older job seeker. Because of your age, it would stand to reason that you would have more experience, acquired more skills, worked with more people and solved more problems than anyone your junior.
If the credentials on your resume weren’t good, you never would have made it past the first phase. At this point, your resume is history in more ways than one. Now, you’re center stage. Now it’s all about you and how you can “fit” into the company and into the job.
Now you have to sell yourself through your personality, your vision and what you bring to the table. How can your past experience and skills translate into this new job? How can you help this employer? How will this employer justify the expense of hiring you – as opposed to hiring someone else.
On the timeline of the job search, your resume may be the past, but the interview is the present and future – and that’s what is going to land you that job.