Ageism – discriminating job seekers over 40 – a big mistake!

Prepare yourself for the next trend; make way for 40+-ers!

At some point in our professional lives we will all experience it - the uncertainty of when employers have "enough of us". It might be that they reorganize their company and we find ourselves without a job, for some of us ….again.

It’s daunting to compete for a certain position with young, good-looking youngsters, willing to work for a low salary. Many times, that’s quite discouraging.

Anyone over 40 surely has experienced it….When he/she is invited for a job interview, courage plummeted when a candidate at least 15 year just left the interviewer’s room before you,  applying for the same job that you do.

At this stage you prefer to just walk away and leave, since you believe that you don’t stand a chance…Let’s face it - age shows! Up to now, you might have been able to hide it somehow in your resume, but now at the moment of truth, it’s a different story. During the job interview, you only have one shot to convince the interviewer that the few grey hairs your kids have caused you over the years, combined with lots of work experience, are beneficial for the company and that you are the right candidate for that job.
Once I read that the person who gets the job is the person who is able to sell him/herself best for the job. I honestly believe that this statement is correct.

Therefore, at the job interview, you need to sell yourself. This means that you have to sell your skills, experience, knowledge, maturity, flexibility and all you have to offer. You need to master your fear that this great-looking youngster (who just graduated from university), lacks the life experience and the skills essential for the job. You gained those throughout your life, and promoting it will give you a better chance of getting the job you want (and deserve!).

Image courtesy of
8tracks.com

Empower yourself with pride before your job interview starts. Tell yourself that this job is YOURS, and you will see that your self-confidence will help you convincing your potential future employer.

We might be 40+ but our job is to convince companies that they have a whole lot to gain from what we offer!

If you want to learn more, you can contact me

Mission Impossible: Hiring a Super(wo)man Marketing Person

Trying to catch up with today’s developments in Social Media Technology and Networking is extremely time-consuming. It is a fulltime job to be an expert in all the relevant social media groups and be active in them.

But, in order to be a relevant candidate for a marketing job, you simply do not have a choice – you are asked to be social media-savvy.
During my job search, I encountered multiple requests for not only classic multitasking skills that every passionate marketing professional  should have,  but also to be able to write marketing content, preferably technical content, and have broad experience in social media.

Be honest, who has time to do all of this?

Anyone who is or has been working in the marketing field has experienced at some point during his/her career that regardless how much fun it might be, it’s also extremely time consuming. It requires not only an "eye for detail", but also ongoing creating and posting of fresh content. In short, it requires talent and takes up a lot of time.
It means that employers expect their marketers to catch up with emails, special projects, budget discussions and event arrangements, to write articles, press releases and any other publishable text in addition to be active in all kinds of social networking groups.
But writing (and I mean writing an interesting article that is read from beginning to the end!)  requires skills which a "classic-called" marketing person was never trained for, is not being trained for and most likely will never get trained for.
For all those companies who wish to employ a "super-marketing" person who claims to have all of these skills, please adjust your expectations.

Writing is a skill and requires aptitude, a state-of-mind and lots of time, a condition which is generally a luxury in a so-called standard working atmosphere. The same applies to the social media.
So do yourself a favor. To get the best results with the best talent, start outsourcing! Get dedicated people whose expertise is to write your articles for you, publish them on all the relevant social media and groups. You will not only get high quality, but also make your marketing team happier!

To read additional blogs posted by me, please click here.