Your words and phrases can signal your age
Through the course of your job search, while it’s pretty much impossible to completely hide your age, you also don’t need to broadcast it, or make it obvious.
Unfortunately there are a lot of ways to show your age. For example, listing jobs from the 1970s, continuing to use an “aol” email address, putting your area code in parentheses, et.al. These are all surefire ways to announce that you’re something less than young. And that’s just your resume.
Be your today self
Once you get to the interview stage, things can get a little dicey. For one thing, unless you’ve been bathing in the fountain of youth, you’re probably going to look your age. Here a happy medium is the best choice. You don’t want to dress like a twenty-something, but you don’t want something from the disco corner of your closet either.
While you’re outward appearance can’t be altered (too much), your language can not only sound old and outdated, it may demonstrate to your interviewer that you also think old or that your mind is working a couple of decades back.
Some catch phrases to avoid: “Back in the day,” or “back in my day,” are indications that you’re thinking back then as well. “In another life,” or “in a previous life,” may leave an interviewer wondering how long ago that was. Also, don’t confess to prospective employers that you “left a message on their answering machines.” Hint: no one has those anymore. Voice mail is overwhelming the message technology of choice. Other telephone cliches are: inquiring about a “dial tone” or asking if you have dial 9 to get an outside line.
We’ve even heard of interviewers asking to see a candidates phone to make certain that it’s not a “flip phone” as opposed to one today’s smart phones. If you haven’t noticed, telephone technology has advanced and your technology likewise needs to change with the times.
Other phrases that may sound quaint but are dead give-aways for your age: “More troubles that Carter has pills,” “Till the cows come home,” or “It’s all Greek to me.”
How you present yourself may suggest that “you don’t have much runway left,” but how you express yourself is more of a window to your mind and your mindset, and how you’ll perform on the job as their next employee. Don’t give them an excuse to not hire you with a slip of the tongue.
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