Applicant tracking systems (ATS) are no one’s friend. They use arbitrary criteria programmed by someone to exclude submitted resumes from application databases. We know why this is not good for applicants, whose experience and talents make them more valuable than skills-only criteria. But it’s not good for companies either, as they’re missing out on employees who may be more resourceful, innovative, dependable, and loyal than can be determined by an algorithm.
Having your resume spit out by an ATS strikes fear into many job seekers (of all generations). While your mid-career resume may not pass muster with various ATS screens, it is not intended to play the ATS game.
Instead, think of your mid-career resume as a conversation-starter. You want to find ways to engage with recruiters and hiring managers directly – not through the anonymous maw of some online job submission system.
Which leads me to the next point.
Is The Resume Still a Thing?
While resumes are going to be around for a while, I believe they are ultimately outdated, outmoded, and destined for the “circular file” of the institution of job search. So bear this in mind when you are taking the time to agonize over redrafting and updating yours.
In the old days, your resume was the only instrument you could use to get you in the door. It was (and, for now, remains) a standardized format that leveled the playing field for job seekers and the recruiters and hiring managers who reviewed their applications.
But Seriously, Isn’t LinkedIn Your Mid-Career Resume?
The average recruiter spends 7 seconds skimming a paper (or pdf) resume. On Linkedin, recruiters spend **up to 25x more time reviewing your profile.**
LinkedIn is the first place recruiters will go to check you out. With so much more information on LinkedIn (and a robust software suite targeted specifically at recruiters), LinkedIn has captured the job application workflow and made resumes secondary.
Accordingly, you want your mid-career resume and your LinkedIn Experience section to match up. You’ll want to sync them bullet for bullet.
Today, your resume functions as your leave-behind. It’s the document that recruiters and hiring managers use to track you in their system. They have to start a file on you, so the resume is still the one thing they can actually file somewhere (whether on paper or digitally).
So it remains an important component of the job search process: when you sit down for your interview and you see your interviewer pick up your resume, you want to make sure they get the right impression.
But Wait: Before You Update..
With age comes experience and (hopefully) wisdom. Now that you’ve been around the block a few times, you need to make the case for why this matters.
More Is Expected Of You
When you’re older, you’re expected to have things figured out. Don’t expect that your willingness to work or your openness to taking on any role is a reason to hire you. Instead, it’s up to you to identify and articulate your value and how you want to apply it. You have to more clearly define what you deliver.
Your Resume Has to Tell a Story.
Stories sell. Your resume has to evoke the growth and insights that you have gathered over the years and how you have used them to take on increasingly complex or impactful responsibilities. Your resume has to connect the dots and lay out a compelling narrative of steadily increasing capability and capacity.
You Can’t Compete on Skills
As a mid-career professional, you want to compete on strategy, insight, leadership abilities, and core skills. Your resume should emphasize these qualities to distinguish you and push the conversation onto a higher level.
Don’t Hide Your Age
Disregard the misguided advice of so many (younger and… ageist?) coaches and recruiters to leave dates off your education or omit anything older than ten years on your mid-career resume.
The moment they meet you on Zoom or in person, they’re going to know you’re “older.” If that’s really a problem for them, do you actually want to go to work for a company or a team where you’re not appreciated for what you bring to the job?
Yes, summarize the early years of your career with fewer bullets in a section at the bottom or your resume. But experience matters. Don’t short-change your value.
