Being Savvy as an Older Worker?

I'm a aeroscience engineer with 25+ years experience with security clearance. I was on contract for many years at a Corporation until the contracts ran dry and I was forced into early retirement. How can I at the age of 69 make myself job savvy and downplay my age?

---V

Let me get right to answering your question and that focuses on one word you used in your question--savvy

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - /ˈsæv i/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[sav-ee] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation verb, -vied, -vy·ing, noun, adjective, -vi·er, -vi·est. Informal. –verb (used with object), verb (used without object)

1.	to know; understand.

–noun

2.	Also, sav·vi·ness. practical understanding; shrewdness or intelligence; common sense: a candidate who seemed to have no political savvy.

–adjective

3.	shrewdly informed; experienced and well-informed; canny.

I bolded some of the words in the definition because, in my opinion, they reflect the most common uses of the word. Can you, at 69, be savvy? You bet. How do you do that? Use knowledge and information.

First of all, you may recall that I developed a Google-powered job lead tool, Job Search Universe (www.jobsearchuniverse.com) that is concurrently searching a ton of job sites worldwide in many industries. Use the site, not just for job leads but for competitive intelligence. What is the market looking for? What is it paying for that? How does your experience match up. Where can you strengthen or refresh your skills for the demands of the market?

Next, instead of sending out the same generic resume over and over again, send tailored resumes to every job listing you choose. After all, are all the jobs you forward your resume to identical? Of course, they aren't. So why send the same resume to every job? Tailor them to each job and track which version you send to each ad.

When you receive a call from someone representing a firm, check your list of responses for what the changes were in your resume and what they were looking for so that you can target your answers to what they care about.

Next, if there is one more way to appear savvy and that is by using The Single Best Question You Can Ask on Any Interview. People report to me all the time that they get a great response when they do. To review that Question, go to

http://jobhuntingtips.blogspot.com/2006/08/single-best-question-you-can-ask-on.html

Finally, review some of my earlier articles in Head Hunt Your Next Job for places where you need work.

Delete the items in your cv that are more than 15 years back. Take the dates off for your degrees. It is unlikely that anyone will hire you based upon experience you had when Nixon was President so get it off your resume. Emphasize the work you've done since 1997--since we all learned of Monica Lewinsky so make that post-Lewinsky era the beefy part of your resume and anything before that a line or two.

Good luck; I hope this helps. If you want more specifics, please let me know.

Jeff Altman
The Big Game Hunter
Concepts in Staffing
jeffaltman@cisny.com

© 2007 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in technology, accounting, finance, sales, marketing and other disciplines since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

If you have a question that you would like me to answer, email it to me at: thebiggamehunter@gmail.com

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If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at jeffaltman@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).