Tips for Older Workers Interviewing for a Temp Job

@Rosetta P thanks for your comment. I hear your frustration. No, the temp agencies can NOT ask your age, race or if you have any disabilities. If they ask, just do not answer. Have you found a recruiter who specializes in the oil industry? That might be the best way for you to go since you have years of experience there. Yes, through a temp agency, you can figure that the average salary is $10/hr - sometimes more. But you probably won't find a good paying job through them. You would be better served finding a good recruiter.

I am enjoying reading all messages, and I want to say it's very frustrating I have years of experience and very good in my job and 2015 feb. was my last day of working in Oil Industry and the experience I had with temp agency is very sad I have applied for so many jobs it's sad I did care about that money because they not trying to pay you anything I just wanted to go to work this agency offered 10.00 I applied surely the job was for someone with only a year experience and she receive my resume and email me back and told me they were going with some with more experience now a 1yr vs 15 plus that training others I read between the line okay it was either my age,race, gender I really wanted respond back but I let it go but why are they asking abou what race your age, gender do you are have an disability it's sad they do have job but they are looking for someone not you age gender race I don't like say that but I been in the industry with long time and the big oil companies I work for never pull them card like temp agency are doing some of them don't know what the clients want I talk with one she was reading my resume and it list solder skills and she ask did I solder so that's where I am at is there any advice to give me how to handle these temp agencies but I will people in my age group are looking for work but it's just not happening it's sad that the agency are like that again why do companies need them.

Thank you,great information very helpful than you for Sharing.

Excellent advice I intend on following! Thanks🙂

@John Quinn thanks for your comment. So sorry that that company treated you that way. It's truly unfortunate that companies treat prospective employees this way. Then you hear about them on the news where they complain that they can't qualified applicants! Duh! Wonder why?! I have seen the changes in companies over the past ten years - where they went from sending you a "thank you for applying - you were great but we hired someone else" to silence. Even though I always hated the canned responses - at least I got a response and I could close out that job and move on to the next. Today I can have a list of jobs that I applied to with absolutely no response. We hear from job seekers all of the time about finally hearing from a company six months after the fact. Totally frustrating to say the least. Sadly we don't see those corporate attitudes changing any time in the near future. Companies still rule the game. All we can do is continue to play until we win and get that position.

@martin M I was recently Furloughed and ultimately Liaid off due to Contractual issues with the US Government and VA Central. I reverted back to my previous experience as a Procurement Professional in Health Care in order to find Work. After submitting roughly 100 applications I got 2 calls. One from 1200 miles away and the other from very close to Home. The close to Home telephone interviews went extremely well. Well enough to get Me in for a face to face. I just turned 60 but i look much younger. My Personality is lets say, "young at heart". I was interviewed by three Women who were at least My age. They had scripts with them. No off script conversation was allowed. I knew that I did answer every question accurately because i saw the smiles and head nodding. We left on a positive note. I went home thinking I had the job. Sent out the obligatory thank you follow up emails the next day and never even got a read receipt to my in box. You are correct. The process is a farce.

@Martin M thanks for your comment. Yes it is truly unfortunate that the process has changed this dramatically. In the past, all we had to do was send a short cover letter along with our comprehensive resume and then wait for the phone call. Now you have to take assessments and attend multiple interviews just to be told - sorry but we have chosen someone else. Desperate people will take those low-ball offers, too. That is what makes it even tougher on the truly qualified job seekers. All you can do is keep attending the interviews, taking the assessments and keep looking for that company that will value you, as an employee. @Kenneth Mascaro thanks for your comment. You should never put all of your experience on your resume - just the last ten years is the rule of thumb today. Now that could change in the future, but, for now, companies only want one page resumes with just the last ten years of employment. They figure that anything outside of that is obsolete.

You can be the best interviewee and answer all illegal questions on the application then complete a pre-employmemt assessment knowing all answers in the test and still be not chosen for the position. There are too many illegal hurdles used by employers to screen out unwanted candidates. Today's employment process looks to eliminate qualified and experienced applicants or insult the process with low ball offers. The entire process has become a farce.

If you list 50 years of employment, they really should get the hint about age quickly

@John Quinn thanks for your comment. Asking for your date of birth is not legal. You could contact them and request that they remove that field. Date of birth, marital status, number of children, sex, race, religious affiliation - all illegal questions.

Many Companies actually ask your date of birth on the employment application. If you dont provide it you cant go any further with the application process. So thats an automatic exclusion. I see that a lot.

@Joel thanks for your comment. Absolutely true! One thing that you didn't mention was about the resume. Make sure that it's short, sweet and to the point. Only one page if you can and only pertinent information. Make sure that your skills are up-to-date as showing "older" skills will only date you. Write a cover letter, too - unless the posting only asks for your resume. The cover letter isn't about how fantastic you are but about how they, the company, will benefit from hiring you. Make it about them. Never regurgitate points from your resume, either. Check the company out on sites like LinkedIn. Look at the employees. If you are seeing only 20 somethings, you probably won't get called for the job. Sad but true. Look for a company that has a great mix of employees if you can. Always check out the company before applying. Why waste your time creating a resume and cover letter for a position that you really don't want? All the best on your job search. You seem to have a great handle on the process.

Currently, employers can find out whatever they want about you if they are interested. A lot of stuff goes on behind the scenes as far as search engines & informal background checks. If you're desperate for a job, then you have to put up with some of these "age fishing" inquiries from recruiters or employers. If you are not that desperate then the job search is improved by (1) having your resume contain the targeted words that the online or employer search results get you in the higher percentile of candidates (2) increasing the volume of your online applications by using more "quick apply" options and don't do as many long form online applications that suck time (3) recruiters search the employment websites (Careerbuilder, Monster, Zip Recruiter, etc.) daily so have them contact you about job matches so you don't have to beat the bushes (4) Get a Linkedin account and try to connect to as many recruiters & head hunters as possible & if they connect message them if its OK to send them your resume (5) Post your resume everywhere its free (you don't need to pay for the special account) and set up the free email job notifications so you can get job opening sent to you -- ignore the ones that are over 2 weeks old and focus on new ones (6) Practice interviewing -- video yourself and have others critique your answers -- and go on as many as possible just for the experience so when one really matters you won't be like a deer in the head lights. PLUS - bring color work samples and show them during the interview to stand out for the rest of the pack. Its a competitive market out there so to circumvent age issues, bring your "A Game" and make it easy for the employer to decide and tougher on the other candidates who may be rusty or less prepared at interviewing.

@Keith thanks for your comment. Certainly do appreciate it. The sad part for many of us "grayer" folks is when they ask for the year you graduated from HS but their little drop-down date list doesn't go back far enough! I have encountered that so many times because the company decided that they didn't want a senior person so they restricted it. Is that even legal? I don't think it is because it's blatant ageism but they get away with it. This just goes to show that there's really no right or wrong way to making a resume as far as including dates or not. Personally, if I am interested in a position, I will research the company as much as I can and check out who is currently working there. If all I see are millennials, I don't waste my time. Maybe not the best way to qualify a job but I don't want a job where I am the "granny" of the group and have to deal with the petty high school garbage during the work day. I want to be able to work with people from all age groups and let us blend our voices and talents together for the good of the company as well as our careers. Ahhh that would be utopia!

I am reading a lot of postings suggesting; even recommending the complete and total removal of dates from one's resume; in an effort to avoid age discrimination. While this might make sense; in the end, isn't this the ultimate "Red Flag" for all recruiters and personnel reps that you're a wee bit grayer than they prefer their candidates be? While in college; I researched this topic fairly deeply; and I must state that while these recommendations may seem productive; in the end such an issue is "red-flagged" by these kinds of measures. Truth be told if employers are wanton to commit Ageism ie Age-Discrimination; such paltry efforts are truly inconsequential and irrelevant. That research that I conducted proved that while such discrimination is rampant it does not garner the financial benefit supposedly foisted as justification for this hideous, arcane, illicit and illegal practice. The best advice that I have read germane to this topic is to research firms that actually seek more senior employees for their dependability, knowledge and acumen. Honestly, I think that this recommendation to remove all the dates from one's credentials only exacerbates the problems they are intended to remedy. While superficially such recommendations may seem plausible; even viable: in the "real world" these only serve to generate even more suspicion about the veracity of those particular job-seekers' credentials. And once that level of mistrust and skepticism occurs your application is headed for the paper-shredder. Limiting one's resume to a ten year inventory of one's job history is however, a sound recommendation.

Suggestion: remove all dates from your resume for education. When asked for a date, just say it has been awhile. Then ask a question. Asking a candidate for dates to determine age is an illegal question. Prepare a 2 page resume showing the last 10 years of job history.

@Peter thanks for your comments. I had to laugh at your distinction of being the oldest in the class. I am sure that I am the oldest one in my class, too. But good for you for getting additional education. Sometimes we think that, because we have been in the workplace all of our lives, we don't need further education. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just in the last 5 years technology has changes so much that our skills are sorely lacking. We need to continue our education to keep up with the technological changes in our workplace.

The knowledge learned has been invaluable, so it is never too late to put more quivers in the bag and to be, at the very least, very competative in today's market

opportuities within. I decided to return to school to help to some what even the playing field. I earned a diploma in Advanced Business Management and E-Commerce with honors a nd the dubeous distinction of being " the oldest person in class"/school. The knoll

@Sandra thanks for the comment. What type of technology were you thinking about? Your resume and cover letter are your way to open doors. So words are powerful. Use words that are going to make them sit up and take notice. Make sure that you are including keywords in both your resume and cover letter. Once you get your foot in the door, then you can use technology to demonstrate what you know. @Nazeer if you have to complete an application, you are going to have to put dates for all of your education as well as your job history. On a resume that you submit, you could probably get by without them. If you have a post graduate degree, don't put your high school on your resume. Put your undergraduate and graduate degrees on there. If they are more than 10 years ago, I wouldn't include dates - just where you went and the type of degree such as BS Business Management, University of Tennessee, Memphis, TN

How can one shine when they can only demonstrate their skills/knowledge the old fashioned way (pen, paper,calculator) versus using technology?

Great advise, thank you.

How important it is to give the detail about the dates as when you finish your high school and when you finish your post graduate degree. your comments please ?

Thanks!! Great Info!!!

Great Advice!!