Should I try to hide my age on my CV and how?

[ShastaBeast]

I took several years out and changed my career after kids. Two years in a professional role and studying alongside for a relevant qualification. I’m about ten years older than other candidates for roles I’m looking for, mid 30s but am often mistaken for being much younger (not a good thing at work usually) so it wouldn’t be a shock when I turn up at interview.

Is it ok to try to disguise my age and how can I do it? Remove qualification dates and old jobs? My current employer worried I was over qualified/experienced for the role and I’ve since been promoted. But until I qualify I can’t go for the higher level roles, nor do I want to go into a management role right now as I don’t have the confidence. It’s a reverse of the usual experience catch 22.

I'm not clear why you want to hide your age?

If you're concerned your CV looks overqualified for the roles you are applying for, then playing down things in the jobs you've done would make a bit more sense. But if you're applying for roles relevant to your level of qualification and experience why try and hide your age? It's not like you're 70 or anything!

(Not that anyone who is 70 should hide their age either, but I could see their point slightly more than someone in their 30s!)

Employers are not legally allowed to discriminate on age, I wouldn't lie, if you trip up and they find out you will just look dishonest.

It’s not to lie but to try to overcome the likely biases of being older than the typical applicant, plus having a previous other career and a huge gaping hole in my employment history (I studied and volunteered extensively but it’s not the same). I’ve applied for a few jobs and heard nothing despite having all the right experience, but this experience is only from the last two years. I suspect a more graduate with two years of the same experience would have heard back.

I was very lucky my current employer wanted to recruit someone in my position and I’m great at my job. Sadly not everyone is so enlightened.

" I suspect a more graduate with two years of the same experience would have heard back. "

Why? That really would be very unusual, to be biased against people in their thirties and need to be "enlightened" to consider recruiting them!

What field is it, that you are so sure being very young is considered so important?

Hmm mum of two who switched careers with a five year employment void, vs commitment free 23-25 year old. And looking specifically at a role in a “young” start up type company which mentions social activities on the ad. DH worked for a similar company and it was very young, only the senior management had kids.

Plus the advice NOT to mention having kids on your CV/cover letter to explain a gap.

I suspect making it less obvious how old/how much experience etc would help reduce discrimination, unconscious or otherwise. It may be illegal but if it didn’t happen there wouldn’t need to be laws. Surely I no longer need to list jobs entirely irrelevant to my current career and not putting a date on my exams wouldn’t be a big deal for example.

Conversely there’s a lot of article online about doing this.

”Plus the advice NOT to mention having kids on your CV/cover letter to explain a gap.”

Which advice? Kids don’t belong on a CV, but no one here has said that. ‘Career break’ is fine.

If you don’t want to put irrelevant jobs then don’t. Everything on your CV should be aimed at getting you an interview and if it’s irrelevant and just takes up space, then in most cases it’s fine to leave it off.

I don't include my age or kids on my cv. Neither are relevant.

I was told to not put date of birth or exam years/school years, etc on my cv. Also no full address, just area and beginning of post code. I was told this by two separate career coaches.

How long have you been worn it since your career gap? If a fair while I wouldn't specify before that.. the recommended is 10 years..

Don't put any dates on your cv, apart from most recent two or three jobs.

Don't start lying. You'll get caught and will set mistrust. If you lie on your age to get your way what else will you lie about?

Instead, put the effort in writing a great cover letter to explain why you are an excellent candidate for the job and what you additional experience and maturity brings to it.

A great cover letter is often more telling of a person than their CV.

Don't put any dates on. Definitely.
Show what difference you make - how you benefit an organisation in tangible terms I.e measurable in the blurb not just what you did.

Where do I say I’m thinking of lying? I just wonder if it’s best to make it less obvious I’m older and a parent who has a five year gap. The level of job I’m going for is a second job out of uni. When some qualifications were gained in the 1990s it’s clear I’m much older than the candidate they probably have in mind (probably older than the recruiting manager in fact).

No my five year gap was not ten years ago so I can’t leave it off, it was two years ago as mentioned in my first post. I’d be much older, or never have started my career/degree with that maths.

And nobody here advised NOT mentioning kids on a CV, even though you then go on to agree with the advice. Have I accidentally posted on AIBU? I’m not sure asking for friendly advice here was a good idea - lack of attention to detail and poor comprehension abound.

I found an old post on another Mumsnet board which suggested this board may result in a pasting. What a shame.

But thanks for the advice about removing dates being ok. I will remove them.

I don't think removing dates is good advice at all. Funnily enough I've just rejected a CV with a hiring manager because there was simply no way of sussing out how long they'd been in their roles to do an initial assessment of their relevant experience, and it felt misleading to leave them off. Plus we check dates on cv against references when we employ people to make sure they roughly match up.

"And nobody here advised NOT mentioning kids on a CV, even though you then go on to agree with the advice"

Eh?

No one gave any advice about whether or not to mention kids, you are right.

But then you completely randomly referred to "the advice NOT to mention kids". There had been (until that point) no such advice given.

But yes, definitely it's me with the poor comprehension and lack of detail....

Plenty of people have given you helpful advice. I was trying to understand why in your thirties you feel the need to hide your age, and gave you advice to only include things which are relevant and will help you get an interview. Sorry if you don't find that helpful.

There is no need for anyone in their thirties to even attempt to disguise their age! It is the ideal age for a job hunter, old enough to have a bit of experience and maturity and not too old to be penalised against.

I am in my late 40s and looking for a job and I feel like I do need to think about this however. So I don't mention dates of university and have dropped off about the first eight years of my career although it still leaves twenty years. Sometimes applications ask for dates which I think is unfair because sadly some people are ageist.

I would advise to leave dob and education dates off. Also you can leave off your old work history to make you look younger if you want. However I would find getting a cv with no dates on a bit odd. I want to know if you are currently working and if in a job how long you have been there.

With regard to mentioning kids, absolutely not - do not mention anything personal.

TBH, I would not want to work for a firm that only valued employees of a certain age. Don't try to omit identifying information such as dates of exams and jobs.