3 Job Interview Tips to Use When Facing a Younger Interviewer
Last year our CEO was asked to be a featured author for Prime Women Magazine, a magazine dedicated to advising women in business, health, travel and much more! As a career expert for over 20 years, Danielle Dayries has written for over 100 magazines and online journals, providing expose’s on career transition and development.
Check out her most recent article below which discusses what to do when facing a younger interviewer! Originally featured here.
With an aging population and company downsizing, there is a good chance that an older, more experienced job seeker will interview with a younger boss. This job interview dynamic has challenges, but carefully thought out, the interaction results can be successful. A good start is understanding their concerns and counteracting with strengths.
See these 3 job interview tips to age proof your candidacy:
1. Focus on unique skills
Researching the company’s problems and challenges helps create an opportunity to communicate your unique skillset advantage. In other words, identify the value you can immediately add to help solve one of their problems. A good job interviewing tip is quantifying solutions to similar previous problems. By doing so you establish credibility and further convey your unique advantage over a lesser experienced candidate. Draw on all that knowledge and experience that only you have and communicate clearly and concisely.
2. Address age concerns
Some common concerns are openness to taking directions from younger supervisors and tech savviness. They may have doubts about older candidates being less flexible in taking direction or not as up-to-date on computer software and social media. The second of my job interview tips is to counter these concerns. Share how you handled experiences working on a team with diversified ages or under a younger supervisor. Explain how you handled the age differences. Show examples and stories about ways and reasons for using social media, a smartphone and other professional work related software.
3. Build trust
In Jia Jiang’s book, Rejection Proof, he states that honesty and empathy build trust. Rapport is created when someone finds you believable and trustworthy which in turn leaves a lasting impression. Collaborating respectfully and honestly with others, and sharing specific stories that demonstrate your enthusiasm for the business makes you a valuable asset in any job opportunity.
“The great thing about getting older is that you don’t lose all the other ages you’ve been. “
— Madeleine L’Engle
