WorkWise Q&A: I'm 60 ... can I still get a job?

Q: Dear Dr. Culp, In April, at the age of 60, I was summarily dismissed from my position of president and CEO for a nonprofit, which can be done in that state without cause. For the past seven months I’ve been scouring the job boards.

There are lots of jobs – and I’m willing to relocate – but I think my age is off-putting. I’ve reworked my resume to disguise my age some and I’ve included active hobbies, like running and skiing. I keep my LinkedIn profile fresh.

I am “volunteering” in my current “job” so there are no gaps in employment and it could develop into a source of revenue if the economy would cooperate.

Should I just go work as a greeter at WalMart? Thanks! Potential Greeter

A: Dear Potential, Greeting doesn’t seem to be your cup of tea, because you’ve spent your time job hunting in the ether rather than handshaking. Any chance job hunting, a job in itself, might involve the same?

Learn how. Read job-hunting articles on the Web. Go to the library and your favorite bookstores to find books on the subject. Join a job-hunting group, if you can, to share strategies, leads and sympathy. mlc

Q: Dr. Culp, Does a person’s personal life experience belong somewhere in a resume? Example from Real Life: A husband and wife have raised four adopted children from near birth. All four have major issues with learning skills and/or significant health problems. Three are of a minority race; so we’ve dealt with issues about racism constantly. All children are now over 18 years old and have graduated from high school.

Is this type of information useful from a person’s list of references when seeking a job? If so, how should it be presented? Checking

A: Dear Checking, A resume typically includes information about working. References may be both professional and, where relevant, personal. (Personal references are character references.) You need personal references if you’ll be working around money or in other sensitive environments. You could also use them if you’re looking for a job where adoption, children, learning skills, health problems and/or racism are relevant.

Can you use experience from the community to make some of the same points? If not, recruit at least one character reference to highlight your personal attributes. Do some gentle coaching. Mention which specific parts of your personal experience will transfer to a specific job. mlc

Dr. Mildred L. Culp welcomes your questions at culp@workwise.net. © 2012 Passage Media.