Plenty of my gray-haired peers fear age discrimination when looking for a job. My consultant buddies have concern every time they pitch their services to a younger corporate executive. Here’s how to deal with the problem.
What’s the worry? After all, you have lots of experience that should be valuable. Let’s face the employer’s or buyer’s worries head on. He or she is worried that you’re stuck in the past; that any idea you have will be state-of-the-art from the 20th century.
Solution: Stay at the cutting edge. Within your field, know the latest news, designs and controversies. Try not to be against everything that’s new. If you are against it, throw a positive spin on it: “I’m really excited about what [ insert new technology ] will do for us. Of course, they need to solve the problem of [ insert problem that makes you skeptical ] . I’ve been thinking that we need to be ready to for them to get to that solution. When the day comes, we’ll want to be prepared to [ insert a to-do list ].
Knowing what’s new outside of your specialty is also important. Here are some suggestions:
- Read blogs. In addition to blogs in your field, good place to start is Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki.
- Start a blog. See if your prospective employer/client has a blog.
(Search for blogs.) - Watch some YouTube videos, including Judson Laipply’s Evolution of Dance, which has over 50 million views. Create a video of your elevator speech and post it on YouTube.
- Buy an iPod. Learn how to buy music and subscribe to podcasts.
- Create a podcast.
- Join Linked In. Link to me.
What else? Leave a comment.