The steep competitions for jobs and growing concerns about age discrimination have been causing some job seekers to try to appear younger. According to a recent article in USA Today, candidates are removing dates and work experience from their resumes in order to look less seasoned. Some are even getting plastic surgery and colouring their greying locks.
USA Today reported that 63 percent of job seekers would leave a date off their resumes to hide their age, according to a survey by online job board HotJobs. Another reason candidates might be doctoring their resumes is the jump in number of age discrimination cases: USA Today wrote that the number of these cases filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission hit 19,921 in 2002; this is a more than 40 percent increase from 14,141 in 1999.
EPCglobal advises job seekers to be honest. EPCglobal is only interested in matching a candidateís skills, experiences, qualifications and preferences to job requisitions. The companyís state-of-the-art online application, EPCjobs.com, sets itself apart from mere job boards by providing a platform for completing the entire hiring process with industry-focused matching technology. Using an easy web-interface system, job candidates create their own profiles using industry-specific terms, and can attach their resumes for consideration.
This simplifies the application process for the users, allowing them to choose from very detailed experience-descriptor lists. It also gives a much more accurate picture of their background than the general terminology thatís frequently used on most job-search websites. The EPCjobs application then uses research-driven logic to compare and rank the results. This leads to the most efficient and accurate ranking/matching of a job seekerís profile to open positions.
Is it wise to mask your age on a resume?
EPCGlobal says no.