What does “botoxing” your resume look like?
According to career expert Angela Champ, it means “smooth the wrinkles” in your resume to appear younger, or even less experienced, to attract employers in an evolving job market.
“There seems to be a youth bias right now because we are an older population,” Champ told CTV Your Morning on Thursday.
“Baby boomers, gen X are getting older, and some employers may think older people can’t keep up with the pace, older people won’t be able to do the technology, or that other candidates might want a higher salary than the less experienced person.”
Remove the dates
In April, the unemployment rate in Canada rose to 6.9 per cent, an increase of 0.4 percentage points since the start of the year, according to Statistics Canada.
Youth — individuals aged 15 to 24 years old — unemployment rate rose by 0.5 percentage points to 14.3 per cent in April.
According to the data, more people are looking for jobs, particularly among youth.
- READ MORE: Canada’s economy lost nearly 18,000 jobs in April, unemployment hits six-month high
- READ MORE: Young people are facing another tough summer labour market. Here’s how to land a job
Champ says one quick way to smooth out a resume to ensure older cohorts remain competitive in this job market is to remove specific dates.
“Remove the dates from your education,” she said. “Even if you have a graduate degree or an undergraduate degree, but it was 20, 30 years ago, remove that. Remove your high school, people don’t care if you graduated high school, especially 30 years ago.”
Champ also advises to remove jobs from more than 15 years ago.
“Unless you only had one or two jobs and you don’t have a choice because you’ve been there a long time,” she added.
“And if you’re doing that, make sure that you’re listing your accomplishments and achievements, and not just listing your job duties on your resume. Show what you can bring to an employer.”
Show progression
Showing the progression in a job on a resume is important for individuals who have had one or two jobs, Champ says.
“Maybe you’ve expanded your responsibilities, maybe you’ve learned new technology, maybe you’d led a bigger team, you’ve worked on a larger project,” she said.
“Show you’ve grown over those 15, 20 years.”
In addition to “botoxing” your resume, Champ says individuals can also optimize their job search by tapping into their network to get referrals and find jobs.
“Applying with a resume is not the only way to get a job,” she said. “People are looking for energy, so make sure that you’re exuding energy when you’re in an interview as well.”
