Don't let your age become a stumbling block

Nothing beats a face to face meeting when it comes to working with clients. However from time to time, whether it's due to timing or distance I will "meet" with a client over SKYPE.

Last week I met Christian for the first time on SKYPE. He had been referred to me and when we had looked at our respective schedules it was just going to be easier that way.

Now it's one thing to look at someone's CV or LinkedIn profile and get a general understanding of their background and experience, but seeing them in person (albeit virtually) still adds another dimension to gaining a better insight into their personality.

Once the initial "meet and greet" was out of the way, I asked Christian to briefly tell me a bit about himself.

"I'm old", he said. "I'm so old I remember watching the moon landing on black and white television", he continued before pausing - perhaps waiting for me to respond.

Whilst I thought he'd chosen an interesting way to introduce himself, I didn't really react. But I could tell he was obviously waiting for a response.

To be honest I wasn't really sure what he wanted me to say so I just decided to steer the conversation back to his career, and more specifically to his most recent experience.

But let's just think back to what he said for a moment.

Christian related the concept of being "old" to the fact he could remember watching a major event in history (on black and white television) on July 20th, 1969. Now I didn't want to probe and ask whether he was standing up in a cot wearing nappies at the time, or whether he was five, six or even 12 years old watching Neil Armstrong take his giant step for mankind.

My point is that I wouldn't recommend to anyone opening up a conversation with a recruiter or potential future employer with a reference to the fact you can remember watching an event on TV which took place 43 years ago.

Once I had put the moon landing comment to the side, and chipped away at Christian's career background, I uncovered an incredibly talented individual with skills in on-line marketing and digital customer relationship management that in my opinion would surpass even the most e-marketing savvy Gen Y.

While he may not have realised it at the time, Christian was using his age (and to be honest I still have no idea exactly how old he is ... because it's completely irrelevant!) as a stumbling block for moving on to his next role. 

In the same way that Renée Zellweger says to Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) "You had me at hello", Christian had practically lost me at hello. Remember it's the first 10 - 15 seconds (or your elevator pitch) which will have the most impact on someone considering you for a potential position in their team or organisation.

Christian's experience, skills and knowledge of his niche make him (in my opinion) highly sought after. But by using his age as an obstacle, he could potentially create a self-fulfilling prophecy which would result in people not even giving him a chance talk about his experience.

When you launch (please pardon the space travel pun) into your introduction with a potential new employer or recruiter, age shouldn't even come into the picture.

Image courtesy of: nreddin