Age 40, 50, Or 60+? Why AI And JobScan Cause You To Lose Job Opportunities

AI is a cool new toy that job seekers think will help them match more job criteria. JobScan and other word cloud tools are the older, less "techy" tools.

Many job seekers use many of these tools to word their resumes, attempting to get through employer screening more often.

But these tools don't work so well when you're in your 40s, 50s, or 60s+.

Here are 5 reasons why:

1. Employers Expect More From Age 40+ Job Seekers Than Just Being Qualified: You expect to be paid more for your experience than 20 and 30 somethings, in experienced staff, management, executive and C-level roles. So why wouldn't employers expect more from you than to just be qualified (because there are also qualified 20- and 30- year olds that are less expensive than you).

2. AI Tools And JobScan Depend On Published Job Descriptions As The Input: Job descriptions don't reflect the employer's current situation, because they are written long before (often years before) the job is advertised. Do you think that appearing as the wrong fit helps your search, especially when you're age 40+?

3. Published Job Requirements Don't Reflect The Individual Hiring Manager's Needs: Published job descriptions are written by HR and Legal to avoid HR lawsuits, so they are written broadly to cover many jobs in different departments, locations, business units, products, and hiring managers. Hiring managers send their current needs to recruiters to use as the real search criteria - so the real search criteria are very different than requitements in published job descriptions. AI tools and JobScan won't return the right keywords when users input incorrect criteria, hurting you even more when you're over 40 and considered more expensive.

4. AI Gives Average Results From The Internet: Do you think average results will help you stand out when you're 40, 50 or 60+?

5. Employers Are Starting To Adopt AI Tools To Identify AI Generated Resumes: New releases of Applicant Tracking Systems and updated versions are including AI tools, to make it easier for employers to identify AI generated/assisted resumes. As an age 40+ job seeker, do you think it will impress employers when they see your written communication was AI generated, and not yours? Don't you think there are more effective ways to show employers you can use AI tools?

The biggest problem with both of these tools is the job description that you use as an input. The published job description rarely includes even 50% of the current search criteria that recruiters use to search for resumes. So, this means that AI, JobScan, and other word cloud tools get less than half of the keywords right.

And it means these tools miss over 50% of the information needed to output a resume designed to match search criteria ... 

... because the published search criteria have changed.

Maybe you've gotten feedback that the reason you didn't get an interview, advance in the hiring process, or received an offer was that you didn't meet necessary criteria ... that were never mentioned in the published job description. That's because the actual job description changed, but not the published description in the posting.

Do you still think these tools help your search when you're age 40+?

These are all reasons AI tools, JobScan/word cloud tools cause you to lose opportunities when you're over 40. The published (wrong) criteria are input, so neither tool match enough criteria to help you get an interview.

Why not let me show you far more effective ways to overcome job search age bias, to make your age one of your greatest advantages when you're 40, 50, or 60+?

I help people solve the most difficult job search problems, including job search acceleration, getting past ATSs, ageism, remote positions, product/job function/career/industry/ geographic change, unemployment, "bouncy" recent career path, job search turnaround, seeking raise/promotion, industry in decline/consolidation, long term gaps, family leave, or other of the most challenging job search issues.

Join me for my next free Resume Webinar (enroll at https://x.resumewebinar.com/Registration for no charge) and learn how to accelerate your job search, so you can find your next job faster in 2024.

—

#jobs #resume #career #ageism