The New York Times > Business >A Nip and Tuck for the Resume

You were downsized three years ago from your job as a software user-interface designer. Since then, you’ve worked intermittently as a consultant, but none of the full-time jobs you’ve applied for have come through, despite your impressive credentials. You suspect you’re being rejected because of your age: 58. Should you edit your resume to lop off a few years of early experience to disguise your seniority?

A. A resumee is not intended to be an unabridged regurgitation of every professional experience you’ve ever had, says Andrea Kay, career consultant and author of “resumes That Will Get You the Job You Want” (Betterway Books, 1997). Early career history can be left off without breaching ethics, Ms. Kay said. “A resume is a marketing tool,” she said. “It should contain information that supports how you want to be seen. Early experience may no longer be relevant, and it certainly isn’t where you want to spend the most energy.”

Q. So should you excise the early years entirely?

A. Not necessarily. While it may not be a clear ethical violation, some companies may not be thrilled at the appearance of being misled. Your age will certainly come out later in the hiring process, particularly if the company does a background check, said Linda Leake, a career consultant and corporate recruiter based in Raleigh-Durham, N.C.

While it’s not technically lying, “recruiters are getting pretty sensitive to integrity issues in these post- Enron times,” Ms. Leake said. “You don’t want to come across as though you’re purposely hiding something,” she added.

Ms. Leake suggests summarizing early history without dates, with a line like, “Other design experience includes positions with Company B, Company Q and Company X.”

She also advises applicants not to specify the dates of any degrees they have earned.

Q. Are there other strategies that can play down age in a resume?

A. Organize your resume in what’s called a functional format rather than a chronological one. Use the attention-getting left column for job titles, rather than dates. Tuck in the dates discreetly after the company name, Ms. Leake said.

The best way to make age a nonissue is to make a strong case for why you’re the best person for the job. “You have to think about your point of differentiation,” Ms. Leake said. “The reality is that a person looking at a resume spends about 30 seconds on each one in the first cut. If you don’t have at the top of the first page why you are the best, you don’t stand a chance. I routinely deal with companies who receive more than 3,000 resumes a day.”

To avoid being seen as more expensive than a younger applicant, leave off salary requirements, Ms. Leake said.

Q. How do you make a resume stand out?

A. Ms. Kay recommends making sure that you have listed accomplishments, not just a string of job descriptions. What you choose to highlight should tell a story about you and what you want to convey about yourself that’s unique or compelling.

Ms. Kay suggested that it was important to “come up with a positioning statement,” in this case, “as an information architect with extensive technical knowledge in these areas.”

“Anyone who reads his resume should be able to get that out of it,” she said.

Q. Should you hire a professional to rewrite your resume?

A. It can be helpful to have the perspective of someone who has written thousands of resumes. If you go that route, make sure that the person has references who can attest to the difference the writing made to a job search, Ms. Leake said.

Q. What else can you do to fight possible age discrimination?

A. According to Gary Wires, 59, a sales executive who was recently hired by a telecommunications company in the Raleigh-Durham area, the most effective strategies for battling age bias are off the resume. Mr. Wires, who spent three years consulting after being downsized from a company, found that assiduously networking and meeting new people in his field made the difference. He kept up his memberships in industry groups and regularly called people in his Rolodex to remind them that he was looking.

The effort paid off. Mr. Wires landed his current account management position because a contact let him know about the job, then passed along his resume to the hiring manager. “It makes a huge difference to have an introduction from someone who knows you personally,” Mr. Wires said. “With someone to vouch for you, they’re more likely to say, ‘Well, this guy may be 59, but he’s the best one for the job.’ ”

Q. Are there other secrets to success for older job applicants?

A. “Stay current and active,” Mr. Wires said. He avoided the dreaded gap on the resume through consulting, and he stayed busy by becoming involved with a career advice group at his church, helping other downsized technology workers look for work.

He also said that he tried to make his age a nonissue by focusing on his credentials. “I knew from working with other job searchers that age discrimination was a consideration, he said. “So it was in the back of my mind. But I decided to just not worry about it and focus on how I could do the best job I could of selling myself.”

Q. Did Mr. Wires include his full job history in his resume?

A. Yes. “I personally didn’t feel it would be ethical to leave it off,” he said.

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