Page 32 - James Caan - Get the Job you Really Want

applying for senior management positions are still asked if
they have children or if they are planning to? Ageism remains
a continuing challenge for recruitment consultants and candi-
dates alike – the 2006 Age Discrimination Act is making an
impact, and now dates of birth must be excluded from any C V.

However, the reality is that simply removing your date of birth
is fine, but if you have thirty or forty years of work experience,
it is a simple matter for an employer to deduce the age of an

applicant.
To counter that, read every job description very carefully and
look for areas of your expertise that are an appropriate match.
With age comes experience, and that is a valuable commodity.

if you are about to graduate, what

should you be bearing in mind?

This is particularly relevant in a period when there are more
students graduating every year than ever before, and there is a
decrease in job opportunities.
The graduate job market is tough, because not only are the

corporates and blue-chip companies cutting their graduate
schemes – the traditional ‘milk round’ – but graduates represent
a batch of people who have, essentially, the same qualification.

I am not sure that employers di≠erentiate between a 2.1 and a
first. In other words the degree or grade you have doesn’t really
count. The qualification is good to have, but it is not a decision
maker.

20 get the job you really want