How to get a job over 50: resume, networking, interviews and your rights

Resume age tells to remove, and what to keep

A long career is an asset, but a resume that lists all of it invites a reader to do arithmetic instead of reading your results. The goal is not to hide your age or invent a shorter history. It is to show the experience that matters for this job and leave out the details that only date you.

CareerOneStop, the career site sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, gives job seekers over 55 specific resume advice, and most of it applies from 50. It suggests leaving out irrelevant jobs, especially from more than 15 years ago; writing “15+ years” for a very long-held role rather than spelling out every year; and moving earlier experience that is still relevant into an “Other relevant experience” section without dates. For education, it says to list the degree and institution but leave off the year you finished unless it was within the past five years, and to avoid listing your birthdate or age.

Format helps too. CareerOneStop describes a combination resume, with a summary and skills sections ahead of the work history, as a way to emphasise skills and accomplishments and downplay the length of a career. Two pages is fine when you have a lot of relevant experience. Our resume format guide compares the layouts, and the resume date format checker lists every date style in your resume so you can make the ones you keep consistent and spot a stray year you meant to remove.

• Graduation year on a degree from decades ago: remove it; keep the degree and the school.
• Every job since your first: keep roughly the last 15 years in full and condense or drop older, unrelated roles.
• An objective statement: replace it with a two- or three-line summary that names the role you want and your strongest results.
• Contact details: name, phone, a professional email, city and state, and your LinkedIn URL; no street address, birthdate or photo.
• Email address: CareerOneStop suggests avoiding addresses from early providers because employers may assume you are not current. Treat that as perception, not a rule; a plain address built from your name is the safe choice.
• Software and methods nobody uses any more: cut them, and list the tools you use now.

Show recent skills, not only long experience

The concern a hiring manager may not say out loud is whether you are current. CareerOneStop lists “older workers lack technology skills, or will require extra training time” among the stereotypes older applicants face, and its advice is to note technology training and skills on your resume and in interviews without overestimating them, and to take training if this is a weak area.

Answer that concern on the page before anyone raises it. Put the last few years up front: courses you finished, certifications you earned or renewed, and the specific tools you use in your current or most recent job. CareerOneStop suggests community college short courses and certificates, free digital literacy classes at libraries and American Job Centers, and professional certifications in your field as ways to update your credentials.

Dates work in your favour here. A 2025 certificate or a tool you adopted last year is evidence; a skills list of programs from the 1990s is a tell. Our guide to skills for a resume explains how to pick the ones that match a posting, and if you are moving into a new field, the career change guide covers how to bridge the gap.

• Add a short Training and certifications section with completion years, and keep only the recent or relevant items.
• Name the tools you use now in your bullets, in the same words the job posting uses.
• Show one recent change you led or adopted: a new system, process or way of working.
• Make your LinkedIn profile match the resume, with a current photo and recent activity.

Lean on networking over cold applications

Decades of work give you something younger applicants do not have: a large network of people who have seen you do the job. Use it first. A referral from a former colleague puts your name in front of a person, and a person who knows your work judges you on it, not on a date at the top of a page.

Start with the people closest to your best work and work outward. Most will be glad to hear from you; a short message that says what you are looking for and asks one specific question is easier to answer than a request for a job. Our networking for jobs guide covers how to restart old relationships, and the informational interview guide explains how to ask someone in a target company or field for 20 minutes of advice.

Keep applying online as well, but tailor each application and choose roles where your experience is clearly a fit. For free, in-person help, CareerOneStop points job seekers to their local American Job Center, which offers help with job search and training, and to the Senior Community Service Employment Program, which helps low-income seniors find employment.

1. List 30 people who have seen your work: former managers, peers, clients, vendors and people you trained.
2. Send each a short, personal note with what you are looking for and the kind of company you are targeting.
3. Ask for one thing: an introduction, 20 minutes of advice, or a heads-up when a role opens.
4. When a referral leads to a posting, apply through the official route and tell the recruiter who referred you.
5. Follow up with a thank-you and a short update on what happened, whether or not it led anywhere.

How to answer age-related objections in the interview

Interviewers rarely say they are worried about your age, and employers covered by the ADEA may not base a hiring decision on it. What they do ask about is cost, fit, energy and how long you will stay. CareerOneStop’s list of stereotypes and responses is a useful map: show you plan to stay for a long time, research current wages so your salary expectations fit, cite a strong attendance record and show energy in how you answer, and make it clear you are comfortable with change.

A useful framework for each answer is to acknowledge the concern, give one piece of recent evidence, and turn it toward the job in front of you. Keep the answer under a minute, and avoid stories that start with how things used to be done. Our list of common interview questions covers the standard ones; the four below are the ones experienced candidates hear most.

• Aren’t you overqualified? Say why this level is what you want, name what you would bring on day one, and show you are not using the job as a stopgap.
• What are your salary expectations? Give a range based on current pay for this role, not your last title. The salary expectations guide explains how to research one.
• Energy and technology: answer with recent evidence, such as a tool you learned last year or a project with tight deadlines, rather than reassurance.
• Reporting to a younger manager: say plainly that you are comfortable with it and describe how you like to work with a manager.

Your rights under the ADEA, as of October 2026

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) protects job applicants and employees who are 40 or older from employment discrimination based on age. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which enforces it, the ADEA applies to private employers with 20 or more employees, state and local governments, employment agencies, labor organizations and the federal government. Your state may also have its own age discrimination law.

The EEOC says it is unlawful to discriminate because of age in any term, condition or privilege of employment, including hiring, firing, promotion, layoff, pay, benefits, job assignments and training. Harassing an older worker because of age is prohibited, and so is retaliating against someone for opposing age discrimination or filing a charge.

Two rules matter most during a job search. First, the ADEA generally makes it unlawful to include age preferences, limitations or specifications in job notices or advertisements; an ad may set an age limit only in the rare cases where age is a bona fide occupational qualification reasonably necessary to the business. Second, the ADEA does not explicitly prohibit an employer from asking your age or date of birth, but the EEOC says such questions may deter older applicants or indicate possible intent to discriminate, and that if the information is needed for a lawful purpose it can be collected after hiring.

This section summarises what the EEOC published as of October 2026. It is general information, not legal advice; for your situation, contact the EEOC or an employment lawyer.

How to file an age discrimination charge with the EEOC

If you believe an employer turned you down because of your age, write down what happened while it is fresh: the dates, the job, who said what, and any ad or message that mentioned age. A charge of discrimination is a signed statement asking the EEOC to act, and except for Equal Pay Act claims, the laws the EEOC enforces require you to file a charge before you can sue.

The deadlines are strict. In general, you must file within 180 calendar days of the discrimination. For age discrimination, that deadline is extended to 300 days only if a state law prohibits age discrimination in employment and a state agency or authority enforces it; it is not extended if only a local law does. Weekends and holidays count, though a deadline that lands on one moves to the next business day, and an internal grievance or mediation generally does not pause the clock. Federal employees and federal job applicants follow a different process and generally must contact an agency EEO counselor within 45 days.

1. Start in the EEOC Public Portal: submit an inquiry and schedule an intake interview by phone, video or in person.
2. If the deadline is close, call 1-800-669-4000 and ask for an immediate interview, or visit an EEOC office; the EEOC does not take charges over the phone but can start the process.
3. Alternatively, file with your state or local fair employment practices agency; where a worksharing agreement exists, a charge filed with one is also filed with the other.
4. If you file by letter, include your contact details, the employer’s details, what happened and when, why you believe age was the reason, and your signature; an unsigned letter cannot be investigated.
5. File as soon as you decide to; if you are unsure how much time is left, contact an EEOC field office right away.

Keep the search moving

Some of what decides a job search is outside your control. What you can control is how current your materials look and how many people know you are looking. Put your effort there, and track every application and conversation so warm leads do not go cold.

If you have time out of work to explain, the employment gap resume guide shows how to address it in one line. Before you send the next application, update your resume with this guide’s changes: trim the older roles, remove old graduation years, add your recent training, and use the years of experience calculator to state your total experience accurately in your summary.