Michael Phelps began his first Olympic competition in 2000 at the age of 15. Rio is his fifth Olympics and he’s dominated the swimming events thus far, capturing a total of 25 Olympic medals ― 21 of them being gold. Wow!
What’s most captivating about Phelps is that he has a fearless mentality. Even with personal setbacks such as his short retirement in 2013 and his suspension in 2015 for a D.U.I., Phelps has always returned with a more aggressive athletic stature and an “in it to win it” mindset. That fearless mindset is precisely what job seekers need today in their job searches.
Age is Just a Number
The theory of Olympic athletes declining in performance as they age has been discussed time and time again. The age of peak performance is seen at 21 years old in swimming, and both speed and performance decrease as time progresses for the longer distance events. Phelps has crushed these statistics at age 31 as the oldest gold medalist in Olympic history with his recent 200-meter butterfly win last night.
As an executive resume writer and career industry expert, I work with a wide range of powerful leaders in the median age range of 45-50. These clients are continuing to seek advancement in their careers at the executive level with annual salaries averaging $175K up through $500K+. Today, career professionals continuing to peak later in their careers with 20% of Americans working beyond the age of 65.
What does that suggest? It proves that much like Phelps believes, age is just a number when it comes to growing your career.
Expert Tip: Go for the jobs you want, and don’t let age factor into your decision whether to apply or not. Minimize the more remote details from older jobs (beyond 20 years) on your resume that will alert a reader to your age. If you have graduated college or graduate school more than 10 years ago, remove the graduation dates from your resume to detract the reader from focusing in on your age.
Be Aggressive and Relentless in Your Goals
Phelps and South Africa’s lead competitor, Chad Le Clos, went head-to-head in Rio this Olympics in the 200m butterfly last night. Phelps put on his game face (now garnered as the infamous #PhelpsFace) and took the gold. But, if you take a look back in history for a moment, Le Clos took the gold medal by a mere .05 seconds at the 2012 London Olympics.
Not allowing defeat to take him down, Phelps came back 4 years later after setbacks and hurdles to overcome the odds and dominate the 200m butterfly. That shows resilience.
So, perhaps you’ve had setbacks in your career. It could be that you were let go due to company downsizing after 15+ years of tenure at your company. Perhaps you were suddenly told that your position has been eliminated and you are now moving into a lesser role than where you have been for the past 18 months. Your growth has seemingly become stagnant, and you feel stifled, depressed, and defeated.
Stop the victim mentality and re-channel your thinking. Take on a Phelps mindset and rock your job search. If you have a goal to make a lateral move to another company, go for the gold. Don’t let time pass you by and “settle” for a job you don’t want. Put your energy into obtaining the job you do want.
Expert Tip: Team up with a highly credentialed resume writer and career expert who can get your resume and LinkedIn profile in shape. According to Forbes, job seekers who get their resume professionally written are 40% more likely to get noticed. Get tips and strategies for completing your job search effectively through coaching sessions.
Hone in Your Skills & Strategize
Job boards have a 4% response rate, but networking has a 70% chance of getting you a new job. Each month that you are unemployed or job searching can have disastrous consequences.
If your salary is $50,000, you are losing just shy of $4200 each month you are job searching. If your salary is $100,000, you are losing just shy of $8400 each month you are job searching. If your salary is $150,000 you are losing $12,500 each month you are job searching. Yikes!
Ramp up your networking capabilities on LinkedIn and release your inner networking ninja. Connect and personally reach out to recruiters, professionals in your field, and companies of interest. Request in-person meetings, attend company events, and local business networking events. But, don’t leave home without the business cards.
What if you don’t have a current business card? Get one made ASAP. Order personal business cards with your name, phone number, LinkedIn URL (make sure it’s a customized URL), email address, and a branding statement that commands your value (ex: Trial Attorney - Insurance Defense & Appeals).
Just like Phelps practiced and refined his technique to dominate the competition, make sure your job search strategies are clear and targeted to gain that leverage.
Expert Tip: Spend 60%-70% of your time actively networking, 10% of your time applying to job boards, and 10% of your time researching companies, trends, and topics related to your industry. The other 10% of your time should be devoted to professional development – writing new articles on industry topics and acquiring new skills or additional skills in your industry. Showing a consistency of improvement in your industry and a willingness to grow are sure ways to succeed.
Enter the job search with a “winning” attitude and always go for the gold just like Phelps.