When looking for work over 50, you bring your own career history. Your text should explain which experiences fit the advertised tasks. You do not need to act younger or claim that age itself proves a strength.
1. Connect a requirement to a work example
Choose two tasks from the advertisement. Note when and in which role you did something comparable. University of Zurich Career Services recommends selecting duties relevant to the new role and adapting each CV. Use this exercise to make that connection in your own words.
Fictional example: An order-processing vacancy requires customer contact and scheduling. In her previous job, an applicant entered orders, answered customer questions by phone and coordinated delivery dates with the warehouse.
- Too general: ‘Extensive experience and resilience.’
- More concrete: ‘Entered orders, answered customer questions by phone and coordinated delivery dates with the warehouse.’
No invented figure is needed. If you mention an outcome, check the period, your contribution and the evidence. A team result is not automatically your personal achievement. Use the example only if these were genuinely your duties.
2. Present your career clearly
Give truthful roles, employers and dates. Explain relevant jobs in more detail; older work can be shorter when less relevant. There is no universal cut-off at ten or fifteen years. Older relevant experience can still matter. Summaries must not create misleading dates or fictitious uninterrupted employment.
Describe software use concretely: ‘Used Excel for order lists and filters’ explains more than ‘digitally competent’. Distinguish daily use, basic knowledge and training without subsequent work practice. A modern software logo proves no competence. Choose a readable layout; a plain black-and-white template does not prove outdated skills.
3. Start training decisions with a question
Do not rush to buy a course just to demonstrate willingness to learn. Identify an unfamiliar task first. You could ask an adviser or training provider:
‘My target vacancies require maintaining customer records in a CRM. I have used a different application. Which specific skills am I missing, and how could I practise them?’
Check content, entry requirements, time, costs and recognition. The career guidance page on berufsberatung.ch lists career assessment and training advice, including viamia for people over 40. Confirm availability and conditions with the relevant office; for unemployment, it identifies the RAV as a contact. This does not guarantee course funding or a job.
4. Discuss your actual contribution
Prepare an example of learning a task or working with others. Explain the starting point, your contribution and what actually happened. Avoid generalisations about older or younger teams.
Ask, for example: ‘Which procedures and applications would I need to learn in the first weeks?’ Use the answer in your own decision. If feedback concerns you, record the actual words and context. A rejection alone does not establish its cause. Legal assessment of suspected discrimination is a separate question.
5. Check before sending
Five questions about my work example
- Which advertised task am I addressing?
- Which actual work activity supports my experience?
- Are my role, dates and contribution accurate?
- Do I distinguish existing skills from learning needs?
- Can I explain the example without inventing extra details?
Choose one passage in your text to clarify now. To learn about PARAT, visit the PARAT homepage.
