Career expert shares how a single change in her CV managed to score her four job offers

Job hunting has been getting challenging day by day. While sorting through the numerous applications and resumes can be a difficult task for recruiters too, there is something a jobseeker can do to increase their chances of landing an interview. Marketing and career expert Cerys (@marketingbycerys on TikTok) made a video to disclose a hack she applied on her resume to land four job offers in a short time. "Last year my CV got me nine interviews in two weeks. I ended up getting four job offers off the back of that in less than a month. I did one thing that absolutely changed the game for me," she says in her video.

"It was taking my graduation year off my CV," Cerys revealed. "I say graduation year in quotation marks because I didn't graduate traditionally from university. I was working full time throughout as I started as an apprentice and ended up doing a professional course. But I still had a graduation year which could be used against me. So I did not want people to know that." Cerys was applying for marketing manager roles back when she was 23. She was conscious about people judging her experience level based on her age even though she had been working in the marketing industry for the past five years.

"It's just crazy I just can't believe that in this day and age, people are still holding age against anyone because I know people who will be twice my age and useless at what they do and people that are younger than me that are incredible. These companies should want to snap these people up but we're still caught up on age," she remarked. Cerys mentions the dates on the job roles she had in the past but doesn't include dates in her actual years of completing formal education. "It doesn't matter when I've done it. Look at my experience. The qualifications are sort of a minor part of that, especially in marketing I agree that other industries are different," she added.

Cerys further had a chat with Newsweek, telling them how she had been "overhearing conversations with senior professionals where someone's ability is questioned based on their age." "I didn't want to give hiring managers any chance to judge me based on age," she told the news outlet. "Unconscious bias is a huge issue, so even with the best intentions, individuals can make unfair assumptions. This goes both ways, and I have heard negative experiences where older professionals have been subject to bias."

"Although we like to think the law protects us from age discrimination, it doesn't stop it from happening behind the scenes. As someone looking for a job, you have no idea whether the hiring manager is still considering things like graduation year and age over your experience," she continued. "It is so common in the corporate world and the belief is that age equals experience. On many occasions, I have heard an individual's ability be questioned due to their age." Back to Cerys' video, job seekers and other people on the internet shared their thoughts on tackling ageism while applying for job positions. 

@francieala remarked, "As a recruiter (who’s not biased when screening CVs) but has worked with so many backward recruiters, YES! People are sick. The things I’ve heard people say!" @crystal__jade commented, "Ageism is a real thing and I’ve just removed education dates off mine. I’m on the other side of it in my 40s." @toby_bell wondered, "I always think they can do the maths off of other parts though? And if you look young for your age this might do you more damage?" @sarieelouisee added, "Not just for uni either, if you have to mention GCSEs for example they could work out your age based on when you left secondary school/sixth form/college."

You can follow Cerys (@marketingbycerys) on TikTok for more videos on career and marketing advice.