How about doing a really smart thing and either change careers from IT to something (anything) else.

Good advice, keep it coming!

No matter how hard you try, it's difficult to get past the resume screening round.

My biggest problem in getting employment in IT these days are the young arrogrant interviewer be they recruiters or the hiring managers. A recent study reported that people do not mature until they are in their late 20s or early 30s. This explains why so many workplaces with "young" people are like continuation of the school play ground. These "young" people only want other "young" around them hence these "young" interviewers are bias towards hiring other "young" people. Experience and skills do not count as much as being able to chic chat about the goings on on Big Brother or being drinking buddy of the "young" hiring manager.

Has anyone experienced this problem?

Excellent observation Gun. I've experienced it many times and it only gets worse as you get older.

I've not experienced any age discrimination myself (yet) but the comment by Gun about "fitting in" being more important than actual ability rings true. Personally I blame that on a lot of the problems in the IT sector. I'm sure you've met them - the young, hip, charismatic, ex-consultancy, IT manager types ... who don't know their ar*e from their elbow.

scm

<b>Similiar job adverts by different recruiters are likely the same job</b>

If you ever look at the online jobsites, you will often see similiar job adverts from different recruiters, if you sniff around hard enough you can actually find out the company hiring and circumvent the recruiters altogether. I did this once, I laughed when I found out that the agency adverts were completely botched as they listed the wrong skills and gave the wrong impression entirely.

Finding suitable candidates for a job is an art not a science. Being able to successfully develop a rapport with the interviewer is naturally going to go a long way. Having similar interests help and usually those in the same age group are more likely to have these. "Young" people have the same problems with "old" recruiters as "old" job seekers have with "young" recruiters.

That said, recruiters don't neglect skills and experience either. As PK's advice says "Your resume is the first thing most potential employers will see of you.". Those who reach the interview stage are already deemed suitable for the job. The interview is just to verify your claims and see whether you are a person they would like to represent or work with.

If you are dealing with a recruitment agent, then usually they are not in a place to test your technical skills and all they have to go by are what you have said in your resume and your character. Next time, try walking into an interview without the resentment and perhaps they will like you better.

Lastly, getting a job via common interests is not just pertinent to the IT industry, it happens everywhere. At the end of the day, would you hire or refer a person you don't like?

Im a recruiter and we like to keep our company youthful apperence, and not have any fossels like UnemployedITer in my workplace.

macca

"Im a recruiter and we like to keep our company youthful apperence, and not have any fossels like UnemployedITer in my workplace."

Youthful means you can't spell.

Appearance not Apperence.

Fossils not Fossels.

Spell kaleidoscope or apophthegmatic for me, macca.

Being able to communicate in writing is a fundamental requirement in all jobs.

There you go:

kaleidoscope or apophthegmatic

now spell these "C" "JAVA" "C++"

and remember: free beer tomorrow at the pub.

Oh i expect you at the pub during work hours spending my taxes DOLEMAN.

macca

Oh yes "Gun4Hire" , that just puts you in the right category as Dole man.

Here you go:

kaleidoscope or apophthegmatic

Spell these "C", "JAVA".

MC

Gee, macca you surprise me. You can actually spell "C". Congratulation, you are a first grade speller.

Nice guys. That is the level of debate that our loser friend the "Computing Sucks" blogger is down to.

I sort of agree with alot of these comments except for Macca. if you are a recruiter, you are abvoisuly not a good one otherwise you would be sending out CV's right now..

I am an EX recruiter and now in a internal HR role... I think that understanding recruitment companies and thier role in a recruitment process is very important...

They are there not to make a technical evaluation and in most cases are not at all technical, so these people are making a decision on your cultural fit, not your technical knowledge.

Your resume is what that decision to interview or not interview are made from.. You need to make sure that this has all the information about you on it.. and if you are a techo make sure it has all the relevant technologies you have used on it, and more over make sure if it is on your resume you have actually used it..