“Should I Stay or Should I Go?” The Great Date Debate

When I was in college, an English punk rock band, The Clash, released an album, Combat Rock.  Mick Jones sang lead and one single was “Should I Stay or Should I Go?”  I know you’re asking “What does this have to do with anything?”

Let me prove a point.  By looking up when the song was released, you can pretty much now figure out my age.

2010 minus 1982 (release date) equals 28 years.

College student, 18 to 22 years old plus 28 years means I’m between 46 and 50 years old now. 

I’m 50 and if you can’t add and subtract, you can get a pretty good idea just by looking at my picture. 

Over and over again, I see the question asked and the debate started about “Should I put my college graduation date on my resume?”  I think you are a knucklehead if you leave it off.

If you leave it off, it’s off for 1 of 2 reasons.

1. It was by accident because you can’t proofread and have absolutely no attention to detail.
2. It was intentional because you are hiding your age (wink, wink) and you hope the reader won’t figure out that you left it off for that reason.

I firmly believe you draw more attention to your age by leaving the date off.  When I see a resume missing a graduation date, I think “How old is this person really and what personality trait makes them embarrassed about it?” 

I know age discrimination exists, I clearly wasn’t born yesterday.  However, if a company chooses to discriminate, better to find out before you waste your time going to the interview.  They will figure out your age at some point.

Incidentally or FYI…… (my thanks to Molly Edmonds article “5 Famous Accomplishments Made Late in Life.”)

Susan Boyle was 48 when she was discovered on “Britain's Got Talent” and her performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables has been downloaded over 180 million times.

Julia Child didn’t start cooking until her late 30’s and wrote her sister-in-law to say, “To think it has taken me 40 years to find my true passion.”  She started the incomparable PBS TV program, “The French Chef” when she was 51.

Peter Mark Roget, forced to retire at 69, turned his passion to the science of the English language and at age 73, published the first edition of Roget’s Thesaurus.  He kept at it until he was only 90.

Ganhdi was 61 when he led the Salt March to Dandi, a central moment for Indian independence. 200 miles BTW (that’s by the way).

Ray Kroc bought a few McDonalds restaurants at age 52. 

Anna Mary Robertson Moses (Grandma Moses) started painting at age 76 with no formal training.  Upon her death, then-President JFK noted, “All Americans mourn her loss.”

These people and millions just like them have nothing in common except they were all in their prime and made things happen.  It’s worth thinking about.

And just one last thing, “Should I Stay or Should I Go” was The Clash’s only #1 hit and it took 10 years to make it to the top, which is forever in the music world, LOL.

Combat Rock 180g 33RPM LP: The Clash: Music

Comments

[Allison Cheston]

I'm a career advisor, and I completely agree with you. When you are looking for a job, you want to manage first impressions (and also when you're not looking!)

If you do get an interview, you don't want the hiring manager to be surprised when you walk in, since he's assumed you were younger than you are. I also agree it is annoying to the resume reader to try and figure out your age--because it is something he will want to know. And it also looks like your hiding something--so he will expend more effort to figure out how old you are.

[Brad Attig @bradattig]

Allison,

I could not have said it better. Why bring unwanted attention?

[cheap jordan retro]

Even taking a purely traditional approach, mothers need education more than do fathers, because a child's life, his education, begins at his mother's breast.