Just yesterday a course participant talked about the problem of looking too young for her work role. She has to represent her organisation at large conferences and often finds that older people ignore her.
Interesting question. We could look at the problem as a problem to be solved or as an opportunity to be used.
There are some practical actions to take at that would help solve the problem:
- Tie your hair back, if it is long. Make sure that your fringe is cut clear of your eyebrows. I guess all that applies to guys too.
- If you wear glasses, do wear them.
- Wear dark and reasonably conservative clothing – it creates an air of authority and people can see you more easily. Dress for the job you want, rather than your current role.
- Work on your voice so you eliminate that Kiwi questioning tone when you are making a statement
- Watch your words so you get rid of self-reducing fillers such as ’sort of’ a little bit’, ‘I think’ and of course ‘um’ and ‘ah’. If you get good at this, have a go at getting rid of all forms of the verb ‘to be’. This will cut out the passive voice and help you sound crisper and more confident – sorry – I should write: ‘This cuts out the passive voice.’
Now you're impressive!
You could take the other option and view ‘looking too young’ as an opportunity to be used: Arm yourself with curiosity and work on learning from these older people. How did they get started in their career? What have they learnt? What are they noticing in current trends? What advice could they give you on the challenges you are facing? Who knows, you could acquire a very helpful mentor.
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