Would you ever put your age in a Cover Letter?

Adam B

Title says it all. Interested in hearing your responses.

Danielm7

No. There is no reason to do it, and lots of reasons not to do it, so don't.

Hammer80

Why would this even be a question, of course not. You never mention your marital status, your age, sexual orientation, religion, politics. If it's illegal for them to ask at least in US then why the hell would you volunteer that information, it is none of their damn business until there is an offer made and HR is finalizing your hire on package.

srabiee

^^ This

Adam B

Good Point. I was just curious as I am eighteen; have only around six months of experience in IT with a CCNA certification as well. I just wanted to explain my lack of experience by putting those two digits down.

tprice5

Age can generally be inferred based on the date listed by your education.

Deathmage

I don't think it's important at all, I mean unless your working for a beer producer then well even I would be drinking on the job.

SweenMachine

Well, I mean --- I am not judging you at all, however it would also be pretty easy to determine you are of a youthful nature but just looking at you. When I was younger I used to want to tell them how old I was just because I felt like I was an 'impressive' 22 year old. When everyone else was living at home with mom and dad, I was learning and kicking booty at jobs.

I learned quickly I didn't really know anything at all; I also learned the people will ALWAYS judge you on your age, so no need to give them that ammunition before they meet you.

-scott

tprice5

SweenMachine wrote: »

I also learned the people will ALWAYS judge you on your age, so no need to give them that ammunition before they meet you.

This logic can be applied to any of these ...

Hammer80 wrote: »

marital status, your age, sexual orientation, religion, politics.

Let your credentials speak for themselves on your resume without adding anything too personal. Save that for the face-to-face.

Adam B

SweenMachine wrote: »

Well, I mean --- I am not judging you at all, however it would also be pretty easy to determine you are of a youthful nature but just looking at you. When I was younger I used to want to tell them how old I was just because I felt like I was an 'impressive' 22 year old. When everyone else was living at home with mom and dad, I was learning and kicking booty at jobs.

I learned quickly I didn't really know anything at all; I also learned the people will ALWAYS judge you on your age, so no need to give them that ammunition before they meet you.

-scott

Thanks for the advice guys. Trust me, I've already learned that everyone knows more. Just being on TE puts that into perspective, not to mention working with my director of technology who has 15 years of Linux/networking+security/programming experience.