“I’m 55. I’ve one final run left in me.”

A CLIENT SAID that to me recently. She wasn’t questioning whether she could do the job. She’d spent years building a stellar career. Sundays in the office. Leading teams through change. Exercising the sort of judgment that only comes with experience.

What she doubted was whether anyone would give her another chance.

I hear versions of that conversation almost every week – and some of them are from men and women well under 55.

People with long careers behind them send application after application into what feels like a black hole. At first, they blame the market and then after months of ghosting they start to wonder if they’re the problem.

That’s why journalist Stacey Duguid’s account of spending 16 months looking for work went viral. On Instagram, the 52-year-old described convincing herself she had become unemployable.

“The money’s running out, and I’m frightened,” she said.

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Thousands recognised themselves in her story.

Most won’t suddenly find themselves at the centre of a national conversation. They’ll just keep applying. And at some point, many begin editing themselves or “botoxing” their CVs.

Beating the algorithm 

Graduation dates disappear. Earlier roles are deleted. Twenty years of experience are compressed into 10 because experience has started to feel like something shameful.

For many applicants, that first reader isn’t a hiring manager. It’s an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), AI-assisted screening or an initial reviewer working through hundreds of CVs. So people are not trying to hide their experience. They’re trying to make sure someone actually gets to see........

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