How to Write a Resume at 60 Years Old in Australia

Put relevant recent experience and current skills near the top, without listing your date of birth. Keep older roles only when they support the job you want, and use a clear, tailored resume to show what you can contribute now.

What should a resume at 60 include?

A resume at 60 should include a short profile, relevant skills, recent work, useful qualifications and evidence of results. Start with a clear profile of three to five points that matches the job, then list contact details, skills, work history, education or licences and referees if requested. The Australian Human Rights Commission says a career profile should be brief and tailored, while work experience should show duties and achievements.

For example, a nurse applying for aged care could lead with medication safety, care planning, team leadership and recent clinical training. A warehouse worker could lead with safe forklift operation, stock accuracy, dispatch coordination and warehouse management systems.

Use achievements instead of a duty list wherever you can. Describe what you did, how often or how much, and what changed. If you cannot share a confidential number, use a scale such as shift size, number of sites or type of stock handled.

A referee is someone who can speak to your work skills and performance. Ask permission before listing one, then share the ad and final resume. For example, a former ward manager can comment on a nurse's handovers and teamwork.

How much work history should you put on a resume at 60?

Include enough history to prove this job, then give space to your strongest recent evidence. Relevance matters more than a fixed cut-off: keep older roles in detail when they match a key requirement, summarise them when useful, and leave them out when they add clutter. The Department of Employment's mature age guidance recommends work history that stays relevant and concise.

Keep in detail	Summarise	Leave out
Recent roles that match the ad	Older roles that show a useful foundation	Unrelated roles with no evidence for this job
Work with results, current tools or relevant responsibility	Earlier career in one short line or a grouped section	Personal details such as date of birth

For example, a 60-year-old warehouse worker applying for despatch supervision might detail the last two distribution jobs, summarise earlier logistics work and remove unrelated retail work. Keep an older role if it proves the exact inventory system in the ad.

Want a quick, honest comparison with a particular ad? Check your fit for free with Job Harbour, which shows what the ad asks for that your resume does not yet show.

How do you show you are current at 60?

Show current capability with recent training, licences, systems and examples of work. Make the present visible in your profile, skills section and latest role, naming only tools you have genuinely used. Mature age guidance also suggests checking computer skills and highlighting transferable skills.

For example, a nurse might list recent medication training, electronic records and handover practice. A warehouse worker might list a current forklift licence, RF scanning or dispatch software when each is relevant and true.

A key selection criterion is a core skill the ad asks you to prove, often in the application or cover letter. Write one short example for each criterion, using the situation, action and result rather than simply repeating the wording from the ad.

Job Harbour tailors your existing resume and writes a matching cover letter for the exact ad, without adding anything you have not done. Your first fit check is free.

Should you include your age or date of birth on your resume?

You do not need to include your date of birth, photo, marital status or other personal details that do not help assess your work. Let your evidence carry the application with recent achievements and current qualifications, while keeping every date and claim honest.

Age discrimination can affect a prospective employee as well as someone already employed. Fair Work lists age as a protected attribute and gives an example of a 57-year-old barista rejected because a business wants a younger look. An unsuccessful application is not automatically discrimination, so use Fair Work's guidance for a specific situation.

You can leave out an old school result or unrelated early job, but keep an older qualification if required. If an application asks for a date, answer accurately and follow the instructions.

How do you handle older jobs, career gaps and career changes?

Handle older jobs and gaps with a short, factual explanation focused on relevant skills. A gap does not need a personal story: you do not have to explain its reason, although you can include study, volunteering or useful activity.

For example, someone who left nursing for family care could list a dated career break and highlight recent first aid study or volunteering. Someone moving from retail to reception could connect customer service, cash handling and booking software to the new role.

Older work counts when it proves a transferable skill. Explain the connection, such as a barista's customer service or a warehouse worker's stock control, in the new ad's language.

How do you tailor a resume for each Australian job ad?

Tailor the resume by matching the ad's requirements to evidence you already have, then putting the closest evidence first. Tailoring is choosing, not inventing: use the employer's wording where it accurately describes your experience, and leave out claims you cannot support.

1. Step 1: Mark the ad's required skills, licences, qualifications and duties. For a hospital role, that might include documentation; for a warehouse role, picking accuracy.
2. Step 2: Find one real example for each important requirement. A nurse could use a handover improvement; a warehouse worker could use a cycle-counting result.
3. Step 3: Rewrite the profile and first bullets so the strongest matches appear first, using plain wording.
4. Step 4: Proofread against the ad, follow its file instructions and ask someone to read the file on a phone.

Job Harbour keeps your master resume as a Career Profile, so you can choose changes for each application while keeping the original information under your control.

Where to start this week

Use these actions to turn your long work history into one honest, readable application.

1. Step 1: Choose one real Australian job ad and highlight its five most important requirements.
2. Step 2: Create a three to five point profile using only evidence that matches those requirements.
3. Step 3: Rewrite six recent or relevant bullets to show the action, scale and result.
4. Step 4: Remove your date of birth and unrelated personal details, then ask a referee to check the final version.
5. Step 5: Add the free Send to Job Harbour button if you apply from your phone and want to open SEEK, LinkedIn or Indeed ads in Job Harbour in one tap.