How to Respond to Interview Questions About Age or Being Overqualified

How old are you? The question is inappropriate in a job interview, and it doesn’t have to be answered directly.

Instead, respond with a question, according to legal search consultants Valerie Fontaine and Roberta Kass in a column for the National Law Journal. Ask the interviewer what the concerns are. If there is a legitimate business motive for the question, respond with information relating to how you can perform the job.

If there is no apparent business motive, try asking this question: "I'm sorry, I don't understand how that relates to my ability to do the job. Could you please elaborate?"

Fontaine and Kass also have a ready answer for older lawyers when interviewers suggest they may be overqualified for the position. Respond that you are “fully qualified” rather than “overqualified” and that your skills fit what the employer is seeking.

“Mention only your expertise that is relevant to the position sought—not all of your experience—and describe how it fits the requirements of the job,” the article says. “Be especially careful to avoid mentioning the number of your years of experience. State that you have ‘significant’ or ‘in-depth’ expertise. Describe how your background can work to their advantage.”

Previous coverage:

ABAJournal.com: “Job-Hunting Older Lawyers Should Lose the Comb-Over, Update the Wardrobe”