Interviews when you are the most experienced person in the room
You will not be asked your age. You will be asked a dozen questions that mean the same thing. Here is what each one means and how to answer it.
What the interviewer is worried about
Nobody will ask how old you are. They will ask about energy, technology, reporting to someone younger, salary, how long you plan to stay and whether you are "hands-on". Each is a stand-in for one of three worries: will you cost too much, will you keep up, and will you leave. Answer the worry, not the question.
The questions and what they mean
"This role may be a step down for you." Means: will you be bored, resentful or gone in six months? Answer with why you want this particular job and what in it you have not done before. Then say, plainly, that you are not looking to run the company and that you want to do good work for a good while.
"How do you feel about reporting to someone with less experience?" Means: will you undermine your manager? Say that you have reported to younger people before, name one, and say what you learned from them. Add that your job is to make the manager succeed, not to be right.
"Are you comfortable with our systems?" Means: will we have to teach you the software? Name the tools you use now, and one you taught yourself recently. If you do not know their system, say which similar one you know and how long it took you to learn the last one.
"Where do you see yourself in five years?" Means: are you retiring on us? Here, doing this job and the one that grows from it. Five years is longer than the average tenure in most firms; say so if it feels right.
"What are your salary expectations?" Means: can we afford you? Give the range you have decided on before the interview, say it once, and stop talking. If you are open to interim or part-time, say so now; it changes the arithmetic for them.
Stories, not lists
Have six stories ready, each under two minutes: a project you rescued, a team you built, a mistake you made and what changed because of it, a time you changed your mind, a saving you found, a conflict you settled. Every answer about "how would you handle" gets a story about how you did handle.
Energy is read in the first minute
Walk in, shake hands, smile, sit forward. Speak at the pace of the fastest person in the room, not the slowest. Ask the first question yourself: "Before we start, can you tell me what prompted the vacancy?" It shows interest and gives you the real brief.
Video interviews
Camera at eye level, light in front of you, plain wall behind, laptop on a box if you need to. Look at the camera when you speak, not at the screen. Have your six stories on a card beside the camera.
Afterwards
Email within the hour: three lines, one thing you enjoyed, one thing you would do first in the job, thank you. Then move on to the next application. The interview you have just had is the one you have least control over.
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