Hiring Employees Over Age 50

March 26th, 2008 · Please Add Your Comments!

teamwork

I recently came across an article in Entrepreneur.com called Hiring employees over age 50 is a smart move - if you do it right by Mark Henricks. According to this article, those of us in this age group have many more opportunities to choose from than we might have thought.

By 2010, “nearly a third of the U.S. work force will have had 50 or more birthdays, according to a report by AARP.” And not only will there be that many of us in the work force, but our advanced skill sets will continue to be in high demand. Employers will be, and in some cases already are, being challenged to fill positions with qualified and interested individuals.

Traits of Older Workers

1. Experience
2. Skills
3. Loyalty
4. Desire for meaningful work
5. Desire to learn new things and experience new challenges

Some employers will want to change their recruiting materials to include pitches to older applicants.

Older employees are most attracted by competitive compensation and benefits, interesting and meaningful work, opportunities for development and advancement, and a flexible schedule, according to AARP’s report. Flexible scheduling is especially appealing, says Robert Morison, executive vice president of Kingwood, Texas, HR research and consulting firm The Councours Group. “We’ve found that the most popular format for working in retirement is not shorter wordays or workweeks. It’s [longer] chunks of time off.”

What This Means To Me!

Naturally, being in this age group and being close to taking an early retirement from a job (or really a bureaucracy I no longer enjoy working for), this article and others like it resonate strongly.

And, since I am taking an early retirement, aka, I will take a percentage penalty for each year below age 62, I will not have enough money to sustain my current lifestyle and will need to continue working in some capacity.

More than that, though, I am looking forward to contributing my skills and experience (old and new) in new environments. Time off for travel and other activities will be of major importance to me and my partner.