Recruitment

Are you able to fill most of your job vacancies with qualified people? How many important positions have remained open for six months or maybe over a year because you can’t find people who possess the experience and skills that these jobs demand?

As the labor market continues to shrink and talent grows scarce, this scenario is becoming the norm for many American employers. Never ready to sacrifice quality, some are focusing their recruiting efforts on a massive labor pool that is filled with millions of individuals who have both the skills and experience to tackle any project.

What pool? They’re people over the age of 50. From accountants to cashiers to customer service representatives, they’re assuming hard-to-fill positions, helping companies meet key goals, satisfy shareholder expectations and even explore new territory.

Here are two stories about companies that tapped mature workers to solve their business needs.

Exhibit A: 100 Accounting Professionals Needed for Long-term Out-of-Town Job

Several years ago, Tony Rich received a request from a healthcare company that may turn out to be one of his company’s greatest challenges. As a partner and cofounder of Callaway Partners, an Atlanta-based accounting consulting firm, he and his staff had to assemble more than 100 accounting professionals who were willing to work at the healthcare company’s out-of-town office for approximately six months to help meet critical financial reporting deadlines.

Experience an invaluable commodity

Due to tight deadlines and the technical nature of the work involved, Rich and his staff focused on recruiting individuals with at least 25 years of experience in accounting and finance. “This really gave us an opportunity to provide a level of maturity to our clients that other firms can’t,” he says.

By far, this wasn’t your everyday project. In the end, he says it clearly demonstrated the value of hiring older workers.

“Once we realized how much experience and how technically strong these people were, it was a natural fit for our organization,” Rich says. “The depth and variety of experience that our consultants brought to our firm enabled us to build credibility with the client that led to additional work with this organization.”
Today, approximately 80 percent of the company’s 350 employees are consultants. At least half are accounting and finance professionals over the age of 50.

Mature workers’ flexibility contributes to business success

There are many reasons the company’s job opportunities appeal to mature workers. For instance, many client engagements involve travel, requiring consultants to stay in one location for sometimes a year. This is attractive to applicants who are over 50+. Oftentimes, their children are grown, living away at college or on their own, and travel is considered a refreshing change of pace.

What’s more, many experienced workers have grown accustomed to working long hours to help clients meet deadlines, which is critical to the firm’s success.

“This experienced workforce has been a real key part of the secret sauce of our organization,” Rich says. “It’s really helped us to be more successful than we would have ever dreamed of in such a short amount of time.”

Exhibit B: The Call Center Where Workers 50+ Answer the Calls

When LiveOps launched its virtual call center back in 2000, the company focused its recruitment efforts in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, mainly because the company’s founders lived there. But during the hiring process, something unusual started happening.

When business needs align with employee needs, good things happen

Large groups of retired workers began applying. The company discovered that they wanted to return to work, just not on a full time basis. For many, the combination of part time positions, flexible hours and the ability to work from the comfort of their own home was too good to resist. Little by little, word began spreading.

After 1,000 people were hired as independent contractors, the founders realized that the labor market in South Florida was very rich in experienced workers looking for the right opportunity, says Tim Whipple, vice president of agent services at LiveOps. The company now contracts 10,000 home-based agents throughout the continental U.S. and continues to use word-of-mouth as its main recruiting strategy.

Performance – not age – is the litmus test

Whipple says the company is “agnostic” regarding the age of its workforce. Still, more than 16 percent have retired from successful careers while many of the remaining agents are over the age of 50.
“I’ve never seen most of the agents that are actually providing our services,” he says. “I don’t really care about age. What I care about is performance. I run a meritocracy. My agents are rewarded based on their performance and attendance and how good a job they do, not on what they look like.”
That message comes across loud and clear. The company, which also developed the technology used by its call center, consistently routes calls to the best performing agents. Age is of no consequence. Performance is all that matters.

Agents are required to supply their own computer, Internet connection and dedicated phone line. They can select from any combination of 150 different clients to service. They must also become certified by completing a self-paced online training program that can take anywhere from one weekend to several weeks to complete, depending upon the clients they choose.

Strong work ethic an asset

He says older workers are not only occupying hard-to-fill slots but also helping his company achieve its goals because of their experience, discipline and work ethic. He says they understand what it takes to be their own boss, operate independently and provide professional customer service.

“There’s a real advantage to having somebody who’s established a work ethic, established discipline,” he says. “[Mature workers] really provide a solid, stable foundation for my agent community and provide a lot of the mentoring for a lot of the younger agents as well.”

When you’re charged with hiring, remember ––

9 Reasons Why Workers 50+ are Appealing Employees

1. They want to work, preferring to stay active and engaged
2. They can fill temporary, seasonal or part time jobs
3. They can be flexible regarding work hours and locations
4. They have a strong desire to apply their knowledge and skills to benefit society
5. They have more education than any other generation in history
6. The longer they work, the better the economy will fare
7. They strengthen diversity in the workplace
8. They’ve already developed a strong work ethic and understand employer expectations
9. Their behavior serves as a role model for other employees

Resources

The Business Case for Workers 50+: Planning for Tomorrow’s Talent Needs in Today’s Competitive Environment
Staying Ahead of the Curve 2004: Employer Best Practices for Mature Worker