Tweet

The Advantages of Hiring Older Employees

Guest post by: Dianne Shaddock

Article Overview: Managers usually shun away from the idea of hiring aging workers due to health and productivity issues. But here are some real advantages that may be brought to your company by older workers.

The Advantages of Hiring Older Employees

When considering job candidates; it's always important to base your decisions on whether the person is qualified to perform the job that you are hiring them for. That means assessing their skills and experience against the job requirements.

Discrimination in any form is illegal as we all know, yet older job hunters are still suffer from the sting of age discrimination.

Like other forms of discrimination, age discrimination can be very subtle and not always recognized by the applicant or acknowledged by the employer.

The more subtle and often unintentional forms of age discrimination can include:

• Choosing not to hire an applicant because they have too much experience.

• Assuming that the older job applicant won't stay with the organization very long because they must be close to retiring.

• Making assumptions that the older worker is not as computer savvy as younger applicants.

Asking the right questions, and having a solid job description in place that clearly highlights the skills and abilities needed for the job will help you to keep your focus on the experience that you need for the role.

You want to stay clear of assessing candidates based on attributes that have nothing to do with the job and whether the job applicant is capable of performing the work.

In the show notes which you can find on the website for the podcast version of this article, I'll share links to some resource articles that will help you to understand why you need to have a job description, how to write a job description and the best interview questions to ask job candidates.

There are so many advantages to hiring older workers. Older workers bring:

• A strong work ethic to the workplace

• Strong problem solving, and trouble shooting skills

• Ability to work autonomously

• The maturity and interest to mentor co-workers based on their years of experience in the workplace.

• Excitement about the changes in the workplace as it relates to new technology.

• Ability to think on their feet. The ability to draw on past experience to make critical decisions and use solid judgment based on past experiences?.

Don't misunderstand me. It goes without saying that younger employees have similar attributes and not all employees whether they are younger or older can be labeled as the "best" type of employee to hire in any situation.

But, mature workers offer skills and real life work experience and perspectives that their younger counterparts simply cannot match based on their lack of overall years in the workforce. What is most important is that as an employer, you take advantage of what our entire potential workforce has to offer.

Don't automatically rule out a candidate because you assume that they may not be as committed because of the candidate's vast experience.

A workforce made up of a microcosm of our community, be they young, mature, male, female, disabled, our LGBT population, or people of color can only help to make a company more dynamic and richer given the varied skills, experience and perspectives that difference brings to the table.

Until next time... to your success!

Related Articles
  Young Boss, Older Worker
  Benefits of Hiring Older Workers
  MYTHS ABOUT MARKETING TO OLDER PEOPLE
  Should You Hire Family Members?
  Ten 2011 Workforce Predictions
  Get More Done with On-Call Help
  Don't Ever Ask These Interview Questions
  The pros (and a few cons) of hiring independent business auditors
  Top Reasons To Buy an Internet Franchise
  Negligent Hiring
  A Remedy to An Attitude of Entitlement
  County: Smokers Need Not Apply
  Company Loyalty
  Are You Really Ready to Hire an Employee?
  Hire Data Entry Support to get quality data entry services at cost effective rates
  Coaching the Older Team Member
  Ruby on Rails developer provides with efficient web development services
  A Reliable Predictor of Job Performance
  Older Employees in Big Demand!!
  Mentoring in the Workplace

Article Tags: Advantages of hiring older workers, employment discrimination, hiring older workers, hiring tips for managers



Related Forum Posts
Different Hats - CEO Sales & Marketing & Leadership Development Company Strategic Vision 10 Alliances & Growth Strategies 10 Hiring & Managing People 8 Mentoring 8-9 Strategic Planning for Clients 10 Execution of Marketing Campaigns 9-10 (i have great people who do the nitty gritty) Financial Management 9 Bookkeeping 3 (outsourced as I really hate the fine details like GST0 Administrative Follow Up 6-7 (again have great staff) Writing & Publishing 9 (getting better all the time!) Speaking 10 (so I have been told) Self Promotion 9-10 Web development & Promotion 6-7 (learning more and have brought on players who are 10+) Babysitting Employees (1 - wont do it, that's why I work so hard to hire and motivate the people I have) Great topic Kevin!! Jude
Re: looking for experienced affiliate feedback - Hi Nancy, Hiring an experienced firm to market and sell your products is certainly a viable option. It all depends on whether you want to spend more of your time or money. Hiring a firm is going to cost a good bit I imagine. On the flip side, to do most of the work yourself and attract affiliates to sell your products for you will require much less money but a lot more time and effort. Do you have a budget to work within? Or perhaps maybe you have a loan to get things moving?
Re: Search Engine Optimization - Hi Thomas, So what would you recommend? Hiring an SEO expert or simply trying your hand at doing it yourself?
Re: Ways to Boost Productivity - 1. Give Employees More Than a Paycheck 2. Provide Better eSupport Channels to Promote Self-Service 3. Complete your most dreaded tasks first thing in the morning. 4. Outsource as much as possible 5. . Turn off the TV.
Respect?!? - Hi there, A successful business depends on ongoing series of transactions. This inlvolves people. To what extend is respect important? When one thinks of himself alone, like me, me and me, how can respect become real? How many types of respect can we come up with? I think of a few: Respect of disagreement can be one. Then there is Respect of the Customer. Respect of position. Respect of 'Older Person'. By the same token, Respect of the 'Younger ones'. etc..... Has anybody got any other ideas on this subject. Kindest Regards Beat "Unlock People's Potentials!"


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Mistakes Made by New or Inexperienced Sales Staff

How To Master The Ins and Outs of Google+

Five keys to business success

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.