TM - October 2007 - (Page 48) application by Daniel Margolis Hiring Past 50: How Mature Workers Can Help Companies Beat the T alent Crunch Incoming employees don’t necessarily have to be fresh-faced college graduates. Exploring the benefits of hiring mature workers will expand your talent pool. y ou hear it all the time — there’s an upcoming talent crunch in this country, which will be exacerbated by the large number of baby boomers retiring. So, with older workers leaving the workforce and not enough young employees coming in, what are talent managers to do? One answer is recruit mature workers. Workers 50 or older (whom AARP defines as mature workers) represent a vast pool of talent many companies leave untapped in seeking job candidates. Manpower Inc. is one of the largest employment services companies in the world — its 30,000 full-time employees find work for 4.4 million contract workers, or temps, worldwide. This year, Manpower conducted a study of 1,000 U.S. employers in which 78 percent said they were not concerned that an aging workforce might hinder their ability to recruit and retain talented workers. Only 28 percent of survey respondents reported having a strategy to retain workers past retirement age, and just 18 percent have a strategy to recruit older workers. “There is a real contradiction occurring in hiring trends right now,” said Melanie Holmes, vice president of corporate affairs, North America. “Employers acknowledge that they are having trouble finding qualified candidates to fill open positions, but we are learning that they need help implementing programs that are tailored to older workers. With the first wave of baby boomers on the cusp of traditional retirement age, there is still time 48 October 2007 talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com http://www.TalentMgt.com
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