Recruiting Older Workers for Competitive Advantage
Report outlines how tapping the older worker talent pool can fill skills gap
LONDON ¨C November 30th, 2006 ¨C Taleo, the leading provider of on demand talent management solutions and The Age and Employment Network (TAEN) are calling on companies to change their approach to recruitment to capitalise on the ageing workforce in the UK. ¡°Tapping into the older worker talent pool¡± is a joint white paper that highlights the opportunity for companies to address the looming skills crisis by recruiting older workers, and provides step by step advice on how companies can execute this strategy.
¡°Tapping into the older worker talent pool¡± explains the demographic trends in the UK with an ageing workforce that is causing a general shortage of skills. Despite these trends and the recent UK Age Regulations, many organisations retain significant biases and misconceptions about recruiting older workers. Practical recruitment strategies that take advantage of the growing talent pool of older workers will therefore be increasingly critical in creating a competitive workforce in the UK. Central to these strategies are the philosophy of skills based recruiting and the use of e-recruitment technology to promote wide access to job roles, and implement a compliant, skills based recruiting process.
Specific advice from TAEN and Taleo Research includes:
¡¤ Consider where you are advertising your job opportunities
¡¤ Word your job opportunities carefully
¡¤ Capture candidate data on compliant, electronic application forms
¡¤ Drive the selection process based on skills
¡¤ Consider re-skilling or up-skilling new or existing employees
According to Taleo Research Vice President, Alice Snell, ¡°The message is loud and clear for organisations that are looking ahead and developing their recruitment strategies. Retaining the traditional preference for recruiting only from younger age groups will lead to a weaker workforce than competitors who tap into the older worker talent pool. Organisations can gain a significant advantage from adopting a skills-based approach to recruiting that creates a level playing field for older workers. E-Recruitment technology is a powerful tool in implementing this approach because solutions such as Taleo¡¯s have compliant skills-based matching of candidates to roles as a fundamental design principle. ¡±
Patrick Grattan, chief executive of TAEN adds ¡°The recruitment profession has the opportunity to play a crucial role in response to an ageing work force. At present too much of the focus is on age. It should be on skills and experience regardless of age. Internet-based recruitment can spotlight competencies required for the job, whereas a classic CV, with its chronological recital of past job history, encourages assumptions about age and working life. ¡®Tapping into the older worker talent pool’ is a valuable guide for businesses looking to change their recruitment practices to welcome older workers. ¡±