Of course not, and the same applies for seniors. But unfortunately, they are often excluded from recruitment processes, even if the age factor is not spoken openly.
In recent years, a subject of constant concern has been the high rate of unemployment, especially among youngsters, with very worrying numbers of young talent moving form Spain to other countries such as the United Kingdom or Germany to find a better future.
But I want to talk to you about my friend John. John studied engineering, learned English and French, and worked for 15 years in important companies, one of them a top multinational company in an executive committee position.
The economic crisis began, and like many, John was made redundant. After two years without finding any job opportunity, he worked for a small family owned company, with a very small salary, in a position not aligned with his experience. John worked had, learned from scratch, and earned a critical income for his family, but not enough...
Now that it seems that the worst of the economic crisis is over, John wants to find a professional opportunity more appropriate for his education and experience, but has a limitation that no one speaks about, he is not young anymore, he is already 49 years old.
If we think of big companies, how many have a young talent attraction program? Probably most of them. If we think about how many have it in Spain for the attraction of senior talent in age and experience, let´s say above 45 years old and over 15 of experience, the answer will be nearly none.
As many experts say, we are reaching a period of shortage of qualified professionals, so more than ever, companies should work to include this huge source of talent, establishing specific plans to attract seniors. It can also be a key factor for being considered an employer of choice and differentiate ourselves from the competition.
The United States already develops rankings of best companies in senior talent attraction policies and is becoming a relevant parameter to be taken into account by investors, customers, and society in general. It can also be an element to include for the attraction of “Milenials”, much more concerned about the social responsibility of the company they are going to join, than in the past. If they feel that the company does not care about senior professionals, why would they think it is going to care about them in the future?
Hope by now, you are determined to search for senior talent, and so the first question to ask yourself is, will any senior add value?
As within any other group, the answer is very simple, NO. Not all of them will match your needs, only the good ones, and to detect them, the main qualities you need to look for are:
Operating capacity: We need a hands-on candidate, able to work well with others and open to perform new and different tasks. Someone who has only worked in the world of ideas or great strategies will not adapt well. The use of Microsoft user tools is essential in any qualified work.
Excellent communication skills and ability to influence Being realistic, a senior candidate may not be easily accepted. For this reason, it is more critical than in young people to hire someone that is able to communicate with confidence and passion and that interacts well with other age groups.
Curiosity: Only those who wish to know new people, things, environments and have a natural inclination to learn will meet your requirements. By the way, curiosity is not often included among the relevant skills for a job, we often talk about learning ability, which is not the same, curiosity should be at the top of the list.
Cultural match: We need to explain what our company culture is about, how we expect him/her to behave and what values we promote. If this is important in any candidate, it is critical in a senior whose personal values are usually much more settled and need to match somehow the ones promoted by the organization.
Willing attitude: If you want, we can call it “can do attitude”, but I prefer willing. You need a candidate that wants to take the challenge, work hard and give the best of him/her.
Determination: Find a candidate who is really determined to getting the job done and that will fight to achieve his goals, that will not get frustrated easily, is not only about resilience, but also about the desire to add value and make the difference.
Human resources professionals, public entities, private companies and expert consultants, who speak about senior talent and the need to incorporate it in the organizations, are beginning to be heard.
I encourage you to set up specific programs for attracting senior professionals, that can serve as a source of talent, experience and inspiration for other generations of your company.
