ou recruit the younger demographic who more often than not, are substantially lacking in many of these areas.

THE MYTHS

We all know the reasons: the older sector costs too much, they take too much time off, won’t learn new skills, don’t stay on the job that long, take too many sick days, and they are not that eager to accept change. These reasons, however, are myths in most cases and with a little planning; an older worker can be a valuable asset to your organization.

Most of these older workers have a long and well document

Are you attracting the best employees to your workforce? Do you have a well developed plan to seek out and attract the highest caliber of prospective employees, and if so, are you overlooking a very large and growing source of quality recruits?

The number of articles appearing in the news in recent years alluding to the scarcity of qualified workers seems to grow every week. Companies are spending a significant amount of money trying to attract, hire, train and retain a quality workforce. They advertise in newspapers, hold job fairs, hire employment services, saturate the online job banks and canvas the universities, but are you neglecting a highly qualified and experienced pool of workers who are right in front of you?

As your business grows, creating new openings, and as older workers retire, it is getting harder and harder to attract those valued recruits. The competition is stiff and the temptation to switch employers grows as salaries and signing bonuses rise. It seems the pool of capable and experienced workers is shrinking, lengthening the recruitment periods, extending the time it takes to get a new hire up to speed, and increasing the percentage of employees who simply can’t perform to your expectations. But in fact, there is a qualified pool of employable workers out there, and they’re hiding in plain sight.

BEST KEPT SECRET

I’m talking about those workers out there over 40. They comprise a very large and highly skilled group of workers who are still capable of contributing in the workplace for many more years. They come from every field, every size company, every product line, and they’re looking for work. Unfortunately very few employers have a plan to attract and hire these individuals. No one will admit it outright, but they actually have a strict tendency to avoid this resource altogether. You want workers with a strong ethic. You want loyal workers who will show up every day, on time, and contribute to the health of your organization. You want knowledgeable workers with a diverse background and a wealth of experience. You want workers who will hit the floor running and produce results from day one. Yet, you recruit the younger demographic who more often than not, are substantially lacking in many of these areas.

THE MYTHS

We all know the reasons: the older sector costs too much, they take too much time off, won’t learn new skills, don’t stay on the job that long, take too many sick days, and they are not that eager to accept change. These reasons, however, are myths in most cases and with a little planning; an older worker can be a valuable asset to your organization.

Most of these older workers have a long and well documente

hire employment services, saturate the online job banks and canvas the universities, but are you neglecting a highly qualified and experienced pool of workers who are right in front of you?

As your business grows, creating new openings, and as older workers retire, it is getting harder and harder to attract those valued recruits. The competition is stiff and the temptation to switch employers grows as salaries and signing bonuses rise. It seems the pool of capable and experienced workers is shrinking, lengthening the recruitment periods, extending the time it takes to get a new hire up to speed, and increasing the percentage of employees who simply can’t perform to your expectations. But in fact, there is a qualified pool of employable workers out there, and they’re hiding in plain sight.

BEST KEPT SECRET

I’m talking about those workers out there over 40. They comprise a very large and highly skilled group of workers who are still capable of contributing in the workplace for many more years. They come from every field, every size company, every product line, and they’re looking for work. Unfortunately very few employers have a plan to attract and hire these individuals. No one will admit it outright, but they actually have a strict tendency to avoid this resource altogether. You want workers with a strong ethic. You want loyal workers who will show up every day, on time, and contribute to the health of your organization. You want knowledgeable workers with a diverse background and a wealth of experience. You want workers who will hit the floor running and produce results from day one. Yet, you recruit the younger demographic who more often than not, are substantially lacking in many of these areas.

THE MYTHS

We all know the reasons: the older sector costs too much, they take too much time off, won’t learn new skills, don’t stay on the job that long, take too many sick days, and they are not that eager to accept change. These reasons, however, are myths in most cases and with a little planning; an older worker can be a valuable asset to your organization.

Most of these older workers have a long and well document

s, extending the time it takes to get a new hire up to speed, and increasing the percentage of employees who simply can’t perform to your expectations. But in fact, there is a qualified pool of employable workers out there, and they’re hiding in plain sight.

BEST KEPT SECRET

I’m talking about those workers out there over 40. They comprise a very large and highly skilled group of workers who are still capable of contributing in the workplace for many more years. They come from every field, every size company, every product line, and they’re looking for work. Unfortunately very few employers have a plan to attract and hire these individuals. No one will admit it outright, but they actually have a strict tendency to avoid this resource altogether. You want workers with a strong ethic. You want loyal workers who will show up every day, on time, and contribute to the health of your organization. You want knowledgeable workers with a diverse background and a wealth of experience. You want workers who will hit the floor running and produce results from day one. Yet, you recruit the younger demographic who more often than not, are substantially lacking in many of these areas.

THE MYTHS

We all know the reasons: the older sector costs too much, they take too much time off, won’t learn new skills, don’t stay on the job that long, take too many sick days, and they are not that eager to accept change. These reasons, however, are myths in most cases and with a little planning; an older worker can be a valuable asset to your organization.

Most of these older workers have a long and well document

nd they’re looking for work. Unfortunately very few employers have a plan to attract and hire these individuals. No one will admit it outright, but they actually have a strict tendency to avoid this resource altogether. You want workers with a strong ethic. You want loyal workers who will show up every day, on time, and contribute to the health of your organization. You want knowledgeable workers with a diverse background and a wealth of experience. You want workers who will hit the floor running and produce results from day one. Yet, you recruit the younger demographic who more often than not, are substantially lacking in many of these areas.

THE MYTHS

We all know the reasons: the older sector costs too much, they take too much time off, won’t learn new skills, don’t stay on the job that long, take too many sick days, and they are not that eager to accept change. These reasons, however, are myths in most cases and with a little planning; an older worker can be a valuable asset to your organization.

Most of these older workers have a long and well document

ou recruit the younger demographic who more often than not, are substantially lacking in many of these areas.

THE MYTHS

We all know the reasons: the older sector costs too much, they take too much time off, won’t learn new skills, don’t stay on the job that long, take too many sick days, and they are not that eager to accept change. These reasons, however, are myths in most cases and with a little planning; an older worker can be a valuable asset to your organization.

Most of these older workers have a long and well documented track record. It is a simple task to determine how well they have performed, if they have kept up to date with the latest technology, how they have contributed to the success of their previous employer, what their attendance record is, and what level of loyalty they possess. Yet we dismiss this evidence without much thought, compete aggressively for the younger worker, and grouse if they turn out to be less than what was expected.

Those older workers whom we believe can’t or won’t learn new skills know exactly what you think of them. They came to the realization a long time ago that in today’s competitive market, the need to keep up to date is paramount. Remember, they’ve been around a while, they’ve seen the days of working for the same employer until retirement go by the wayside, and they’ve seen their years of loyalty and hard work rewarded with forced retirements and meager raises. They’ve seen their picture of retirement fade into obscurity as today’s economy forces them to work farther into their “golden” years and they’ve accepted the fact that to make it to that ever moving finish line they will need to remain competitive in their field.

As for not staying on the job that long, statistics actually show that older workers remain on the job nearly twice as long as younger ones. The younger worker knows all too well that employers are competing fiercely for their skills. They too have come to realize that the day will come when they will be squeezed out of the workforce and have taken the attitude that loyalty is no guarantee for the future and, therefore, are always on the lookout for that “better” opportunity. All workers have become aware that they have much more leverage if they leave on their own, rather than waiting until they have been released, for whatever reason, and as a result today’s culture views job hopping as a perfectly acceptable means to furthering one’s career. So by hiring, or better yet, retaining that older worker you have effectively secured a loyal employee who knows it’s tough to find another good job at this point in life and is much more willing to do what it takes to stay on.

Attendance records ar