Posted By: Staff Editor In: Post Retirement What Do Employers Want?
Actually, employers are interested in hiring seniors, find out why.
An excerpt from Chapter 1 of Invent Your Retirement:
"Resources for the Good Life" by Art Koff
Actually, employers are interested in hiring you, as they have found that seniors provide: • Quality customer service experience • Stability Ability to initiate sales and transaction dependability Eagerness to provide support and guidance Superior communication skills Varied work experience Better ability to work with mature clientele An old-fashioned work ethic*
Many employers have found that hiring older workers pro¬vides them with employees who are more likely to be punc¬tual, are more committed to quality, have better people skills, are less likely to be absent from work, are not job changers, possess excellent customer service skills, require less train¬ing, and generally have a more positive attitude. In almost every area other than their knowledge of technology, older workers provide employers with a more cost-effective hire than do their younger counterparts. Employers have also found that hiring seniors for project assignments or on a part-time basis can save them big-time dollars on benefits and health-care costs, as in most cases seniors do not expect benefits. Of course, many seniors con¬tinue working full-time for the money, and an increasingly larger percentage continue working in order to receive health¬care coverage for themselves and their family. The majority of small-business owners asked indicate that health-care benefits coverage is their biggest challenge due to increasing costs. Often the same is true for large corporations. Hiring seniors to work part-time or on temporary assignments in most cases saves these health-care benefits costs.
*From Helen Foster, Mature Market Group, Tapping the Mature Workforce: An Overview & Recommendations
Comments
Posted by: Art Koff
6 tips for seniors seeking employment1. Register with temp firms in your local area as they don't care about age but are more interested in your skills and experience. Also if you get work through a temp firm it helps build your resume for future work assignments. 2. Try to get an interview with an employer you are not interested in working for to practice your interviewing skills. You don't want to go to your first interview in a long time with the employer you are really interested in working for and make easily correctable mistakes. . 3. Consider having your resume re-written or updated by an expert as the resume you used years ago is no longer appropriate. 4, Put your resume up on those job boards that connect older workers with employers seeking to hire them. The largest and most effective are www.RetiredBrains.com, www.retirmentjobs.com and www.seniors4hire.org5. Look for temporary or project assignments as they are much more available than full-time jobs. 6. When applying for a job tell the employer you are willing to work on a project or temporary basis; this often gives you a leg up on younger workers or are often unable to accept this kind of employment. Temporary employment can often lead to full-time work.
Posted by: travis.eb
Throughout the course of every day, your brain is activated by your senses, and you encounter new stimuli all the time. Why aren't these Neurobic activities? What is it about the specific things we suggest that makes them neurobic?To begin with, not everything that's novel or new provides the kind or strength of nerve cell stimulation that is necessary to activate new brain circuits and enhance neurotrophin production. For example, if you normally write with a pen and one day choose to write everything in pencil, you've broken your routine and are doing something new. So, in some small way, you've changed the patterns of activity in the parts of your brain activated by touching. But such a small change wouldn't recruit new sensory associations important enough to engage the circuitry required to really exercise your brain. - travis
Posted by: Art Koff
Two additional valuable tips to help older workers find employmentGet information on employer prior to interview. For exampleContact someone who is at the employer who attended the same school you went to."Hi. You and I went to the same school but graduated at different times. I'm interviewing for a position in your firm later this week and, before I meet with HR and the Hiring Manager, I would like to test out a couple questions I have about your firm on you and see what you think the answers might be." (Later, ask if they will be your employee referral)Volunteer with a charity or non-profit. Although in most cases there is little or no monetary compensation it is often excellent experience and can possibly lead to employment with a firm that is seeking that particular experience or appreciates your work effort. It is also easier to find employment while you are working as you have a better mind set. Looking for a job on a full-time basis is not a very rewarding experience.
