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It seems every day we are attempting to make the case that older employees are good business decisions. So lets together create an all encompassing list of the possible benefits for employers when hiring older workers. Perhaps we can also distinguish between the myths and realities of hiring older workers. After it is complete we will publish it to all of our readers. So start listing your favorite selling points to hiring managers in our comments below. Thanks
We will publish the full list on Interns Over 40 Blog when you complete it. Thanks
1) Reliable
2) Less Expensive Health Insurance
3) Willing to be flexible on hours
4) No Children at home (some)
5) Less sick days
6) Well defined work skills
7) Strong Work ethic
8) Less distracted from social media
9) Knows what is appropriate in work place
have seen the ups and downs of markets.
ReplyDeleteWhile working for others, I have already been able to make those mistakes from which we learn a lot. My less experienced competitor for this job may make one of those mistakes while working for you.
ReplyDeleteThey have already leared how to manage stress.
ReplyDeleteAre willing to stay on task or at the jobsite until the work is done. Determined.
ReplyDeleteAble to make better considered and wiser decisions. Not prone to emotional or impulsive responses.
ReplyDeleteUnderstand a responsible work ethic and appreciate continual learning opportunities as a way to add to skills. Great employees who can mentor less experienced staff.
ReplyDeleteIt took a long time getting wisdom and perspective. Those alone contain multiple benefits. An employer should value that.
ReplyDeleteWith age come wisdom, they are more matured in dealing with workplace politics
ReplyDeleteOlder workers know their areas of expertise and are confident in them. They are, therefore, more likely to warn their co-workers and managers of a poor fit in assignments. At the same time, they eagerly volunteer for those duties where their expertise has given them an edge.
ReplyDeleteOlder workers are not as likely to job-hop or job-shop.
ReplyDeleteSeveral other pluses that the over 40 employee brings: Spends less time on emails; Better people skills; Effectively manages time and budget constraints; Better decision-maker; Remains focused; Arrives on time and usually before starting time; Leaves after quitting time; Spends less time watching the clock; In a profession they enjoy; More polished, professionally; Dresses better; More of a team player; and More apt to partner with team & firm employees.
ReplyDeleteThey won't get preganant, want maternity leave, won't have to leave early to take a child to an activity, more stable, have good work ethics and morales, understand how to work and how to get work done, good communicators, know how to write and read, respectful, tacit knowledge, good mentors
ReplyDeleteThey go to work to work and not talk and social all day
ReplyDeleteDuring times of crisis, they may come up with valuable suggestions and even solutions sometimes, based on their experiences.... Ant that might ease up the situation.
ReplyDeleteWe "old" people won't be texting our friends all day long because we need to know where everyone is every single minute of the day. It's called being an adult.
ReplyDeleteUsually people acquire Wisdom after 40 years of age, they have family in most of the cases & think like an elder for subordinates and have the ability to listen and advise.
ReplyDeleteBeen there, done that (hundreds of times), and will do it again tomorrow. And i will do it better or at least just as good, as the first time.
ReplyDeleteOlder means wiser.Older means more mature. Older means a wealth of knowledge and experience.
I´ve been through bancrupcies in companies led by young(er) people. They lacked maturity, wisdom and knowledge and certainly experience. They are gone, i´m still here. I am 52.
Unfortunately, we "older workers" can do little or nothing about current, rampant age discrimination which, although "illegal", is difficult (read impossible) to prove. These days the employers who do have jobs will invariably opt for younger and cheaper. Ineptness and incompetence will never displace short-term profitability. It's always the "G" word.
ReplyDeleteOne of major problems is that older worker has a serious potential to upstage his/her would-be manager. From my observation those playing dumb have better success in being employed...
ReplyDeleteMore focused and dedicated right to the point of any task given.
ReplyDeleteTechnical issues are not intimidating - we have learned how to dig into the problems and find meaningful long-term solutions. We know when to compromise and when to push. We have learned the techniques needed to find balance in tough situations.
ReplyDeleteThe more experienced worker has more appropriate on the job behavior, sense of timeliness, work ethic, etc. bit I agree that having a boss who is younger can pose some difficulties in being treated well.
ReplyDeleteI would be supportive on all of your articles and blogs because they are just upto the mark and You completely match our expectation and the variety of our information. EMTTrainings
ReplyDeleteFrequently, the older employee has a deeper and more nuanced view of the industry and how to do the job.
ReplyDeleteDitto to all of the above.
ReplyDeleteI am a 20+ years experience Owners Representative, Construction Manager, Design Manager, Architect, Claims Analyst, Project Manager for the GC and Subcontractor in search of my next assignment in Southern California/Los Angeles.
I can be reached at anytime at Email: mr.rich.levy@gmail.com or telephone 213-250-0100
Thanks!
Rich
A lot of this is really offensive to me. I am 25 years old in the DBA profession, and many of the things that you say are indicative of older employees, describe me, save the age-gathered wisdom, since that is just impossible.
ReplyDeleteI am often praised in reviews for my professional behavior and dedication. When I am at work, I am at work. I socialize enough to make sure that I have a good working relationship with my coworkers and that they feel comfortable coming to me with issues. Making sure that you have a good working relationship with others is key to your ability to working with them when you have a team assignment.
I am usually the youngest worker on my technical team by at least 15 years. I have been consistently told by those outside of the team, and by a few within, that I am the most willing on the team to work with others on issues and to make sure that work I have done is not causing problems. I am willing to double check my work and assist in troubleshooting, whereas my coworkers will tell troubleshooters that they configured an appliance or database fine and push the issues back to a "desktop" problem and wash their hands of it.
I am one of the most flexible members of the team. I am only concerned with what has happened in the past in order to make sure that I do not cause a system down when changing something. My elders use the past as an excuse to not change anything even when a system is not working or has become unmanageable.
I am consistently asked by management to consult on problems that we are having that my elders cannot figure out. Of those times, I am able to assist in finding a solution by asking questions of the system manager and utilizing their expertise on the system to identify root causes of issues. Where my elders were not able to work well in a team, I was able to efficiently work with others to solve those problems.
In regards to politics, I am better able to ignore organizational political history and work with others, since I am not prejudiced against another organizational group. This makes me a more effective team player, as I am not worried about past grievances.
The above is not to say that I am insensitive to current politics. The ability to get funding and work effectively with others hinges on the ability to work within the current political system; however, being unconcerned with historical politics gives me an advantage that my elders do not have.
So, while you are correct that experience can be a valuable thing, you have to be sure that you are not so mired in the past that you are unable to move forward, since computing itself moves forward at an extremely rapid rate.
As long as a more experienced job candidate can keep these things in mind you are probably correct that they deserve consideration based upon experience. The problem in the organizations that I have worked in is that they were unable to find a willingness to learn and adapt in an older worker much of the time, and I was therefore hired.
As I gain experience I will probably become much better at the above; but these qualities are not absent in my personal make-up just because I am young.
Pointing out the above differences to hiring managers will not help you, since even if you are unable to see these qualities in the younger generation, they are.
You mnake some good and valid points, but gotta call you out on your attitude - you come across as very arrogant. Just because you can adapt well and have the willingness to overlook office politics to get the job done doesn't make you more valuable than an older and more experienced person. Granted, by your description you have as much if not more to offer than the older members of your work group. That looks bad for them, as they should be as adaptable as you are.
ReplyDeleteAs for the points you made regarding company politics, most of the older workers pay more attention to that because of the time they have invested in their jobs at the company. The longer a person works for a specific employer, the more entrenched they become in the politics. That is a fact of business if you want to succeed. It will be interesting to look in on your career in 15 years to see what your attitude and ethic are at that point.
The points made here are not intended to downplay the value of the younger workforce. They are being made to support the elder folks, who are having a harder time getting a job than those in your age group, and unfortunately because of some of the points you brought up. Most of us have families to support and a more established lifestyle, so being gainfully employed tends to be a more critical issue. Unfortunately that makes some of us less desirable as potential employees as we may be perceived as expecting a higher wage, require more time off for family things, etc. When I was young and single my managers had to force me to take some time off for some down time. Now that I have an established lifestyle I plan the opportunities for down time away from work responsibilites.
Agree w/above comments to younger worker, who, at 25 seems a little taken w/himself. I'm sure you are quite capable and perhaps even a good worker, but believe me there are many more things to learn. Even if you think there aren't, there really ARE many more things to learn. You're actually lucky to be able to posess so much knowledge about the work environment at such a young age. Perhaps you can thank your "elders" for transmitting some of this information to you as part of your childhood--you see we had to learn it on the job. I had little to no information given to me about what to expect in the working world. Agree also that this site is not to discredit younger workers, only to recognize that older workers still do possess strengths and usefulness.
ReplyDeleteI know everyone of our younger workers (under 30) spend at least an hour a day and maybe up to 2 hours a day tweeting and texting their friends, as in "yo bro - I need you covering my back". this goes on the entire day in little 3 minute increments about every 15 minutes. While it may seem trivial, it adds up. Yet the manager thinks they so wonderful and productive and think out of the box. These same tweeter/texters are the same ones that ask me for solutions to their problems when they are too lazy to figure it out or do some research. The problem is that our managers these days are this same age group because directors saw them as cheap alternatives to experienced candidates.
ReplyDeleteAdding to your list.....
ReplyDeleteConfidence from experience
AND
Doesn't get rattled because they have seen it before!!!
AND
Ability to seive through information without getting distracted and extract what is needed
Confident
ReplyDeleteDecisive
Dependable
stable
Able to mentor & share experiences ( & or extrapolate ) from many years of hands on experience & apply it to the task/situation on hand. By Carolyn Koh, Linkedin member.
ReplyDelete