Older workers

Why is it a good idea to hire an older worker?

There are those who are of the view that hiring an older worker is simply hiring trouble. 'You can't teach an old dog new tricks', is generally the view of the younger generation. The reality is that many old dogs are actually able to adapt to new situations more quickly than younger ones because they have a larger repertoire of potential solutions to choose from and a greater life experience that enables them to see answers simply because they literally have 'been there and done that'.

Smarter older workers have also been around for long enough to have learnt that things get done by people like themselves. When they were younger and working at the lowest levels within an organisation learning the ropes and making contacts all with a great desire to move up the corporate ladder of success, they not only paid their dues by learning, but also by making contacts with all of the others who like themselves were the people on whom the then generation of managers depended to get the work out. Thus they are not only not strangers to hard work, they know the tricks of doing it smarter not harder and long ago learned to adapt to changes in methodology, changes in organisational structure and changes in management style and philosophy simply because in the last twenty to thirty years they have managed to experience it first hand numerous times.

Then there are their contacts.

Unless the person has been a monk sworn to silence and been isolated in a cave as a recluse, there is high likelihood that he/she has developed a network of people around various organisations who were helpful during their earlier working life. Smart people actually made a lifestyle choice about cultivating people who could be useful to them with their work. The more senior and highly placed a person becomes, generally, the more attention they pay to people who are young and still in their developmental days because it is these people who will assist them to get the work done and it is from among these people that some will reach a senior management role within a ten year spread and it is thus these people who will be able to continue to assist with getting work done when they reach the top.

By adopting a sensible characteristic of mentoring people at the lower levels within an organisation and by retaining contact with those people who are rising or have risen to the top echelons of management - the sensible older worker has a network of contacts that is second to none and is all the more valuable as a result.

Things that would normally take forever to do can be done faster and better by the older worker who uses prior experience and an expansive network of others to get the job done.

The sensible workers also keep on maintaining their contacts across organisations and indeed spend a lot of their time within the work place seeming to do nothing but 'chat' with people. These contact maintaining chats pay off for the employer however because there is nothing better than having a well connected person being appointed to get an urgent and important job done. There is no experimentation, there is very little learning curve required. The older worker either knows how to get the job done or knows someone who knows and from them gets the information and applies it in practice.

Since older workers are also tired of working full time and would like to capitalise on the promises made to them earlier in their life that if only they work hard NOW they will be able to enjoy their retirement it is hardly surprising that if they are offered reasonably well remunerated part time work they will take to it like ducks to water and actually work harder and with greater application than a younger worker who has so many other things on his or her mind.

If you do not believe me when I tell you that it pays to hire and older worker - fine! Try one and see. If all else fails hire me on the basis of put up or shut up and provided the level of remuneration is right and the work is interesting I will prove that this thesis is correct.