The ‘Unretired’: 5 reasons to spec out pensioners

We all know that in a competitive and fast-paced market, companies want to hire someone “young and fresh”, someone “forward-thinking”, or a “visionary”. But with a looming winter of discontent fuelled by a cost of living and energy crisis, the ONS has presented data on an increasing number of pensioners coming out of retirement and returning to work. Their necessity to return to work is being driven by the need to pay for heating bills, but as a recruiter, this could spell good news for you.

Think, The Internship. Immortalised by Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in their endeavours to get ‘on the line’ and solve problems, this film highlights a handful of reasons why hiring outside of a company’s usual demographic can lead to success. Resilience is what we all need in the face of difficult economic times; those with more experience have likely endured more – and therefore will have resilience by the bucket load.

That’s not to say it will be an easy road – hiring someone who is clearly cut from a different mould can take longer to integrate into company life. An employee with more (work and) life experience can provide an excellent role model, however. An older and wiser member of a team can offer guidance, advice, and encouragement to a younger, flightier workforce. Having ‘been there and done that’, they can make excellent trainers and mentors for internal development schemes too.

Consider Robert de Niro, in The Intern. This widowed OAP comes out of retirement and back into the working world as the intern/assistant to the single-mother founder of an online fashion company. Chalk and cheese you might think. But what transpires is a mutually beneficial relationship in which wisdom and advice are traded and both parties come out stronger in the end.

So, while everyone is dialling those freshly graduated Gen Z’s, why not try their grandparents? Still not convinced? Here are 5 reasons the ‘unretired’ could be your next golden goose:

Wealth of knowledge and experience‍

Having accumulated 40+ years of working experience, not to mention decades of life experience too, older workers tend to be a fount of knowledge. They’ve had years of dealing with people and business issues, and likely will be someone you can turn to for advice even if they don’t have hands-on experience of that exact issue. They can be good at seeing the bigger picture, which can help in weighing up potential risks and benefits. It’s all about the transferable skills.  

Commitment

‍Oder workers tend to have increased ‘stickability’. They’re less of a churn-risk and they come to work wanting to do a good job. Far less interested in the who-got-up-to-what-with-whom at the Friday after-works social session, they can provide a calm, level-headed environment in which doing a good job is front and centre. Career development is less of a priority here too – so an employer won’t need to worry so much about them up-and-leaving for a better offer.  

Responsibility

‍Having years of experience behind them, older workers are more inclined to take on positions in which they will have a level of responsibility, whether that be over a team or a project. They are more prepared, and better experienced, at being held accountable – which means they won’t shy away from issues and will look to tackle them head on in a proactive manner.  

Different perspectives

So they won’t be a fresh graduate with the most recent teachings of Modern Business 101 at the forefront of their minds. What they will have, though, are different approaches to a task, challenge or suggestion. Hearing how a problem would have been solved 20 years ago may just offer a fresh insight that hasn’t been considered yet, so why not consider it? Afterall, the more ideas, the better. Those with more working and life experience also tend to value customer service more highly too – this in turn often leads to better quality work, products and solutions.  

Problem-solving skills‍

Thinking outside of the box is only ever a good thing, and as previously mentioned, the more ideas the better. With experience and maturity, older employees can often approach a problem with a clearer head. A calming influence can help turn the solution for the moment into the solution for the long-term too. Not being afraid to take a step back and consider things, take an extra while to weigh up options, can be the difference between a temporary or permanent solution.

So, now you’ve opened up your candidate pool and have a wealth of talent to pick from, why not explore some opportunities they might be perfect for? Hiring some more experienced talent isn’t the only way a company can improve their work culture either – take a look at some more ideas here.

Your next steps

Talent Ticker finds and filters qualified candidates, verifies email addresses and helps with managing your candidate pipelines. We can help you streamline and simply your recruiting process, offering you hours of your time back and putting you up to three months ahead of your competition.  

Ready to see how Selligence can put you up to three months ahead of the competition? Book a demo today to find out how you can:  

• Gather 10,000’s of predictive insights in real-time, all in one place
• Unlock our industry-leading dataset of 650 million contact profiles and 70+ predictive triggers
• Access a gold mine of ‘off-the-grid’, passive candidates you won’t find anywhere else  
• Automate your business development and save up to eight hours every week  
• Reduce costs, increase efficiencies, and minimise stress, across the board

So, now you’ve opened up your candidate pool and have a wealth of talent to pick from, why not explore some opportunities they might be perfect for? Hiring some more experienced talent isn’t the only way a company can improve their work culture either – take a look at some more ideas here.