Older job seekers stack up well against other candidates
When you look at the numbers, when you examine the data you can make many very strong arguments as to why an employer should hire someone who is over 50. The most obvious reason is that they generally have more experience.
And we’re not just talking about the years-on-the-job experience associated with performing specific job-related tasks. Older workers have experience working with co-workers, vendors and others. They also understand the world of business in terms of how-to-get-things-done experience. This is value that can’t be found in a resume.
How else do job seekers compare?
Expectations mean a lot. A study reported by Vox.com found that older workers’ productivity was more consistent than younger workers — the performance of the 65–to-80-year-old workers was more stable and less variable from day to day than that of the younger group.
Who’s better at getting more work done? A study reported in fedweek.com in 2019 found that 96 percent of employers view older professional workers as equally or more productive than younger ones.
Going somewhere? According to the National Association of Working Women, mature men and women have an 88 percent lower turnover rate than younger workers. In addition, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says that older workers remain with employers twice as long as workers between the ages of 25 and 35.
Did you know? According to the Harvard Business Review, knowledge and expertise — the main predictors of job performance — keep increasing even beyond the age of 80. Also, the BBC reports that “crystallised intelligence” – which includes verbal reasoning and acquired knowledge, actually continues to grow well into our 90s.
Maybe we’re just nicer, too
It’s not job related, but… The website creditcards.com asked how many people “always” leave tips at sit-down restaurants. Only 56 and 58 percent of GenZ and Millennials respectively regularly leave tips. Compare that with 80 percent of GenXers and 88 percent of Baby Boomers who generally leave a gratuity.
No matter how you slice it and dice it, older workers bring an awful lot to the table.