Hello Everyone.
I’ve been looking for a part time position and have not had much luck so far. It’s only been a few days and a few applications, but I was thinking about the fact that it’s pretty obvious from my resume that I’m older, and so I wanted to talk about that with you guys.
So let’s talk about it. Have you ever had to hire people and if so, how much consideration did you give to an obviously older applicant? What were your concerns? Did you hire an older worker? Why or why not?
If you’ve never been in the position of making the hiring decision, what do you think? Would you hire an older worker?
I’ve almost always been offered a position that I’ve interviewed for, but it’s getting harder to get the interview.
Looking forward to your input.
First, I think you need to put parameters on how you define “older person”. Past retirement age? Over 45? Over 30?
I personally don’t consider age when I am considering candidates. I look at their capabilities and the needs for the role I’m hiring for.
What specific type of part time work are you looking for? There are tons of jobs available out there, especially in the restaurant and hospitality industries.
Good luck.
Well, I’m going to be 65 in August, so ancient maybe? Ha Ha
I’m looking for a bookkeeping position. I’d probably enjoy something in the hospitality or restaurant industry, but I don’t think I can stand for long periods anymore. I can walk for miles though. Weird.
I retired last October with no real plans to work again. I have received 3 job offers since and I didn’t even apply for the jobs. I feel with the current job market, if I really wanted to work, I would have no issues finding something fairly quickly.
It hasn’t been a issue for me yet but when I’m hiring my parents inevitably suggest I hire some of their near retirement age friends. My response is always that by the time I got done training them they would be retired. I’m not sure what you spent your career doing but it is possible that if you’re looking to move into something new there is a concern that you’ll got from partially retired to fully retired before they can get their money back from training you.
I’ve seen my parents quit retirement jobs and volunteer activities because they are “too old to put up with this shit” and that will certainly bais someone against a demographic.
I’m not in a hiring position but I do work for a company that doesn’t seem to have many issues with hiring older people. For a number of years I had a co-worker in her mid-80’s. I have a half dozen co-workers in the 60’s-70’s range. The 80+ gal was working full time. The others are mostly part-time, although my first manager there was mid-70’s and worked full time until his disabling stroke.
So… there are jobs out there for older workers.
My totally unscientific observation is that businesses run by older people tend to be more open to hiring older workers. The founder of the company I worked for was active in the company until into his 90’s. So was his wife (she’s still alive and over 100, but she’s not working anymore). Their kids are still working in their 70’s.
So… maybe keep that in mind when you’re looking.
On the other hand, where I work the older folks are seen as more reliable in regards to showing up, not using their phones while they should be working, and most consistent in their efforts.
If you can, see if you can get information on the ages of people working at a business. If they already have older workers they may be more inclined to hire you.