When is that last time you interviewed for a job? Polished up your resume? Wrote a cover letter you hoped would move you on to the next round?
For many women who are 55 or older, it’s been quite a while.
But that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in a new job, or perhaps even a new career. In fact, one of the reasons I started writing this Substack is because I’m continually tempted by new jobs in new places doing new things, even though I have a thriving communications business and clients I enjoy.
(Anyone else feel restless like that? What are you doing about it?)
So I have set out to find companies that do right by older workers – best-in-class companies that see age diversity as an advantage and build in ways for older workers to thrive.
You already know the bad news: Stories about women pushed out of careers when they reached a certain age, as well as the depressing statistics about what hiring managers think when they see a resume for an obviously experienced worker. The problem gets worse for workers over 55, worse still for women and people of color.
Ageism is real, friends.
I’ve also heard the reality that even though there are companies who want to attract older workers in a tight labor market, they don’t really know how, or the programs they brag about don’t really work. Research by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development says that while over 70 percent of employers want to build age-friendly workplaces, more than 95 percent of those polled don’t know how.
That’s why I was glad to have the chance to talk with Heather Tinsley-Fix, a Senior Advisor at AARP who leads the AARP Employer Pledge Program. Created in 2012, the program includes a database of more than 2,000 companies across the country who have committed to what Heather calls “age diversity.”
The companies, which touch millions of workers across the country, are as small as local pet care and home health care businesses and as large as companies like the Hartford Financial Services Group (insurance), Nordstrom (retail) and Land o’ Lakes (a farming and food industry co-op). Of course, some companies surely sign up for the Employer Pledge to be able to post their jobs on the AARP job board, but it’s fascinating to see the range and size of the various signees.
Notably, Walmart, which has become something of a trope of older-age employment opportunities – one of my friends dreads having to be a Walmart greeter in her retirement -- is not listed. Apple, the ubiquitous designer of all things tech and cool, IS listed. Go figure.
“Companies that build teams where all ages work together recognize that it can be their secret sauce,” said Tinsley-Fix, who frequently speaks to recruiters and others in the HR and DEI world.
The research that accompanies the AARP Employer Pledge database is similarly compelling.
Did you know, for example, by 2034 adults over the age of 65 will outnumber children 18 and under (that’s from the U.S. Census Bureau)?
And by 2028, the share of older workers is projected to increase by 51 percent for those over 65 and a whopping 105 percent for those over 75 (that’s from the Bureau of Labor Statistics)?
Obviously, valuing older workers is something that employers will have to get better at doing, and quickly.
Another argument I hear frequently against hiring older workers is that they are already heading toward retirement and won’t work as long in a job as younger people might.
Wrong again: According to an AARP study, the average tenure of a Baby Boomer is seven years, compared to just two years for a Millennial. Heather chalks it up to experience: Younger workers are still looking for their career fit and older employees have experience to know what they do best and where they’ll thrive.
The (slightly) comforting bottom line is that the wave of change in the outlook toward older workers is inevitable. For some forward-thinking companies, it’s already happening.
“The sheer demographic argument is so powerful,” Heather said. “The reality is that we are living longer, and the labor market is tight. When you put hiring the frame of longevity, you begin to realize that everyone will be affected eventually.”
She underlines that idea with a funny anecdote about a recruiter she met at a conference who had her perspective totally changed by Heather’s presentation about the value of older workers.
“She came up afterward and said to me, ‘Wow – I just realized that one day I’m going to be 40!’” Heather said. FORTY.
Yep. If she’s lucky, one day that under-40-year-old recruiter will be over 60 and maybe searching for a job that values and rewards her skill and experience while giving her the opportunity to learn new things with an age-diverse team.
May that day be soon, for all of us.