SENIOR LIVING: Web Sites Boom for Seniors Seeking Employment

By FRANK KENNEY Director, Grant County Senior Services

Back in October we talked about our burgeoning retiree population which has lead to the rapid growth of a skilled senior workforce in here in Grant County.  We also noted that the trend has gained momentum and magnitude across the United States and all developed countries of the world.

Most of these folks will begin a second career but their focus will not necessarily be on money, but on more meaningful work coupled with flexible work schedule.  Recently, Grant County Senior Services partnered with a number of local agencies and non-profits to co-host an open house that formally introduced our Skilled Senior Workforce Program to our elders and our local employers.  We had over sixty retirees and other interested attendees. We plan to host “skilled senior job fairs” at least twice a year and should convene one in early summer of 2008.

In the interim, we invite you to check out websites on the Internet where seasoned job seekers can post their résumés and sift through job postings and companies can list jobs (often for a fee) or buy ads aimed at an older workforce.

There's been an explosion of these websites, and the reason is simple: Many people are faced with the prospect of working longer than they might have planned. Social Security is replacing an increasingly smaller portion of household earnings, many workers' 401(k)'s and IRAs contain only modest balances, and Americans are often saving virtually nothing outside of these retirement funds.

Luckily, much of the retirement savings shortfall can be offset by working as little as two to four years extra, according to Boston College's Center for Retirement Research. A survey of 400 employers by the center found that a quarter of workers in their 50s will be financially unprepared for retirement and will want to stay on the job at least two years past the traditional retirement age.

Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean that employers want older workers—who are often more experienced but also more expensive than their younger counterparts—to stay. The center found that employers are lukewarm about retaining even half of their older workers who want to keep working.

But in this mismatch lies opportunity. Somewhere there is a company that wants an experienced older person willing to work hard, mentor younger workers, or put acquired wisdom to good use. And somewhere else there is a worker who needs the money or health insurance, or simply wants the mental stimulation and social interaction of a new job.

Internet entrepreneurs have scrambled to fill this niche by starting websites, from Seniors4Hire.org in Huntington Beach, Calif., to RetireeWorkForce.com in Holmdel, N.J.

"I think they're a positive sign that a labor market is forming, as more and more people decide to work longer and more and more employers start to look at this population as a source of talent," says Marc Freedman, CEO of the Civic Ventures think tank and author of Encore: Finding Work That Matters in the Second Half of Life.

One site, RetirementJobs.com, lists between 20,000 and 30,000 open positions that are refreshed several times each week. "We have connected up with a group of very strong brand employers that are going out of their way to be friendly to workers over 50," CEO Tim Driver says. Most of the jobs are in "the retail sector, and a large number of jobs are in the financial services business, companies that have an increasingly older customer base and...are looking for workers of a similar age," Driver adds.

Many of the websites are heavily weighted toward retail jobs, which often offer flexible and part-time hours. "I have some unease about the kinds of jobs being marketed on these types of websites," Freedman says. "I don't feel like any site has emerged that is doing a particularly good job of matching people at this stage in life with opportunities that fully match their experience."

Some of the sites, like WorkForce50.com and RetiredBrains.com, offer jobs available nationwide, with positions ranging from clerical to management. Others specialize in a particular career area. ExecSearchs.com, for example, focuses exclusively on midlevel and executive positions in the nonprofit, government, and education sectors. YourEncore.com recruits experienced scientists, engineers, and product developers for short-term assignments.

For those of you who feel too “computer challenged” to attempt checking out any of the above sites, I urge you to seek instruction.  You could stop by our Silver City Senior Center and ask for some help.  Mr. Louis Kopecky, our computer room volunteer will be glad to help you get oriented.  He might even assist you to find at any of the web sites we’ve mentioned above.  Of course there are other resources to help you get your ‘arms around’ the keyboard and mouse, like our Library, or Western New Mexico’s Adult Educational Services.  Or you do what I did a few years ago and sign up for a regular  undergraduate 3 hour course at Western.  It was the  best investment in time and money that I’ve made since retirement. 

For more information on websites for senior employment or where you might learn more about handling a computer contact this writer at 575-388-2523 or rsvpgrant@zianet.com .