Silver Mining
A new web service is tackling New Zealand’s skills shortages by tapping the country’s mature talent.
With the minimum superannuation age rising to 67, it’s a given that most of us will be working longer.
The Retirement Commission estimates the 650,000 or so Kiwis currently over the age of 65, will almost double by the middle of the century, and many of them will be working.
It’s a mind shift for workers, and a reality our employers are coming to grips with as well.
Kate Ross, who owns recruitment agency Kinetic and has been in the industry for 20 years, says in the current skills shortage, she is already seeing more openness from employers towards older workers, sometimes creating parttime roles for them.
With such big proportion of the future workforce headed for the ‘‘mature’’ category, she expects that to become increasingly common.
A few weeks ago, Ross created a website specifically for people who are 55 years or over called Wise Ones.
She says hundreds of candidates had already signed up, and the reaction from the employers had been positive too.
‘‘Large multi-national businesses are contacting me saying ‘Look, this is brilliant because previously we couldn’t advertise’ because obviously it’s illegal to advertise for the more mature age bracket.’’
Ross’ inspiration for Wise Ones came from attending a conference in Melbourne a year ago, which urged her to see a problem and solve it.
In her industry, she had lots of older candidates coming to her with a wealth of experience but feared discrimination due to their age.
‘‘I’d had a number of candidates come and see me and and say, look Kate, I’m at a particular age now, or at this point in my career. Do you think I’m employable?
‘‘And I used to get shocked when people said that. I thought, my God, you’ve got a great CV, a great history, good skills, you come across well - why wouldn’t you be?’’
However, many older workers felt this way after going to agencies and felt like a statistic, or applied on job websites and never heard back.
‘‘I mean 55 is still so young, that’s just crazy. We’re all working and living longer. They’ve got a good 20 years ahead of them.’’
Ross has been surprised at the depth of talent signing on.
‘‘You get all sorts. And actually, when you look at the quality of job seekers on that site, they’re amazing. We’ve got some amazingly qualified people ... we’ve got GMs and CEOs and ex-business owners. That’s a wealth of knowledge.’’
Older workers had other great qualities, Ross says.
‘‘There’s flexibility, the ability to kind of reflect and see both sides, offer good advice. Obviously, the kids have left home so they’ve haven’t got restrictions of coming in and out as much, so there’s huge value taking on an experienced worker.’’
And the old chestnut about older people not being able to pick up new technology?
With 80 per cent of Aucklanders over 55 being on Facebook, Ross thinks that view is outdated, unless it is a very IT-specific role which she thinks would challenge workers of any age.
Aucklander Martyn Pearce found work through the website in just a few days.
Recuperating from a serious injury, the 57-year-old accountant decided he wanted a complete career change and has begun work as a truck driver.
‘‘It’s a matter of restarting my life,’’ he said.
‘‘I just want to go to work, get told what to do, do it and go home. I might feel differently in a few months but right now, it’s been a difficult 18 months and I just have to see where it is I go from here.’’
He did not feel any concerns about being an older worker.
‘‘There’s nothing here I haven’t done before. I held a heavy vehicle licence for some years, I’ve done all sorts of jobs as a student and growing up on a farm.
‘‘When I went for the interview for this job, they said the company would have opportunity to use my talents. Why was I doing such a low paid job? And my answer at that point was, that is what I want. I said, ask me in three months if I want to take on the responsibility.’’
One thing that remains unclear about older workers, however, is whether they will have to make concessions on pay to foot it with the younger ones.
On Wise Ones, candidates can state their pay expectations along with other things they might want to do, such as volunteer work.
‘‘I don’t think they have to compromise,’’ Ross says. ‘‘I think what happens is your personal circumstances change and so you reevaluate at the time potentially what’s important.’’
In her experience, money is still valued by workers of a certain age, but was no longer their top driver.
And that wider perspective was reflective of society at large.
Workers under 55 who wanted to use Wise Ones were also welcome. ‘‘but the whole concept is targeted at that area’’.
We're all working and living longer. They've got a good 20 years ahead of them.