A couple of hospitals in Florida have received some national recognition for doing a great job recruiting and retaining workers 50 years of age and older.  If there is a state which needs the most help in finding health-care employees, it’s Florida, where one in 8 nursing jobs remains unfilled.  And we all know the number of patients and potential patients that live in the state, including pretty much all my relatives over the age of 70. 

According to a recent Manpower survey of 1000 employers, today’s employers are doing a woeful job in recruiting older workers.  According to the study, 78% of employers do not have a specific program in place to recruit older workers (who by the way stay significantly longer with their employer than younger employees).   

Not surprisingly, wholesale and retail trade employers have the best record of programs to recruit these workers (one in four have a program), while only one in twelve construction companies makes serious efforts to recruit and hire 50+ employees. 

No segment or demographic group should be excluded when building a recruiting process for your organization.  These older workers understand the idea of hard work, they respect authority, they come from a time where duty comes before fun, and they have no problem adhering to rules.  These “veterans” can be counted on to have a positive influence on the boomers and the generations X and Y. 

So, as you are having difficulty attracting and retaining talent, don’t forget the older workers, the ones with experience, talent, and a positive work ethic.  You’ll find that everything old can in fact be new again!