By Andy McCue, 12 June 2006 14:35
NEWS
UK businesses are actively targeting older workers to address recruitment difficulties and fill skills gaps, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development's (CIPD) annual recruitment survey.
The study found that 70 per cent of employers are looking to recruit people aged between 55 and pension age, while almost a third (31 per cent) are looking to recruit people who are entitled to a state pension.
Eight out of 10 businesses reported recruitment difficulties and 68 per cent of those said this was down to a lack of necessary specialist skills in the market.
New employment regulations around age, which are due to come into force later this year, are also one of the drivers behind the recruitment of older workers.
But the 26 to 34-year-old range still remains the main age group UK employers are targeting.
The CIPD study also found that UK companies continue to look overseas to fill some vacancies, with 15 per cent of employers targeting migrant workers from the new EU states. Almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of companies are also using e-recruitment in order to cut the cost and time involved in hiring new staff.
In silicon.com's exclusive 2006 Skills Survey, 52 per cent of the 1,198 respondents said hiring staff from overseas is not an essential way of filling short-term skills gaps, while 24 per cent said it is.
The latest statistics from UK IT industry group e-Skills UK show the average age of an IT professional is 37 years old for a man and 38 years old for a woman.
Karen Price, CEO of e-skills UK, said businesses need to prepare for the looming "demographic timebomb" as fewer young people come through university.
She told silicon.com: "The pool of talent will be smaller and it will be fiercely competitive to get the brightest and best people."
Price added that offshoring will also have an impact on the skills gap, with many entry-level positions now being sent overseas leading to fewer people progressing naturally up to more senior management positions.
She said: "There is no room for complacency."
Comments
There are 6 comments. Join the discussion
1. Charles Smith
You want Fries with that Sir? It would be interesting to find out what kind of roles are being considered for older people. Being over the age of 50, at which time my brain ceases to function, I find the only jobs on offer are low end/low skill jobs.
The only time that age discrimination in employment will cease is when a few recruitment agents and HR managers are sentenced to few months in Prison for age discrimination.
2. anonymous
I agree with Charles Smith. I have spent the last fours trying to get meaningful employment. I have stopped looking. If we over 50's are expected to pull chestnuts out of the fire for those who so far have treated us with contempt we should expect the premium rates for our skills.
3. Tony Sygrove
I find this story difficult to believe, as I am 59 years old and have been out of work for 14 months. I am a senior professional manager and have had to resort to finding work offshore. I have only had 4 interviews out of over 300 jobs applied for. I am fed up with silly reasons for not employing me, such as 'your over qualified' or 'they want some-one with hands-on experience', knowing that as a senior manager my technical hands on days are well behind me. As you may have gathered over the past few years I am not alone and there is skills, knowledge and experience in abundance within my age group of 55 to retirement age. So can we see these companies putting their money where their mouth is, I am sure they will be pleasantly surprised by the determination, flexibility and skill of us golden oldies.
4. Roy Axford
I totally agree with the previous comments.
I am 60, ex Royal Navy (where I gained my qualifications).
As a qualified electronics engineer, I have worked in the North Sea oil industry (xray), electronic/laser measuring, POS/ATM, IT, computers, fault finding down to component level.
My present position (job) is as a security officer at a holiday park.
I'm losing money, but I'm not scrounging off the state.
5. Julian Dobbins
While it is encouraging to see that UK companies are recognising the value of older workers and the specialist skills they have come to embody, there are several issues that also deserve attention in this debate.
With around 70 per cent of the world’s business still running upon ageing legacy systems, many companies have become reliant on ageing IT workers who have the knowledge and experience to run them. As such, it is not surprising that we are seeing companies tripping over each other to employ older people in order to avert a so-called “legacy skills crisis” in years to come.
However, this appears to be glossing over the problem, rather than tackling the core skills dilemma. Even though the age of a legacy COBOL worker tends higher than most, they have on average ten years before they reach retirement. Companies should see this as an opportunity to map out their legacy applications portfolio, identifying the systems, and therefore the skills, they will need in the future. Not only will this allow firms to recruit appropriate workers in plenty of time, but also transition in-house skills accordingly. Combined with initiatives to breakdown the IT silos that so often exist between legacy mainframe and contemporary systems, companies will be able to minimise any significant loss of knowledge when older staff members retire and ensure a smooth transition of IT skills in the future.
6. Old Git
What's that funny smell ?
This is the biggest pile of BS I have ever read.
I too am on the scrap heap, now earning a salary the same as I earned 20 years ago, applying all my IT and managerial skills to guarding a building at night, and being told how to do my job by several 14 year old experts.
God help this country if the writer's happy smiling picture book story doesn't come true in the next few years.