HIRING MATURE STAFF

It is a sensitive topic to touch on, because i am or soon falling into this category. But i have to rant.

Yesterday on straits time someone complained that at 50, he thinks no one is serious and interested in hiring him despite his vast work experiences.

Having been involved in Recruitment/HR work for almost 10years now, i always try to be as impartial as possible not to judge a candidate by his/her race or age. Sadly, it is a usually a self-fulfilling prophecy where a certain type of worker has more tipah-apa work attitude and another group prove to be more skillful liars.

It is not that i don't try, but when it comes to more mature workers, they clearly lack certain qualities to fit into the exuberant entertainment culture. 1) you have to look/dress/behave relatively hip because "you represent the party". 2) then you have to be fit and healthy for all the zipping around from event to event (sometimes even to help carry bulky equipment and stuff). 3) you have to be relatively commitment-free because you have to work late nights and weekends. Finally, you have to be resourceful and keep up to date simply because clients are getting more sophisticated.

Recently, we recruited back an ex-staff (S) who left us 8 years ago to then venture on his own, to now replace an outgoing operations executive. Back then, although not exactly a super-competent staff, he was younger, fitter and hence could assist in, amongst other things, equipment set-up etc. I had very little recollection of how effective he was because when i first joined the company, the staff strength was smaller and S was one of those pioneers who went thru thick and thin with my boss who had just started out the business then.

So this time, naturally, on his return and seeing how young the work force is, he behaved like a senior (a general manager to be more precise) and apart from demanding a more attractive remuneration package, he laid down conditions of not wanting to perform certain tasks he used to do, like the manual work. Fair enough, we don't want him to break his forty-something year old bones either. Just as long as he can organise people (part or full time staff) to do it, which is his primary role anyway, we are ok with that.

A week before he started work, he came down to discuss details of employment, introduced himself to colleagues, ordered me to do a few things including ensuring his name cards were printed with the correct designation, and shared his vision for the company with new colleagues. Very impressive!

Few days into the job, I noticed he hardly used the computer, he just kept copying notes on some scraps of paper. He looked lost. On event site, he didn't know how to operate the equipment anymore, he didn't even know how to coordinate a simple event. While my boss and me just gave him time to settle and adapt to "new" situations, the younger and more driven staff couldn't care less to talk to him nicely. When they realised S was enjoying a glass of icy cold beer during one of our events, they just decided to task him with no-brainer roles like open ballroom door for guests and fetch game props.

1 week into the job, he wants to quit, citing differences with the younger staff. Not surprising! The younger employees of today (not all though) can multi-task, including marketing roles, coordination of events, carry and set-up equipment, some can even design cards/posters using adobe photoshops or powerpoint, flash, edit videos etc.

No differences la. I think it is just his self-esteem diminishing because most things he doesn't know how to do. Neither does he feel comfortable consulting others because he already set his "I'm your senior" aura. I try to emphatize, i spoke to him, i was even willing to give him a second chance. I was utterly disappointed when he turned me down. I asked him what he could do for me, he said he will recruit someone to replace him. Ok, set, for once i don't have to do it myself. The next time i checked with him the recuitment process, he said he placed a small ad in classified (not even semi-display) which garnered only 3 responses and cost $70. Again, only a reflection that he is living in the past. For $70 i can place 3 job street ads that last 3 weeks or a little more a whole month ad in jobsDB. Obviously he hadn't even heard of these recruitment portals!