5 Advantages to Hiring a Baby Boomer - CareerAlley

5 Advantages to Hiring a Baby Boomer - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. I just finished reading an article about the disadvantages or objections of hiring a Baby Boomer (Top 5 Unspoken Objections To Hiring A Baby Boomer). And, while I dont disagree that someBaby Boomers do exhibit the 5 objections, I do feelthere are many reasons/advantages to hiring Baby Boomers. There willalways be trials, tribulations and risks with hiring people. Whether the individual is straight out of one of the best schools, has been working for 30 years or comes highly regarded, issues can and do arise due to personality traits or the challenges fitting into a different corporate culture. Does any one generational group corner the market on the best generation to work with or dont hire from this generation? I highly doubt it. Ensuring you have a robust hiring process helps minimize (but never eliminates) issues whenrecruitingtalent. Suggested Reading:Hire This Boomer.: A Realistic Job Search Guide for the Baby Boomer Plus Generation That being said, I felt somewhat obligated to write the flip side of the 5 objections to hiring Baby Boomers, but rather than going point/counterpoint I wanted to conveysome of what I feel are true advantages to hiring very experienced individuals. To put it all in perspective, every age group(High School grads to Grandpas)hasindividualswho are not exactly hirable or just dont fitin (see9 Reasons Why I Wont Hire You). Experience is Priceless: Much of what determines how valuable we are inthe marketplacedepends on experience, skill set and ability. Baby Boomers possess an amazing amount ofexperience, knowledge and insight based ondecades of working their way up from the bottom. Manytypically occupy (or have occupied) the most senior positions in a company. This level of experience is difficult to come by and, no matter how smart you are, a life time of experience can add real value. They Know the Meaning of Hard Work: Lets face it, Baby Boomers are incredibly hard workers. In fact, most of us dont want to work the way they did in their early careers. The flip side is that they work well under pressure, are tenacious and when push comes to shove(urban dictionary), they will get the job done. TheyHave an Amazing List of Connections: One advantage to working a really long time is that you get to meet lots of people in your career. Some of these people may not be worth remembering, but knowing someone who knows someone has real advantages. Whether it be finding great talent or a vendor that can deliver the right solution for your business, there is nothing more powerful than having a large experienced network at your fingertips. They are Not Afraid to Tell You What You May NotWant to Hear: There is a delicate balance between being outspoken, obnoxious or a complainer and most of us have worked with all threetypes of people. Getting the real story, no matter how ugly it may be, hastangible benefits. Baby Boomers are not afraid to tell you the pros and cons ofmost situations. Much of what they have to say comes from real life experiences. Hearing the bad news beats being blind-sided any day of the week. They Grew Up with the Technology That Drives Our Businesses: There is aview (rightly or wrongly) that older people (namely Baby Boomers) cannot use technology. While Baby Boomers may not know the latest smartphone app (or may not be the best at using a smartphone), their generation invented the technology we all use. Whether it be the world of Windows or Macs, without Baby Boomers like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs (RIP) we would still be using IBM Keypunch cards (you will need to look that one up yourself). The point is, we all get hung up with stereotypes of all shapes, sizes and ages. And while stereotypes could not exist if not for the very people they are modeled after, stereotypesare the exception not the rule. We get fixated on stereotypes because they loom so large even though they are a tiny fraction of the overall population. Dont get fixated on age or generation (or any other defining traitthat may impact your hiring process). Just try to hire the best person for the job regardless of the stereotypical shadow that looms over us all. Career Tip of the Day:5 Reasons Why You Wont Get a Job Offer We are always eager to hear from our readers. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions regarding CareerAlley content. Good luck in your search,Joey Google+ What's next? Ready to take action? Choose the right tools to help you build your career. Looking for related topics? Find out how to find the opportunities that help you grow your best career. Subscribe and make meaningful progress on your career. It’s about time you focused on your career. Get Educated Contact Us Advertise Copyright 2020 CareerAlley. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy + Disclosure home popular resources subscribe search