Recruiting Mature Workers at Job Fairs

Use This Exhibitor’s Checklist

If you decide to participate in a job fair, consider using this checklist to prepare:

Use recruiters who can relate to a mature audience. People tend to feel more comfortable dealing with others their own age.

Show employees of all ages in your collateral. This can help mature job seekers better relate to the information presented and buy into your company’s age-diverse brand and employment proposition.

Provide a one-page fact sheet covering employee benefits. “The recruiter should extract what would be most relevant to the job seeker,” explains Theodore at TWC Group, adding that recruiters should never make assumptions based on a candidate’s age.

Set up a user-friendly system to handle candidate registration, resume processing and communication. Some individuals returning to the workplace may not have access to the latest technology. “It’s not a matter of dumbing down the technical stuff but communicating with people in a mode that they are most familiar and comfortable with,” says Catlette at Contented Cow Partners.

Offer flexible jobs. A portion of the mature market is interested in jobs that offer flexible hours, days and shifts. “You better be selling flexibility as one of the attributes of your company to that audience if you want to get their attention, otherwise, you’ll be wasting your time,” says,” says Lanzalotto at Yoh.

Provide give-away items that appeal to mature workers. For example, 401(k) planning tools and financial planning calculators, stylish note pads and pens, personal planning calendars, and mobile phone perks are popular among job seekers 50+ at job fairs.

Use fairs as learning opportunities, counseled Brian Margarita, president at TalentFuse, a technology recruiting firm in San Diego. Offer free workshops where candidates can develop new computer skills, for instance.

The key to recruiting mature candidates at any job fair is to understand the profile of the mature market, then appeal to this audience through your company’s brand and messaging. If you can achieve that, you’ll attract qualified applicants who can help your company compete and thrive.