70% of job hunters say their applications are mostly ignored

Bad corporate manners can damage a company’s health!

One in six jobseekers aged over 50 feel that they are treated like second-class citizens when applying for jobs, according to a survey* to determine the views of older jobseekers, carried out by online recruitment agency SkilledPeople.com. The survey also showed that it is common place now for the majority of job applications to go unacknowledged – 70% of those surveyed said that they had received responses to only a quarter or less of their submissions, and 15% of these complained that they had not had any replies at all.

David Hiddleston, Managing Director of SkilledPeople.com commented “Besides being ‘corporately ill-mannered’ such cavalier treatment of applicants can seriously damage the reputation and brand of an organisation. Companies may be inundated with applications at the moment, but surely that is not an excuse to simply ignore people who have taken the trouble to put together and forward an application – and now, more than ever, it’s important to maintain the good reputation of a company.”

The survey demonstrates clearly that the way a company responds to its job applicants can impact corporate reputation. Of those surveyed, nearly nine in ten (87%) felt badly disposed towards the companies who treated them so badly, more than half (53%) said they lost respect for the companies concerned, one in five (18%) would think twice before buying their products and 16% would go to the length of telling as many of their friends, family and colleagues as possible exactly what they thought of the company in question. Nearly two in five (38%) thought that those recruiters who failed to acknowledge or feedback on vacancies were generally lacking in manners and treated applicants like second class citizens.

David Hiddleston continued: “We believe it’s a sad reflection on the business community that many companies just ignore older applicants – nearly half of those (45%) who responded to our survey had applied for anything between 20 and 50 vacancies whilst some had actively chased in excess of 100 vacancies. Mature people have a lot to offer and the least companies can do is demonstrate common courtesies like an acknowledgement or polite rejection.”

It’s not only companies that came in for criticism from jobseekers - Government funded Job Centres came in for some stick too. Job Centres were variously described as patronising, unhelpful, disrespectful and totally failing to understand the value of experienced older workers within the workplace.

Hiddleston concluded: “I think many CEOs and senior managers would be surprised to hear how their recruiters (who are, after all, supposed to be people-oriented), and the agencies they use, are treating those who actually want to work for their company.”

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survey of 765 jobseekers registered with SkilledPeople.com. August 2009

As jobs are becoming rarer than hens’ teeth one company can still offer a ray of hope to older jobseekers. SkilledPeople.com specialises in finding positions for the over 50s, a group generally found to offer their employers a higher level of dependability, flexibility and experience.

Despite current legislation to drive out age discrimination in the workplace, latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the over 50s are losing jobs at a far faster rate than their younger colleagues. Unemployment figures for those aged over 50 rose by 27% in the last quarter compared to just 8% for workers under 50, yet the government has done nothing to redress the balance in its recent £500m plan to ease unemployment.

Once unemployed, the over 50s are less likely to be re-employed meaning that within a short time the UK labour force could face the permanent loss of some vital skills and experience just at a time when these will be needed the most to support the inevitable upturn in the economy.

David Hiddleston, managing director of SkilledPeople.com said “These figures highlight the fact that jobs for the over 50s are increasingly difficult to find in spite of current rules on age discrimination. HR managers appear to be ignoring this legislation, preferring to recruit from a much younger age band, perhaps because so many are young themselves and tend to favour their own generation – totally missing the point that older people can bring a wealth of experience and wisdom to the party.”

SkilledPeople.com’s growing register of more than 3000 jobseekers covers virtually every industry, so employers have a huge and varied workpool of willing workers to dip into. “It makes commercial and financial sense for employers to recruit from this age group. Recruitment costs, lost working hours from ‘hangover Mondays’, extended maternity and paternity leave and lack of experience are among the highest overheads faced by companies today - older people do not present these problems” concluded Hiddleston.

http://www.prlog.org/10177964-glimmer-of-hope-for-older-job-hunters.html

A new website aims to find jobs for over 50s in the insurance industry.

SkilledPeople.com was established by Churchill''s ex-group business development director, David Hiddleston, and Kay Gorman, who headed up external communications at Churchill before helping to launch Swiftcover.com, LV and its ABC Insurance brand for brokers.

Managing director Mr Hiddleston said: "The site was designed for companies that recognise the unique contribution over-50s staff can make to their operations - there is a whole reservoir of experience ready to be tapped into. Some job seekers fancy a change of job, while others would like to get back into work because they have retired and miss the buzz of business life.

"Some members will be looking for full-time positions where their expertise will be valued, while others want part time or contract work. Many are more than happy to invest their time and energy working with start-ups and growing businesses, to provide a level of expertise that would otherwise be unaffordable."

Ms Gorman, director at SkilledPeople.com, agreed that the website would be ideal for start-up businesses: "From an employer''s perspective, whether you are a long-established business or just starting out, this service will give you the opportunity to access a unique resource of people who have a wide range of experience and are keen to work either full-time, part-time or for a few hours a week."

In addition to insurance, the website will cater for other business lines, such as accountancy, construction, technology and telecommunications.

Job seekers can register by creating a CV, while employers post details of their vacancies on the website or set up a direct link to their own recruitment pages.

With over 1700 job seekers currently registered. Mr Hiddleston said the website would be looking to substantially increase the number of partner employers this year.

 

Insurance Age - June 2008

Skilled People.com, the specialist agency for the over 50s who are looking for full time, part time or contract jobs, is offering employers a direct link to their own web based recruitment pages.

Announcing the move, Managing Director, David Hiddleston said “We recognise that employers with multiple vacancies are increasingly developing online recruitment pages on their websites.

By allowing employers to create a direct link from our site to their own, we offer them the benefit of our marketing activity and use of their own recruitment procedures. As a bonus, they avoid agency fees when they make an appointment!”

The only financial commitment for an employer is a small monthly fee for the link; this will display the company logo as a click through on the Skilled People.com site.

David Hiddleston further comments “We believe that whilst employers are becoming increasingly aware that the over 50s are dependable, experienced, conscientious employees and by no means “over the hill”, the current climate makes it difficult for them to specifically target this group.

This is where Skilled People.com scores – we can pro-actively source these experienced jobseekers and direct them towards suitable vacancies.”

The Skilled People site can be visited at www.skilledpeople.com. Enquiries should be addressed to admin@skilledpeople.com