Baby boomers and other generational cohorts

Baby Boomers

Nowadays, companies have to cope with new recruiting challenges mainly derived from the changing demographics. Recent studies have pointed out that the trends which organizations have to take into account are the aging population and the greater ethnic diversity (http://www.jobshout.co.uk/recruitment_2020_a_changing_workforce.html).

First of all, the aging population requires a "re-engineering" of the recruitment process especially due to the so-called baby boomers - the largest generation in U.S., encompassing individuals born between 1946 and 1964. This generation is said to be quite atypical because of the many changes it brought about due to breaking with tradition, rebelling against authority, initiating different movements and positively changing the workplace. Additionally, this age segment continues to preserve its atypical allure because of the attitude displayed towards retirement. More exactly, baby boomers reject the idea of suddenly ending their careers and being replaced as an old piece from a machinery that will go on working. On the contrary, for them, age doesn't represent a barrier as they obstinately refuse to get old. According to the New Retirement Study, approximately 0.75 of all baby boomers do not intend to retire in the traditional sense while half of those planning to continue working claim they will never stop (Amble, 2006). The main reason which fuels such behavior and attitude is the fact that they want to remain physically and mentally active while also ensuring the financial resources and health insurances that are necessary for having an average or above average life standard (http://www.merrillassociates.net/topic/2002/08/exploring-next-generation-retirees-baby-boomers).

Moreover, there are some other features that differentiate them from other generations. To be more specific, baby boomers expect to live longer due to their very good health. On the other hand, they have higher education, an aspect which recommends them for white-collar jobs, and most of them are wealthy enough to afford a focus shift from the pecuniary issues to the social ones. (http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/73555094_4.html).

Consequently, they are ready to prolong their performance on the employment stage under several circumstances.

First of all, they want to "cycle" between periods of work and leisure as they plan to travel a lot and widen their knowledge about the world. Therefore, flexibility is a major issue that an employer must consider when addressing baby boomers.

Secondly, this generation would like to "give something back," that is to share its experience by having jobs in the consulting, teaching or even volunteering fields.

Thirdly, novelty represents a major ingredient when persuading baby boomers to accept a certain job as they are very much in favor of "re-tooling" themselves by trying new experiences and undergoing trainings that provide them with brand new skills. (http://www.merrillassociates.net/topic/2002/08/exploring-next-generation-retirees-baby-boomers)

Most of the time, the gap between employers and baby boomers can not be bridged because of the false assumptions that the former category bears in mind. In other words, it is not the age that represents a major issue, but the employers' inadequate responses to this generation's requirements. Thus, they use to offer regular part time jobs instead of flexible schedules or neglect the retirees' desire to discover new things and acquire new skills. Moreover, they focus on recruiting younger workers rather than on recruiting/retaining the older ones (http://www.merrillassociates.net/topic/2002/08/exploring-next-generation-retirees-baby-boomers).

To conclude with, the gap between these two categories (employers and baby boomers) can be bridged in a mutually fruitful manner by showing greater flexibility in terms of schedule, suggesting several alternatives out of which the retiree can choose the one that best suits him/her, combining activities with educational, recreational opportunities (e.g. exchange programs can be considered a good way to combine business and pleasure), offering "try-before-you buy" experiences as a marketing tool and so forth. In addition to all these, the marketing message plays a major part. Thus, on the one hand, this has to include enticing photographs that display characters having similar age and problems and, on the other hand, it has to make use of key words like "experienced" and "mature" that are able to outline the high value that the employer assigns to this generation (http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/73555094_4.html).

A second challenge that contemporary companies encounter due to the changing demographics is diversity. Up-to-date researches have revealed that the percentage of employees belonging to racial and ethnic minorities is expected to increase. However, despite the non-discriminatory political correctness that is in fashion nowadays, there are many companies which do not put theory into practice. Consequently, studies emphasize that minorities are either unemployed/underemployed and that they represent an "untapped labor pool." Additionally, one could touch upon the distrust that minorities display against employers either because of the non-discriminatory slogans which are not genuine or because of the positive discrimination policy that converts them into simple tools which help the employer boast the 'politically correct' attitude that is a must-have to its corporate image. For overcoming such problems, employers should state loud and clear that they are in favor of and apply equal opportunity policies based on the one and only criterion that matters - professional competence. Moreover, when interviewing applicants, companies could resort to recruiters belonging to the same minority and, on the other hand, could advertise themselves by giving examples of employees from the respective minority who have become some of the company's most valuable professionals (http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/73555094_4.html).