Baby Boomer Retirements Fuel Demand for Experienced Employees?

Manufacturing Business Technology (MBT) magazine deals with a topic I’ve followed with great interest: baby boomer retirements. My interest is based on my age, 54, and the difficulty I’ve experienced gaining employment of the type I’m used to after year 2000. The need for mature, experienced workers never seemed to impact my situation even though I heard and read plenty about it. My difficulties probably had more to do with the huge downturn in my industry in 2000-2001: consulting related to technology enablement of business processes. My recent hiring by a major software company is a personal indication that mature workers are being hired into high impact, high compensation positions.

According to MBT, the next five years will be interesting:

“New York-based FPC (F-O-R-T-U-N-E Personnel Consultants) says its recruiters already are seeing early nationwide effects of the massive baby boomer retirement wave expected in the next five years. In total, 76 million are expected to leave the workforce, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS).”

How should companies fill these losses due to retirement? Should they hire recent grads and mentor them before older workers leave? Or should they go on a campaign to find mature workers with similar experience? What would you do and why?

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