Survey: Hiring Managers Prefer Mature Workers

According to a survey, conducted by Braun Research, Inc on behalf of Adecco Staffing US, hiring managers are three times more likely to hire a mature worker (60%) than a Millennial (20%). In addition, 91% of the hiring managers across a range of industries say they view mature workers as reliable and 88% considering them professional.

In the "Adecco Staffing Mature Worker Survey," found that there were hiring barriers for both age groups. While 39% of hiring managers didn’t see any challenges in hiring mature workers, compared to 27% for Millennials, 39% said the greatest challenge to hiring mature workers is their difficulty in learning/adapting to new technology, while--with respect to Millennials--46% of hiring managers viewed their unknown long-term commitment to a company as the biggest possible liability.

The survey also noted problems for both groups in the interview process:

Specifically, 51 percent of hiring managers cited mature workers’ biggest interview mistake as “high salary/compensation demands,” followed by 48 percent that cited “overconfidence in their abilities and experience.” For Millennials, the biggest mistakes were “wearing inappropriate interview attire” (75 percent) and “posting potentially compromising content on social media channels” (70 percent).

Source: Press Release (September 26, 2012)