If you are between 50 and 60 years old, or even if you belong to the club that combs gray hair, all is not lost: your working life seems that it may not have ended yet. Something is happening in the business world. It is an underground phenomenon that is generated by the hand of a global trend. Statistics from the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate that, in 2020, we will live an average of 72.5 years —20 more than in 1960— and that the total population over 60 will have doubled in 2050 compared to the year 2000.
The main consequence of greater longevity, together with the general decline in birth rates throughout the world, is the modification of the demographic pyramid. This means that there are more and more older people and fewer young people, something that could be verified in 2018 with an unusual fact: that year, for the first time in the history of humanity, those over 65 outnumbered those under 5, as revealed by the United Nations (UN).
Adults. In this context, the “senior” segment is gaining an increasingly important place in companies. Technology, engineering, computer security, consulting, architecture companies, among others, demand profiles of professionals who have a proven track record. For Julius Bressoprofessor at the Faculty of Business Sciences of the Austral University and executive director of BRESSO C&M“the new generations have a different view of the world of work.
Whether due to ambition, choosing private life over work, or lack of experience, it tends to appear less committed and, therefore, less trustworthy”. From his point of view, this leads to “firms exhausting themselves looking for and training people who, in a year, will leave and many times almost without warning. To cope with this issue, organizations find in seniors, who guarantee experience and responsibility”.
Laura Bitocogeneral manager of Hidalgo & Associates, believes that the difficulty in finding talent “made us increasingly have to rethink what variables we could analyze in our processes and in the requirements of the profiles we were looking for”. For a little over four years and prior to the pandemic, there was a change in trend: “The companies increasingly put in their axes of analysis the flexibility of the age range of their candidates”indicates the consultant.
The analysis of Cristina Onetospecialist in Evaluation of Potential and director of Talentum, points in the same direction: “just as there is unemployment, there is a shortage of professionals with some experience. There is also a change of consciousness in CEOs and managers who are approaching these ages and that of ’60+’ jobs emerges as a dual purpose action, inclusion and need for these profiles”.
Global trend. “The talent of the senior profiles is experience, poise, incorporating the idea of responsibility to the younger generations,” he adds. adriana churriguerawell-being longevity coach, who coordinates with Mercedes Jones, PhD in Sociology and project director of the University of San Andres of the initiative “Senior World Cafeand”.
This initiative aims at a conversation dynamic of “Positive Longevity” in the form of “coffee talks”, which deals with a specific topic, with special guests, who interact with the audience and make their contribution to the topic. “There are laboratories in Rosario that demand engineers, technical directors, who have knowledge and experience that young people have not yet acquired,” he explains.
Profiles. Gonzalo MataManaging Partner of wall chase, highlights that “a highly sought-after segment is that of profiles with experience in transformation projects, being highly valued for having gone through this type of challenge in various companies and industries. These types of professionals provide knowledge and experience, in many cases increasing the chances of success of the projects”.
“Pure technological/IT profiles or those with a desire to convert their careers towards technology are the most required. There are lawyers and doctors converted to technology to provide tech service in the space of their profession; even for computer security roles”, Oneto points out. And he rounds off: “all professionals from more technical careers such as engineering or geologists enter these programs.”
“Solidity, experience and the desire to stay and belong, something that is more difficult for younger generations to achieve,” says Bitocco. And Bresso adds that the demand is aimed at professionals “from hyper-specialized segments who have theoretical and empirical training, for whom training would mean a significant investment and in which time acts against the need for the organization.”
Which companies are the ones that require them the most? For Mata, they are more required in national and family-based companies, “those that value senior professionals who passed through companies in which they acquired knowledge and processes that they can then replicate in smaller organizations and that are in the professionalization stage”. Secrets from the world of companies that, now, also begin to prefer mature people.
by Marcelo Alfano
