Half of nonprofit employers say people who decide they want to work for charities late in their careers or after they have retired are highly appealing job candidates, while 39 percent say they are somewhat appealing, according to a new survey.
Almost 70 percent said that such workers would bring valuable experience to the job, 67 percent that they would bring commitment and reliability, and 62 percent that they would be effective mentors for younger people.
When asked which serious concerns they had about older workers, 25 percent said they might require higher salaries than people who had spent their careers working at nonprofit organizations, 23 percent they might be reluctant to learn new technology, and 20 percent they might lack the necessary technical or professional skills.
The survey — sponsored by Civic Ventures, a think tank in San Francisco that promotes what it calls “encore careers” for older workers, and the MetLife Foundation, in New York — last spring polled 427 nonprofit groups that focus on social services, education, health care, and the environment. It sought to assess views toward job candidates who decide to change the type of work they do in later life because they want to contribute to the public good.
Among its other findings:
Seventy percent said they had employed late-career or previously retired workers in the past few years. Those groups were more likely to find such employees highly appealing (53 percent) than other employers (40 percent). Forty-two percent said recruiting and hiring talented people was a top human-resources concern, and 45 percent thought that challenge would get harder in the future. Ninety percent said they offer part-time work and 86 percent offer flexible schedules, but only 40 percent allow employees to work from home or from mobile offices.
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