An adage for 2009: let go and grow

With a swag of awards on the shelf, high praise from government ministers and a string of successful candidate and employer matches, Adage.com.au – Australia’s leading mature age job board - has done what it set out to do; advance labour force participation of mature workers and improve the recruitment experience for employers and candidates.

The Adage journey began in 2006 providing a partnership platform for progressive companies such as AMP, Westpac, St George, ipac, Tactics Consulting, The Salvation Army and 2Discover to pioneer the recruitment of mature workers.

To date over half a million people have visited www.adage.com.au, 820 employers have sought mature candidates, over 9000 candidates have registered and 120 articles featuring Adage were published in mainstream and specialist media.

The work of Adage has been lauded by government ministers such as the Hon Dr Sharman Stone (former Minister for Workforce Participation) and the Hon Justine Elliot (Minister for Ageing) who wrote:
“Your company is an outstanding example of how promoting diversity in the workplace can provide great benefits to both employers and employees. The employment of mature age workers also demonstrates clearly that older Australians continue to make a significant contribution to the workplace and to their communities.”

In 2007 Adage’s work as advocates for mature age employment was recognised with an Award for Excellence in Business Mentoring at the 2007 NSW Seniors Week. In the same year, Adage instigated the Adage Top 20 as a way of acknowledging age positive employers across Australia. In November 2008, Adage won a joint award for Employment and Inclusion of Mature Workers at the National Diversity@Work awards presented by Bob Geldof.

"In tough economic times, the case for Adage is even more pertinent; a cost effective means of sourcing a qualified, experienced candidate who is likely to stay longer, show resilience and invest their expertise in your company. Anyone who’s worked through previous economic downturns would be a great asset to any business. " says Adage director Alison Monroe.

Adage is currently managed by three savvy women with diverse business interests. Having pioneered Australia's largest commercial job board for experienced, mature workers they now believe it is time to pass the baton to someone who can take Adage to the next level.

Adage wins a Diversity Award

We won! We won! Adage has won an award for Employment and Inclusion of Mature Workers last night at the Diversity@Work awards held in Melbourne. In the presence of luminaries such as Sir Bob Geldof (pictured below with Alison Monroe from Adage) and Rev Tim Costello (pictured right with Alison Monroe and Catriona Byrne from Adage), we were reminded why diversity 'just makes sense'. In fact, in these tough economic times, there is even more imperative to employ the nous and efficiency that experienced, mature employees bring to your workplace. For more about Bob Geldof, check the Sunrise weekend program.

Bob Geldof - diversity champion or grumpy old man?

Sooooo excited this week. Adage is a finalist in the Diversity@Work awards for Employment and Inclusion of Mature Age Workers. And Bob Geldof is giving the keynote address. Best known now as a human rights activist, there are other strong links to the themes of Adage. Who can forget every worker's theme song: I don't like Mondays? And if you saw the English version of Grumpy Old Men - Bob featured strongly! We look forward to sharing the highlights of the night. Rumour has it there's a Channel 7 Sunrise appearance coming up too.

And if you like to participate in blogs, check out Kate Southam's CubeFarmer. Kate's the Career Queen and a friend of Adage.

no such thing as the twilight of your career

Seriously, sit down and ask yourself: "Can I see myself never working?" Many people are happy to work longer, but not the way they are working now. Instead of enduring full time 'retirement' there are many active mature job seekers who would love to balance the demands of their life cycle with a stimulating career. The sooner employers get the hang of this idea and re-design roles to suit the fastest growing candidate demographic, the easier it will be to find the right people.

It seems that workplaces are operating on a list of uninformed assumptions:

• everyone wants to retire ie never work again
• mature workers aren't interested in developing their career
• mature workers don't want training opportunities
• work is really full time or not at all

You can add your own to the list. It's time to challenge your own assumptions and the long held recruitment and retention practices of organisations.

give yourself the networking edge

Articles about networking seem to be filling the print media Career sections. Only a third of all jobs are advertised. So how do you find out about the other third - through networks? In fact, I know many people whose career goal is to land their next job without a resume or a job application. Mature, experienced candidates should be well ahead of the game. You have years' worth of people who could play a role in getting your next role. Chances are it will take less than six degrees of separation.

Networking will work for you if you are prepared to give more than you get. Networking is something you have done all your life. We hear stories from mature candidates saying that they've sent out 60 resumes and not had an interview. Maybe putting more effort into increasing and renewing your networks would get a much better result. Go shout six different people a coffee and get networking.