Cecily O'Connor
RedwoodAge.com
Looking for a job? Many nonprofit groups are more than eager to carve out a place for boomers who have shelved a long-term profession and are seeking a new "encore" career opportunity.
About half of nonprofit employers see encore workers as "highly appealing," according to a study by MetLife Foundation and Civic Ventures, a boomer think tank.
And another 39 percent find the prospect of hiring encore employees "moderately appealing."
Those nonprofits with experience hiring recently retired or so-called late career workers are the most enthusiastic about hiring more. In all, 427 nonprofit employers were surveyed.
"They see encore talent improving organizational effectiveness, adding capacity, providing opportunities for learning across generations, and creating the kind of flexible roles that make nonprofits attractive to workers of all ages," said Sibyl Jacobson, president and chief executive officer of MetLife Foundation.
In these economic times, boomers will need to work longer, and many will embark on an encore career that combines personal meaning with social impact and continued income. As many as 8.4 million Americans have already launched encore careers, according to another MetLife/Civic Ventures study released in June.
Help Wanted
Positions at nonprofits groups may be ripe for picking. Recent reports show that
the nonprofit sector is growing faster than business or government - and facing
talent shortages.
There are at least 1.4 million nonprofits in the US that account for 10 percent of the nation's employment, according to the Urban Institute's Nonprofit Almanac 2008. Another survey by The Bridgespan Group projected that the nonprofit sector will need 640,000 new senior managers by 2016.
"The fact that pioneering nonprofits are already enthusiastic proponents of encore workers is encouraging," Jacobson said.
Nearly seven in 10 nonprofit employers rate the valuable experience encore
workers bring to the job as a significant benefit, and 67 percent said the
same about encore workers' commitment and reliability. However, about 42 percent
think recruiting and hiring will be challenging.
Some employers expressed "serious concerns" that encore workers could
demand higher salaries, be reluctant to learn new technology, lack technical or
professional skills and have higher insurance and benefit costs.
Money is always a concern for nonprofits, but those who don't emphasize human resources in addition to financial ones could miss out on talent, said Marc Freedman, chief executive officer at Civic Ventures.
"What if a modest percentage of boomers pursue encore careers and a
fraction of organizations change attitudes and practices to recruit and retain
them?" Freedman
said. "The result would be a genuine windfall of time, skills and
experience in areas deeply dependent on these attributes to succeed."
However, boomers and their potential employers might be able to find some middle
ground, especially since nonprofits aren't shy about offering key job perks.
About 90 percent of nonprofits said that they offer part-time work, 86 percent
provide flexible schedules to all or some employees, while another 40 percent
allow employees to work from a mobile office or home.
