What I learned at SHRM25
I was honored to speak as part of the SHRM25 Executive Network Experience in San Diego about "Silver Tsunami Success" (i.e. how can we best leverage experienced talent as part of an overall workforce strategy).
It was great sharing best practices with moderator Mo Fathelbab, Claire Casey (President of the AARP Foundation), and Andy Ortiz (CHRO/SVP at Cedars-Sinai).
As part of our conversation, we're encouraging employers to:
- Have the conversation: Every worker is going to have different goals (and those goals can and will change over time). Don’t assume that you know what those goals are - talk openly and transparently with job candidates and team members to make sure that you are all on the same page.
- Think outside of the box: My data shows that 25% of workers will never retire. Cedars-Sinai is currently employing numerous folks in their 80s - these folks want to contribute and find real purpose in working. Brainstorm how your organization can leverage talent and utilize experienced workers to mentor newer team members.
- Challenge your assumptions: The AARP Foundation and SHRM Foundation have published Mythbusters to combat common myths including experienced workers don’t want to learn AI or new technologies, they are resistant to change, and they’ll retire before employers can recoup training costs (these myths simply aren’t true and the data proves it out).
This brings me back to the first point - it’s so important to have these discussions and not “assume” that you can’t afford an experienced worker. Candidates often are more concerned about purpose as they progress in their careers, so money/title becomes less important.
It was also very insightful to talk face-to-face with CHROs and executives directly around what they are currently doing to encourage their teams to hire experienced workers. One of the executives that I spoke with wondered whether her AI screening tools were incorporating bias into the process and promised to evaluate her systems to ensure that candidates of all ages have a fair chance in the hiring process. Another executive commented to me that he would love to tap into the experienced workforce and we discussed ways to make that happen. I'm encouraged to be part of this conversation and looking forward to more progress to come.
Job market update:
I don't encourage my clients to chase the market, but I do think it's smart to look at where things are, which is why I've been providing my thoughts on the job market data.
You probably aren't surprised to hear that the numbers are all over the place. Today's BLS June data highlights: 147,000 new jobs were created (versus 110,000 expected), sparking more headlines that things aren't so bad on the employment front. However, ADP reported that the private sector lost 33,000 jobs in June, missing expectations (100,000 jobs were expected to be created).
In yesterday's Wall Street Journal, the headline was: The Jobs Market Is Starting to Fall Apart. This article is one of the best that I have read on this topic, discussing that the headline job numbers are likely overstated, with Labor Department revisions lowering original estimates significantly (March revised from 228,000 to 120,000) and revised QCEW data showing only 607,000 jobs added from March–December 2024, versus the initial 1.4 million reported.
Again, you can't control where the market is right now and where it's going. But it's good to understand the climate so that you can adjust your efforts and strategy accordingly. These data variations tell me that it's going to continue to be a bumpy ride throughout the summer, so please tell your friends and family that are looking for new jobs right now to hang in there.
Newsletter update:
I've been writing this newsletter for 2 years. In that time, we've more than doubled our email subscriber base to 5,000 with a LinkedIn subscriber base of 30,000+ and an open rate exceeding 55% (industry average is 20% - 30%). I am thankful for your support and grateful for the opportunity to talk with you each week. I'm going to take a few weeks off from newsletter writing, but I'll be back soon. In the meantime, let me know if you have any topics you'd like me to cover (you can reply to this email or DM me on LinkedIn).
Upcoming events:
Redefine Your Career: Executive Strategies for Navigating a Changing Market: I'll be part of a panel discussion outlining executive career transition best practices for Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business alumni network on Thursday, July 17 at 1:30pm. Tepper has graciously opened this up, so all are welcome to attend - learn more and sign-up here.
My Discussion with LinkedIn News:
In case you missed my discussion with LinkedIn News Editor Andrew Seaman
📄 A transcript of the episode is here: https://lnkd.in/dnM5_kvM
👂🏻 Listen to the conversation on your favorite podcast platform: https://lnkd.in/da8c7q9F
How can I help you?
Question of the Week: Do you have a question that you would to have answered in the Question of the Week? If so, reply to this email and let me know what's on your mind.
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Take care of yourself and have a wonderful weekend!
Colleen
