Senior executives: the key to full employment?

100,000 senior executives are still registered as unemployed. Here is what Gilles Gateau, director general of the Agency for the employment of executives (Apec), recalled on BFMTV on Monday June 6. Since many recruiters in the IT and finance sectors are struggling to find candidates, he encourages them to turn to executives over 55. According to him, they could be a solution.

“We can clearly see that there are difficulties in recruiting for many companies and opposite, there are reserves of skills. I am talking about senior managers, there are 100,000 who are over 55 and who are now registered with Pôle Emploi. These are resources and skills that we must be able to use to move towards full employment.” Emmanuel Macron’s objective is to achieve this by 2027. As a reminder, full employment is considered to have been achieved when the unemployment rate varies between 4 and 5%. In the first quarter of 2022, it amounted to 7.3% in France.

However, for the time being, seniors are still too much set aside.

This sidelining “is a real subject that we tend to look at with too much fatalism. It is the look of recruiters that must be changed and also that of the executives themselves”, relates Gilles Gateau.

And to add: “Senior executives have often internalized the fact that their age becomes an obstacle. We must look at other forms of activity, not necessarily the CDI. We must mourn what is called the mirror job, that is to say the idea that we will find the same job with the same salary in the same type of company. We will have to move too. Here’s how.

Most of the time, senior executives have not suffered from problems of hardship during their career, “which makes it all the more incomprehensible that we dismiss, because they are 50 or 55, experienced executives “, protests the director general of Apec.

To remedy this, a think tank on the demographic transition was founded, on the initiative of the L’Oréal group and Club Landoy. 32 large participating companies pledged, in mid-March, to enhance the place of seniors in business. In addition to having to recruit people at all stages of their careers, these companies are committed to promoting the transmission of knowledge between generations.

Are you over 50 and unemployed? Here’s how to put the odds on your side to find a job.

While many companies remain hesitant about the idea of ​​recruiting seniors, various levers of action can help you increase your employability.

For example, make your age an asset, highlighting your experience. Adopt the posture of “service providers” rather than that of “job seekers”. Also highlight your availability and your “immediate operationality”.

Finally, consider using your network or getting help from a professional to carry out a skills assessment, start training or maintain your motivation.