While the hiring intentions for 2022 leave again at pre-crisis levels, executives over 55 stay on the side of the road. Worse. “9% of executives in over 55 live in the RSA”, warns Gilles Gateau, CEO of the Association for the employment of executives. Apec conducted an online survey with Pôle Emploi among senior executives seeking employment, and the results were supplemented by interviews.
“A shock” for the majority of seniors
The finding, unveiled Monday, January 24, is final. Seniors over the age of 55 represented 16% of the 700,000 job seekers looking for a management position in 2021, according to Pôle Emploi. Among them, 6 out of 10 are long-term job seekers. That is to say unemployed for more than a year.
For 81% of them, the termination of the employment contract is at the initiative of the employer and half of the senior executives questioned had been working in the same company for more than ten years. The termination of the employment contract constituted ” a shock “ for 53% of respondents. For others, it was an opportunity to bounce back.
Upon entering the job market, 89% of people aged 55 and over perceive age as “a discriminating factor”.
The choice of less experienced executives
The paradox ? In 2021, a quarter of companies had to abandon recruitment for lack of candidates. 40% of recruiters surveyed chose a “younger but less experienced executive” while only 28% opted for a more experienced profile. “This clearly shows that a company prefers a younger profile and is less open to seniors. As if competence were harmful,” observes Gilles Gateau.
The employer most often seeks someone who has five to ten years of experience, and no more.
If he can’t find “the 5-legged sheep”, it invests rather on “someone with less experience than expected” than the reverse, adds the director general of Apec. However, 25% of unemployed seniors are ready to make concessions on their salary from the start of their search.
In the explanations outlined for this exclusion of seniors, Pierre Lamblin, director of studies at Apec, argues that “Companies want to make their recruitment profitable over the long term. Recruiters believe that hiring a 60-year-old senior who will retire in five years is not profitable. However, very often the younger candidates remain in office for less than five years..
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