Conference News July/August 2022 | Page 64

64 Recruitment

NOT JUST A NUMBER

Robert Kenward reminds us DEI involves being inclusive about age and encourages agencies to hire eventprofs over 50
e all rightly talk about the next generation of eventprofs and we all discuss the talent pipeline – and by that we mean the people coming into the industry at the beginning of their careers , as graduates or apprentices . But why do we only see a one-way flow ? Why can ’ t we consider the talent pipeline coming the other way ? Of more mature people looking for a career change or trying to get back in ?
A hundred thousand people have left our industry and companies are finding it hard to recruit . DEI ( Diversity , Equity and Inclusion ) is a very important consideration now and I ’ m sure many agencies are proud of their DEI initiatives . But these same agencies are often the very ones who are reticent to employ the over 50s . I hear it often , in code : “ oh , that candidate is too experienced ,” “ they ’ d get bored after a while ” or even very bluntly “ they are too old .”
It ’ s why I still count myself incredibly lucky I get to choose who I work for , because if I hear
“ DEI also means being inclusive about age . But no-one talks about it , there is no scholarship or initiative to encourage the over 50s into our industry .”
Robert Kenward this , I ’ m off . Like many of the ‘ isms ’ it ’ s all about language : “ we are a vibrant , fast moving , dynamic team ” can be translated to “ we are young ” and this is agism .
Inclusivity DEI also means being inclusive about age . But no-one talks about it , there is no scholarship or initiative to encourage the over 50s into our industry . An employer would never say that they are looking for a white person , or a woman for a role , but it ’ s very common for agencies to specify the age bracket of the new recruit that they need .
If you check out a company ’ s ‘ meet the team ’ page , all of the people that own the business are usually older , while the people that work in the business are younger . So , an older person looking at this business may be put off applying .
We have to stop this . It ’ s not even unconscious bias , it ’ s blatant bias . Agism is not okay , I think we are missing a trick . For our industry to build back up again , we need people . We need senior people who can hit the ground running . We are crying out for recruits that can just slot into work , who can just come in , pick it up and go . So why aren ’ t we casting the net wider to include the over 50s ?
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