Leveraging an essential workforce: How to re-engage retirees to boost your Direct Sourcing strategy

You’ve already met your next contingent hire. And they’re likely a former employee.

Re-engaging past employees is a key Direct Sourcing strategy. Not only are these candidates already in your pipeline, but they understand your company culture and cost less to onboard.

So which group is most likely to re-engage? 

Retirees.

This population is often overlooked by traditional hiring strategies. We explore why retirees are an important resource for contingent hiring programs and how to successfully re-introduce them to your talent community. 

Why are retirees looking to re-join the labour market?

Many of those leaving the full-time market re-integrate through contract and contingent roles.

According to a recent survey, one third of retirees in the US are considering taking on temporary work, while one fifth have actively returned to work in some capacity. 

So what are retirees getting out of re-engagement?

• Flexible work on their terms. By joining the contingent labour workforce, retired candidates can create schedules that match their lifestyle and trade in the 9-5 workweek for part time hours. 
• Extra income and financial control. As the cost of living continues to rise, many are interested in supplementing their retirement savings with a part-time or contract income. 
• Remaining active and engaged. Retirees often want to continue contributing their skills by staying connected to meaningful work.

Why focus on the retiree community?

Retirees are an important resource for companies looking to expand their contingent worker program.

By re-engaging with retirees, companies gain:

Important skillsets

According to a report from Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, the skilled worker shortage is expected to get worse over the next decade.

The report explains that 18.4 million experienced workers are set to retire between 2024 to 2032, outpacing the 13.8 million younger workers expected to enter the market during that time. 

By re-engaging retirees, companies can maintain critical skills and close gaps that younger talent pipelines can’t immediately fill.

Institutional knowledge

Retirees have years, sometimes decades of experience in their field, which is incredibly helpful when expanding your contingent worker program.

Retirees have:

• Knowledge of historical industry decisions
• An understanding of key legacy systems and client nuance that comes from years of experience
• Clear insight into your organization’s processes and workflows.

Important time and cost savings

Re-engaging with retirees leads to lower time to fill and reduced onboarding and training costs. Not only do these candidates already understand your systems and work culture, their time-to-productivity is impressive compared to new hires. 

Skilled mentors and leaders

Retirees act as excellent trainers and mentors for the newer generation of workers. Companies who re-engage with this community can leverage seasoned knowledge to strengthen skills and build leadership capacity across teams.

How do you successfully re-engage retirees?

The retiree community has unique goals and expectations. In order to properly integrate retirees into your talent pipeline, it’s important to keep them engaged and connected. The following steps are key when re-deploying this workforce. 

Step 1: Connect right away and make the process simple

When retirees leave their full-time positions, it’s important to keep a communication channel open. This is a good time to invite these candidates into your company’s talent community. Your Direct Sourcing platform should support this type of engagement, creating a smooth integration process. TalentNet’s solution, for example, includes a skill-matching capability, allowing candidates to register in 60 seconds and apply for new positions with one click. This is especially important for an older population who may not be comfortable with new technology. 

Step 2: Put them in the right pool

Once a retiree has joined your talent community, it’s important to place them in the right talent pool. When doing this, curators should consider their skills, experience, and work preferences.

Key factors include:

• Salary expectations
• Location and job type (hybrid, remote, or in-person)
• Availability and preferred schedule

Proper placement ensures retirees are matched with roles that fit their expertise and lifestyle, improving engagement and retention in your contingent workforce.

Step 3: Keep engaging

It’s vital to continue connecting with retirees after they’ve been placed in a talent pool. This can include: 

• Emails about new positions and opportunities that may interest them based on their skills and experience. 
• Talent Community engagement about industry news. Many retirees are interested in keeping up with new market insights. 
• Community newsletters that highlight company updates. 

A solid Direct Sourcing strategy

Not only does re-engaging with retirees lead to lower time to fill and reduced costs, it brings a level of experience and institutional knowledge to your workforce. From training and mentorship roles to supporting new hires and ensuring continuity, retirees can make a measurable impact on your organization.

In order to successfully connect with this community, it’s important to choose an intuitive Direct Sourcing platform that can support your hiring needs.

TalentNet’s AI-powered solution includes a variety of features, like:

• Our newsletter feature, which allows companies to quickly create authentic, engaging newsletters to share with their talent communities.
• TalentNavigator, a virtual hiring assistant that supports curators looking to engage with retirees. This feature answers key talent acquisition questions and automates manual tasks. 
• Seamless communication features, including SMS and email capabilities and communication templates.

To learn more about the benefits of re-engaging with past employees, like retirees, check out our latest webinar. For a demo of our platform, click here.