CareerBuilder.com Launches PrimeCB.com, a Job Search Site for Retirees and Experienced Workers

New CareerBuilder.com Study Reveals More Than Half of Mature Workers are Putting Off Retirement

CHICAGO.- According to a new CareerBuilder.com survey, 22 percent of employers say given the shortage of qualified workers, they plan to rehire retirees from other companies in 2008; and 14 percent of employers plan to provide incentives for older workers to stay with the company longer. Luckily for them, nearly three out of five workers age 50 or older plan to look for work elsewhere after retiring from their present jobs.

To answer this demand from both workers and employers, CareerBuilder.com announced today the launch of PrimeCB.com, a job search site focused on connecting experienced and retired workers with potential employers. PrimeCB.com allows retirees and other experienced workers to search for part-time, full-time and contract positions from CareerBuilder.com’s database of over 1.6 million jobs. Users can also search by keyword, location, skills and job type and can sign up for job alerts that automatically e-mail positions based on search criteria.

“According to AARP, nearly one-in-three U.S. workers will be over 50 by the year 2012,” said Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder.com.
“While some mature workers are expressing an interest in postponing retirement, there’s still a large number of this critical segment of workers who will be leaving their current jobs in the next decade. The challenge now is to make sure we’re connecting those retirees who want to continue working with the employers who want to preserve the value of having these experienced and skilled workers at their companies.”

Tips for Mature Workers Looking to Postpone Retirement
Fifty-one percent of workers age 50 or older plan to retire after age 65, 16 percent will retire after age 70. Women were more likely to put off retirement than men. When asked why they are postponing retirement, these workers reported the following reasons:
* I can’t afford to retire financially (44 percent)
* I need the health insurance benefits (30 percent)
* I enjoy my job (23 percent)
* I fear retirement may be boring (17 percent)
* I enjoy where I work too much (13 percent)

Haefner recommends the following tips for mature workers who would like to stay in the workforce:
* Talk to your boss. Make him/her aware of how long you’d like to stay on with the company and in what capacity, clearly outlining the benefits for the organization.
* Tap into your personal network. Chances are you’ve made a lot of contacts throughout your career who may know of an opportunity for you.
* Stay up-to-date with the latest technology. You can brush up or learn new skills via your employer’s training program, the Internet, community centers, etc.
* Look to areas with high demand for full-time and part-time opportunities such as healthcare and customer service.
* Leverage the Internet to research job postings and apply online. Remember to pepper in relevant keywords from the job posting into your resume to increase your chances of getting noticed.

Tips for Employers Looking to Retain and Rehire Retirees
Three-in-ten employers (30 percent) are concerned about the loss of intellectual capital at their organization due to the large number of workers approaching retirement age. Their concerns are substantiated with 27 percent of workers age 50 or older stating they don’t have much opportunity to share their knowledge with younger workers before they leave.

When asked what employers could offer to make it more attractive for them to stay in the workforce, workers age 50 or older recommended:

* Flexible work schedules (38 percent)
* More control over one’s job or department (18 percent)
* Ability to mentor others (14 percent)
* Ability to pursue more of one’s ideas (14 percent)
* Ability to pursue other interests in the company, in addition to their current position (14 percent)

Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder.com among 3,156 hiring managers and human resource professionals (employed full-time; not self-employed; with at least significant involvement in hiring decisions); and 6,852 U.S. employees (employed full-time; not self-employed) ages 18 and over between November 13 and December 3, 2007, respectively. (Percentages for some questions are based on a subset of 2,787 US Employees 50 or older, based on their responses to certain questions). With a pure probability sample of 3,156 and 6,852, one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 2 percentage points and +/- 1.3 percentage points, respectively. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies. A full methodology is available upon request.