Hiring guideRead at source, 29 September 2026

How to Recruit Older Workers: Where to Find Them, What to Say, and What the Law Allows

To recruit older workers, offer the schedules many want (part-time, fixed shifts, seasonal), say so in the first line of the ad, and recruit through your own retirees and alumni, community and senior employment programs such as SCSEP, and social ads with imagery that shows a range of ages. Keep the application short, with a phone option. Under the ADEA, ads cannot state an age preference, and Meta's employment ad rules do not allow age targeting at all.

Why recruit older workers now

BLS projects labor force participation to rise over the next decade in every older age group it reports separately:

Overall participation is projected to fall, while participation within each older age group rises. For a frontline employer, that means the person who will cover your Saturday shift, drive your local route or greet your residents is increasingly likely to be in their 60s. Many older job seekers are looking for something specific: fewer hours, predictable shifts, work close to home, or a role that uses what they already know. Those are often the shifts that are hardest to fill with anyone else.

What the law allows when you recruit older workers

You can, and should, recruit older workers actively. What you cannot do is express an age preference, for or against anyone protected. The rules:

• The ADEA protects people 40 and older from age discrimination and covers employers with 20 or more employees (EEOC). Many states have their own age discrimination laws, and some cover smaller employers; requirements vary by state.
• Job ads cannot state age preferences. The EEOC says the ADEA generally makes it unlawful to include age preferences, limitations or specifications in job notices or ads, except in rare cases where age is a bona fide occupational qualification. Its example of a problem ad is one seeking "recent college graduates", which may discourage people over 40 from applying.
• Be careful asking for age. The ADEA does not explicitly ban asking an applicant's age or date of birth, but the EEOC says such requests "will be closely scrutinized" to make sure they were made for a lawful purpose. Leave date of birth and graduation years off the application unless you have a lawful reason.
• Meta does not allow age targeting for job ads. Facebook and Instagram employment ads run in Meta's Special Ad Category, which removes targeting by age, gender and ZIP code and requires a radius of at least 15 miles. You reach older workers through what the ad says and shows, not through who it is aimed at.

Wording to avoid in ads for any role: "recent graduates", "young and energetic", "digital native", "early-career only", or a maximum years-of-experience cap that is really an age proxy. Wording that attracts older applicants without excluding anyone: "part-time and flexible schedules available", "experience welcome", "paid training on our systems".

Where to find older workers

Your own retirees and alumni

The fastest source is people who already know the work. Keep a list of retirees and good former employees, and ask them directly about part-time, seasonal or on-call shifts. A retired shift lead who covers two days a week is often more valuable than a new full-time hire.

The Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP)

SCSEP is a Department of Labor community service and work-based training program for low-income, unemployed people aged 55 and older, with family income of no more than 125% of the federal poverty level. Participants gain work experience in community service roles at nonprofit and public facilities (schools, hospitals, day-care centers, senior centers), typically about 20 hours a week. Grantees include state agencies and 19 national nonprofits. If you run a nonprofit or public facility, ask your local program about hosting participants; any employer can ask the program about participants looking for their next job. The DOL page points employers to CareerOneStop's Older Worker Program Finder and the toll-free line 1-877-US2-JOBS (1-877-872-5627).

Community connections

Senior centers, libraries, community colleges' continuing-education programs, faith communities and veterans' organizations are all places older job seekers already go. A flyer with the pay and schedule, or a short hiring event on site, costs little.

Social ads

Because employment ads cannot be targeted by age, the creative does the work: show real employees of a range of ages, lead with the schedule, and keep the text plain. Our passive candidate recruiting page explains why social ads reach people who are not scanning job boards, which includes many people who are semi-retired and not "job searching" at all.

One practical test before an ad goes live: read it as a 62-year-old with thirty years of experience would. If the photo shows only one generation, the copy leans on slang, or the first line is about "fast-paced energy" rather than the schedule and pay, rewrite it. Nothing in that test excludes younger applicants; it simply stops the ad from quietly telling experienced people it was not written for them.

What the job ad must say to older candidates

• The schedule, first. Part-time, fixed days, seasonal, or flexible start times. This is the detail most likely to decide an application.
• Pay as a number. An hourly rate, and whether part-time roles earn the same rate.
• The physical demands, honestly. Lifting, standing, driving time. Being precise helps every applicant decide.
• Training provided. Especially on scheduling apps, handhelds or point-of-sale systems.
• Benefits that apply to part-time staff, if any, stated plainly.

Make the application easy to finish

A mobile form with a handful of questions works for every age group. In Boostpoint's 2026 benchmark, the apply experience explained 70% of the variation in cost per applicant between campaigns, and campaigns where fewer than 5% of clickers finished the form paid $53.77 per applicant. Specific changes that help older applicants in particular:

• No required resume upload. Many experienced people do not have a current resume and will not write one for a part-time job.
• Large, simple questions: availability by day, the knockout requirement if there is one, and contact details.
• A phone number to call instead, printed on the ad.
• No date of birth or graduation year.

Then follow up the same day, by phone as well as text. Our guide to following up with applicants covers the timeline.

Best ways to recruit older workers by role

These are examples, not rules. Any role can be filled by a worker of any age; the point is to design schedules that widen the pool.

Keeping older workers once they're hired

Retention comes down to the promises in the ad being kept. If you advertised three days a week, do not drift it to five. Offer phased retirement to your own long-tenured staff before they leave entirely. Pair experienced new hires with a peer for the first weeks on any new systems. And treat part-time staff as part of the team in scheduling, recognition and training, because they notice when they are not. For what happens in the first weeks, see the first 90 days.

Frequently asked questions

Sources: EEOC, Age Discrimination; EEOC, Facts About Age Discrimination; EEOC, Prohibited Employment Policies/Practices; U.S. Department of Labor, Senior Community Service Employment Program; BLS Employment Projections, Table 3.3; Boostpoint 2026 Social Job Advertising Benchmark. Read at source 29 September 2026.