Fourth of July Celebration at Scottsdale Job Network

Scottsdale Job Network Meeting

Scottsdale Jobs Network

Robert Van Arlen

Join us on Tuesday July 1, 2008 to hear Motivational Speaker Robert Van Arlen and to celebrate the Fourth of July holiday. Robert Van Arlen is an expert in transforming organizational culture through a process called "Focused Synergy." Born in Honolulu, the former Fortune 500 executive built a reputation during his 15 year career of changing the culture of his teams from whiners to winners.

Roberts distinction is his ability to use the power of music to ignite his audience in an experiential learning environment that becomes a significant element of personal growth.

At this meeting, SJN is celebrating the Fourth of July! Participants are encouraged to wear shorts, patriotic colors or Hawaiian shirts and stay after the meeting for a lunch of hot dogs, etc. No cost, donations appreciated.

Thank you,
Bill Austin

Attend our regular meetings to learn more about the Job Search Process and about Phoenix Jobs

Meetings are held on the first and third Tuesday mornings:

9-9:30 Networking, resume reviews, contact with recruiters

9:30 Welcome, announcements, introductions

10:00 Speaker begins

11:15 Speaker ends, feedback collected

Networking continues until 11:30

We meet at and use space provided by Temple Chai, 4645 East Marilyn Road, Phoenix, AZ 85032-4839. Temple Chai is located just east of the Piestawa Freeway (Route 51) and South & West of the loop 101 (PIMA FREEWAY SECTION). Marilyn Road is on the west side of Tatum Blvd. between Thunderbird and Greenway Roads

Scottsdale Job Network (SJN) is a non-profit community group of business leaders and volunteers. We are not a job placement forum, and we do not match candidates to openings nor do we send resumes to employers or recruiters. There is no guarantee of employment either directly through this group or as a result of association with SJN. We do, however, provide education in the job search process and all attendees have the opportunity to meet and work with people who offer support and guidance during employment transition.

The value of SJN lies in the skills, business networks and personal passions of our members. Membership is open to everyone willing to share their skills and anyone interested in local networking or in need of employment transition support.

Email: | Scottsdale Job Network | Voice Mail: Phone: (480) 513-1491

Scottsdale Job Network



Dan Powell
Audrey Goldman

Boomers: A Treasure Chest Of Knowledge

A recent article published at SHRM by Jean M. Phillips, Mary Pomerantz and Stanley M. Gully points out the quandary that most companies face with taming the exiting of Baby Boomers from the workforce, and transferring critical knowledge to those who remain behind.

By 2020, 16 percent of the U.S. population will be age 65 and over, up from 12 percent in 1999. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 50 percent of federal employees and 70 percent of federal senior managers will be eligible to retire by 2010.

Yet leaders of many organizations ignore aging workforce issues despite the potential problems they see coming, and some damage seems likely to occur before the issues receive appropriate attention. Several challenges exist for employers:
1. Organizations can expect to have expert knowledge disappear as highly experienced and skilled workers retire.
2. Organizations will find it difficult to maintain head count in key positions requiring experienced, high-quality talent held by many existing Boomers.

Encouraging Knowledge Transfer

When a key employee leaves, expert knowledge leaves as well. This challenge grows even more difficult for companies facing a surge in retirements. It can take years to transfer critical knowledge--developed through years of job performance-- from experienced workers to their replacements.

According to Dorothy Leonard and Walter C. Swap's book Deep Smarts: How to Cultivate and Transfer Enduring Business Wisdom (Harvard Business School Press, 2005), it can take up to 10 years to develop the kind of "deep smarts" that these highly experienced workers will take with them. In the meantime, losing critical knowledge can hurt the competitiveness of most businesses.

Expertise vs Leadership and Technical Competencies

Traditional ways of transferring expertise-- including formal training, on-the-job learning, observation, work progressions and structured assignments--are not sufficient for transferring leadership and technical competencies. Instead, this process often requires mentoring and one-on-one interaction.

To address the challenge of transferring leadership and technical competencies, business leaders should focus on identifying the knowledge, skills and relationships essential to senior workers' job performance. This information may include company history, values and work processes as well as relationships with key stakeholders and decision-making criteria.

Why do I need to Attract, Hire and Retain Baby-Boomers?

So what’s all this talk about the need to attract, hire and retain Baby Boomers in the workforce? If I’m an employer, why do I need to be concerned with recruiting and retaining “mature workers”? First of all, I dislike that term “mature workers”. I know plenty of workers who are in their twenties and thirties and forties who are mature- and plenty who will never be mature even if they live to be 101!

The workers we’re talking about are those individuals who have a history of work and life experience which gives them a true advantage in the workplace. Employers first of all need to be aware of the demographics. 78 million baby-boomers born between 1946 and 1964; these workers cannot be replaced by the younger generations that have followed them. In total the Generation X and Y’s comprise only about 51million workers- a 20 million shortage. These are of course estimated figures but the magnitude of the gap is undeniable. Employers MUST attract, hire and retain baby-boomers. How do you do that?

1. Understand the differences between the Generations to know what Baby-Boomers want in their working environment.
2. Create a simplified “executive summary” of the types of working environments and job structures that baby-boomers prefer from their employers; this summary is for your company’s senior management.
3. Make a case for bottom-line savings to the company through HR metrics like: reduction of turnover, reduction of cost-per hire, increased sales to those of the baby-boomer generation; everyone knows that sales are more easily made by those who have a commonality to their customers.
4. Train your HR staff and your senior management in the advantages of a Multi-Generational Workforce.

Okay, this is high-level, I know, but it will get you started down the path of becoming a Boomer Friendly Employer! Stay tuned for more blogging on this topic.