Increasing numbers of older workers make it even more important for recruiters to convince their clients of the benefits of employing them.

This was the message from panellists discussing diversity issues at an event, hosted by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), at Global Recruiter’s conference in London this week.

Sarah Gordon, associate director of Sammons Group and chair of REC’s diversity and inclusion forum, said when it comes to increasing diversity, including the employment of older workers, recruiters can add “a huge amount of value” because they have to take the time to get to know candidates, which are then recommended to clients after they been through an “objective” recruitment process.

She said: “There is a lot of unconscious bias out there so it is having that awareness and putting coping mechanisms in place to do our best to eliminate it as an industry. There is an appetite out there from clients. Obviously, there are some clients who are not aware they are discriminating. It is our role to educate as well.”

Catherine Finney, who is part of the fuller working lives team at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), pointed out that by 2020 a third of the UK workforce would be over 50. While older workers are less likely to be made redundant, if they do lose their job they are more likely to become long-term unemployed, explained Finney.

“There seems to be a barrier when it comes to getting [older] people back into work,” she said, “which seems counter intuitive when they have got all this experience and all these skills.”

An audience member pointed out that it could be difficult for recruiters to put older candidates forward in the construction sector because they were more expensive and clients wanted workers to “grow” with the company.

Gordon acknowledged that attitudes to older workers do vary from sector to sector.

Recruiters, she said, should give clients a “reality check” on how the modern workforce works and that jobs for life no longer exist.

Finney added: “I’m not saying older workers shouldn’t want career advancement but they are not necessarily in that same phase of their careers as a younger worker.”

Robert Livingston, a professor in organisational behaviour and director for the Centre for Leadership, Ethics and Diversity, said older workers are an important part of a diverse workforce and have a lot to contribute in terms of team dynamics.

Older workers, said Livingstone, can also draw out positive behaviours in younger workers and achieve return on investment for the employer because of their reliability and loyalty.