Scottish Equitable, a Dutch-owned, Edinburgh-based pension and life assurance company, is actively encouraging the over-40s to apply for 100 new customer services posts.
The company already employs 3,000 staff at its Edinburgh headquarters but decided, prior to the recent Government report, Winning the Generation Game, to target older employees as part of its recruitment policy.
Group public relations manager Scott White said, “The specific targeting of over 40-year-olds is designed to add a further blend of experienced, mature, and appropriately qualified people into the organisation.
“In the recent past we have successfully integrated large numbers of older employees into our workforce. Without doubt this has been of mutual benefit – the dynamism of the young added to the experience and maturity of the older generation is a proven winning combination.
“People are often deterred from applying for positions they are more than suited for because they may make a presumption the jobs are destined for younger people.”
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The decision to target older employees comes against a backdrop of high demand for staff from the financial sector in Edinburgh.
Companies are offering inflated wages, extra training and a range of incentives to draw employees to jobs as demand grows stronger. For example, the new Halifax Internet bank, Intelligent Finance, has just created 1,200 new jobs in the city, and Scottish Equitable itself has created over 1,000 new posts over the past two years.
