Getting greyer and older is now officially cool – a Travel Mole alliance!

OK, so the clock is ticking on us all as getting older is inevitable and there is nothing any of us can do!  

It is great though to see that a new organisation in Australia, GreyHair Alchemy has recognised the skills and expertise that older, highly qualified and experienced managers can bring to a wide range of industries and sectors. 

It always seemed crazy to The Mole that executives with the most experience are often overlooked for positions in favour of often drastically less experienced but younger candidates.  

Now before a barrage of emails arrives, let me say that I am not suggesting that employers should not look at or take on younger people, but neither should they automatically overlook older candidates, which I am afraid they and the recruitment agencies so very often do! 

We live in a country with one of the lowest unemployment rates in the world, yet Mal Walker, the 59 year old founder of GreyHair Alchemy says that his executives are tired of twenty-something recruitment agency professionals dismissing their job credentials. 

He added, “A bit of grey, a few lines and the give away date of birth, seem to generate that pretty immediate polite, but no thank you, response letter or email”.   

So what does is GreyHair doing to address this challenge for older potential employees and for employers missing out on these amazing skills? 

Walker told the Mole, “GreyHair provides elite general management, sales and marketing and other expertise to organisations for short and medium, term projects.” “GreyHair’s 140 “Compatriots”, the name given for the GreyHair team of highly qualified and experienced executives, provide interim managers in a range of sectors, including IT, manufacturing and financial services, with travel, tourism, leisure hospitality and associated sectors and skills now being added to the portfolio. 

“GreyHair is also today announcing an exciting alliance with TravelMole to provide senior experienced executives to the travel, tourism, hospitality and associated industries at large, mainly for interim roles, utilising the extensive, yet vastly underutilised skills of the industry’s senior executives, while also providing the industry’s companies with that ideal Interim Manager solution”. 

John Alwyn-Jones, Chairman and Co Editor of TravelMole said, “it has always amazed me that this amazing resource of older executives is often ignored by employers, quite frankly and simply because of their age – I believe that it is time many employers and recruitment agencies woke up to the fact that they are missing out in terms of the superlative skills, experience and knowledge these executive possess.”   

He added, “the great thing about these people is that they are most often not seeking permanent or full time roles, but will provide companies with an Interim Manager who can for example, either fill a senior management gap caused by a sudden departure until a permanent appointment is made or they often join a company to manage a crises, major challenge a specific project or strategic planning processes”. 

“GreyHair Compatriots are also a really great option for start-ups or companies experiencing very strong growth or change as they are flexible, can be acquired at very short notice and are not permanent!”   “They are also great for start-ups who desperately need help in sales and marketing, because very often a start up has great product, but they do not know how to market or sell it.” 

While the practise of employing Interim Mangers is relatively new to Australia, but growing quickly, it is a widely accepted and extremely popular practice in the UK, Europe and the USA. 

So, how can senior executives who are seeking a role and/or companies seeking a senior executive make a connection and get together?  

Companies and candidates should email John Alwyn-Jones on [email protected] to register and he will tell you how to take advantage of GreyHair.

Report by The Mole