The Matchmaker between Employers and Older Job Seekers: Employment Specialists’ Service Experiences in Taiwan

Abstract

Employment specialists play a key role in promoting the utilization of older workers’ human resources. In this study, the researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 employment specialists to illustrate their experiences in matching employers for older job seekers. The results showed the following: (1) employment specialists enhance professional competencies by constantly learning and accumulating experiences; (2) employment specialists should possess a willingness to serve, empathy, communication skills, stress tolerance, and a desire to work in the labor market; (3) employment specialists adopted the strategies in assisting older job seekers in securing employment include understanding their demands and motivations for seeking employment, providing training and emotional support, and keeping track of them after their employment; (4) employment specialists utilized four strategies to increase employer’s willingness to employ older workers. The results can serve as a reference for the government to develop measures to enhance the professional competencies of employment specialists in serving older job seekers. Future research is suggested to use this study as a blueprint and conduct a questionnaire survey on employment specialists in the country to understand the outcomes of services provided to older job seekers and propose suggestions for policy revision and formulating training programs for employment specialists.