LinkedIn, on the other hand, has been a terrific mechanism for recruiting and one he recommends.
“It’s a social connector. It connects people professionally. And it allows you to list what your skills are, what your talents are, etc.,” Baumstein says. “As a recruiter, depending on the skill sets that you’re looking for, you can go into LinkedIn and identify a group of people and request to get linked to them.”
Although Twitter may be helpful to some companies, Baumstein says he’s not sure if it’s right for recruitment. It’s certainly not as comprehensive and beneficial as LinkedIn.
Tap into experience
There’s a philosophy that employees will become stagnate over time if relegated to the same role for too long. Baumstein says that can be a danger, but it’s not a reason to bypass candidates with valuable experience.
“I’m a firm believer that as you get older, you gain experience,” he says. “The challenge on the other end is that if you only learn one way, you lack flexibility. And that’s a challenge for employers to capitalize on the experience without getting somebody too rigid so that there’s not new creativity.”
Baumstein says that those involved in the staffing business have found that 90 percent of people who leave a company they were with for 20 or 25 years last about a year in their next position.
“So there is an adaptation that needs to take place once you come out of a long-term situation where you’re comfortable doing what you’re doing,” he says.
In addition to the challenge of ensuring that experienced candidates can be flexible, entrepreneurs are often younger and must convince older professionals to get behind their vision.
“Why are people 20, 25 years your senior willing to get behind you and realize the vision that you’re painting and pointing out? The one bit of advice I would give you is to be comfortable with what your role is in the company. You’re the visionary. You inspire. You create a direction,” Baumstein says.
If people can see what you’re doing and know where the company is headed, they will not care if the leader is younger or older, he says.
“What they care about is that you’re trustworthy, that you have integrity, that you have clarity of vision. And if you have all of those things in place people will follow you, and age will not make a difference,” Baumstein says.
