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Not the usual suspects
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June 28, 2000: 6:08 a.m. ET
Improve your chances of hiring success by considering disabled, elderly, youth
By Staff Writer Steve Bills
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LAS VEGAS (CNNfn) - So you're stuck, seeking employees for positions that you just can't fill? Maybe you should cast a wider net.
Your hiring problem is certainly common. With an unemployment rate of 4.1 percent, the labor market remains exceedingly tight. In May, according to a monthly survey by the National Federation of Independent Business, fully 34 percent of small-business owners reported having difficult-to-fill positions, matching the record set a month earlier.
No wonder, then, that the hiring and retention seminars held at the annual conference of the Society for Human Resource Management filled the meeting rooms. And some of the speakers offered ideas on how to solve the problem.
The bad news is, it won't be easy. All the easy hires already have been made. But if you are willing to look beyond the usual labor pool, you may be surprised at the workers you can find.
Here are three suggestions:
Hire the handicapped. Goodwill Industries is "trying to become preferred providers to those employers, large and small, that need a more customized approach to their employment," said Fred Grandy, head of the nationwide network of local agencies.
Goodwill and similar organizations work hard to prepare their clients for the work force, regardless of their physical or mental disabilities. And the agency provides ongoing support to keep these employees competitive, including educational services such as computer literacy and English as a second language.
"Seventy-five percent of all our services now at Goodwill are retention programs," Grandy said.
Hire an oldster. The idea of retirement at age 65 dates back to Otto Von Bismarck in the 1880s, when the average life expectancy was 45, said gerontologist Ken Dychtwald, author of "Age Power: How the 21st Century Will be Ruled by the New Old."
But in a world where the average age of the Rolling Stones is 57, employers need to rethink their attitudes about older workers, Dychtwald said, addressing the question: "What are 60-year-olds thinking about for their next careers?"
 Today, when the average age of retirement is 61 and the life expectancy is 76, more older people are deciding they want work more than leisure, a trend Dychtwald called "rehirement." But these job seekers face obstacles in the form of a "silver ceiling" -- a reluctance by employers to take a chance.
Such attitudes need to change, he said: "At the end of the day, we're going to have 20-year-olds, 40-year-olds, 60-year-olds, even 80-year-olds, each bringing to the workplace what they think and what they feel."
Hire a kid. Today's youth, the 16-to-24-year-olds who are the new entrants to the labor market, are not like older workers. For one thing, "they've been lied to, scammed, conned and cheated," said Eric Chester, author and consultant.
This group, which Chester called "Generation Why," has been desensitized by violence in video games, on TV and in high school, they're skeptical about anything you tell them, and they are stimulus junkies. But they think fast, adapt easily, rebound quickly from defeat, and can be astoundingly creative, he said.
To employ them successfully, you must be willing to drop policies based on arbitrary rules, such as allowing them to wear shorts only between Memorial Day and Labor Day. When it comes to the core values of your company, however, Chester said, "dig your posts deep" and resist their attempts to find shortcuts.
Incorporate fun as a core value, Chester said, and give them a chance to be a star. And, he added, always tell the truth and be an example to them. 
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