Attracting Older Adults, People With Disabilities, and Formerly Incarcerated Individuals

Three overlooked talent pools share more in common than most recruiters realize: older workers, people with disabilities, and formerly incarcerated individuals all face outdated assumptions that keep qualified candidates out of the pipeline, even though data shows each group tends to outperform on loyalty and retention.

The conversation lays out the numbers first. Within a few years, more than half the workforce will be 65 or older. About one in five Americans identifies as having a disability, a figure that rises to roughly one in two among people over 65. And one in three Americans has a criminal record, roughly the same share who hold a college degree.

Common myths get addressed directly:

• Older candidates are assumed to be tech-illiterate, rigid, or overpriced, often because hiring managers project their feelings about their own parents onto them.
• People with disabilities are wrongly seen as liability risks or unreliable, when research shows they tend to be significantly more loyal employees than average.
• Formerly incarcerated candidates are stereotyped based on a mental image of "what a criminal looks like," despite a documented higher retention rate among this group compared to typical hires.

Practical fixes get specific attention. Recruiting portals should be tested for accessibility with screen readers and other assistive technology, since a site built for one type of disability tends to work better for everyone. Job requirements like a driver's license should be checked against whether the role actually requires driving. Ban the Box policies, second-chance employer listings on LinkedIn, and job boards built for people with records are named as concrete ways to reach formerly incarcerated candidates. Graduation dates and long service history should not disqualify older applicants from even getting their resume uploaded.

Interview questions get called out too: asking about retirement plans, elder care, or what someone was convicted of are all off-limits or in poor taste. Better alternatives focus on what a candidate learned, how they grew, and what support would help them succeed, the same questions any hiring manager would ask a candidate returning from a career gap.

Being inclusive means being inclusive of everybody. That doesn't mean just inviting them to the party, that means also asking them to dance.