When David Ber found himself looking for the experience, skills and contacts he needed to help expand his rewards marketing and fulfillment business, he realized those qualities were most likely to come from older people.

Ber's Toronto-based company, HQV Inc., sources and distributes merchandise for the loyalty rewards industry in Canada. It obtains brands for customer rewards programs and arranges shipment to the homes of his clients' customers.

But when he decided to expand his business into providing travel rewards-something new to Canada-he also ran into the challenge of finding the type of people he needed to develop that market. He posted position on regular jobs boards, but was attracting inexperienced people who seemed simply desperate to find any job. And that's not what he needed.

When he mentioned his recruitment problem to his associates in the U.S. he was advised to look for people over age 50, empty-nesters who had business experience and were looking for new challenges. As it happens, that's when he turned to Prime50's website to post the openings, knowing it was a sure way of targeting age group.

"You know you're going to get someone who's experienced, who's not worried about the intricacies of just getting a job for that first or second time," Ber says. "I immediately got six or seven responses and out of several candidates, I'd say I got five good ones.'
The job arrangement HQV offers involves people working as their own employer and contracting out their marketing skills to his company on a fee-for-service basis.
"For what we were offering, they were excited because it fits the mindset of a person over 50," he explains. "They know the stress and pressures of a small business and then can accommodate themselves that way, as opposed to someone young who has to be taught how to do things."

Ber who at 44 realizes he's on the cusp of the baby boom appreciates the loyalty and commitment he can expect from his older employees. The corporations that don't, he says, are the foolish ones, "because they're getting these people who aren't going to stay with them they'll try to get a better job and take their skills with them." Ber will continue to look for new people across Canada with the kind of entrepreneurial flair that can bring value to his new venture. "What I liked about the Prime50 individuals is they've been in business for 20, 30 or 40 years. They have done so much networking and that alone can make them a huge amount of money. They can call their friends and contacts…that to me is the ticket to hire them."