Jivan–An Older Adult Employment Platform

Summary

In 2023, Jivan committed to launching a five-year project designed to provide comprehensive employment and job-search related skills training geared toward adults of all ages with the goal of creating multigenerational workforces and placing 100,000 individuals into jobs. The platform will enable individuals who are seeking part time or full time employment to upskill in core competencies required for particular jobs and ultimately to secure employment customized to their work needs and abilities.

Approach

Over a five-year period, Jivan will facilitate 100,000 job placements for adults of all ages through a manual and a scaled track. Learnings from the manual track will inform the scaled track.

Manual track: Outreach employers to hire folks directly onto their payroll or using Eclaro’s staffing firm infrastructure.

Scaled track: Build a scalable, user-friendly portal (website) that will train jobseekers for job-readiness and match them with jobs. Will recruit adults of all ages onto the portal through direct outreach (e.g. Community Centers, Older Adult Centers) , advertising, and social media. Details of the portal below:

Create an online learning platform to ensure job readiness and “credential” candidates ; the platform will teach basic skills such as the Google and Microsoft suite of products, AI basics, the proficient use of video chat, creation of a resume/linked in profile, and interview skills.

Credentialed candidates will list with their key skill sets/interests, leading to the creation of a profile (including resume) in the portal.

Employers will be prompted to post job listings on the portal, listing the key qualities needed for each job.

Credentialed candidates will get matched with 5-10 job listings; similarly, employers will be matched with 5-10 candidates per job listing.

Upon a match, employers can choose which model they prefer – direct placement or staffing firm.

The goal is to match all “credentialed” candidates with jobs.

Action Plan

7/1/2023 Commitment launch

10/1/2023 Place 3 adults across all ages through the manual track; Identify technology partner/employee to build robust portal (website) 1/1/2024 Define MVP specifications of the portal (initially a repository for resumes) ; Place 10 candidates

4/1/2024 Launch MVP and begin creating inventory of candidates; Identify initial teaching partners for online learning platform (e.g. specific instructors, Coursera, etc) ; Place 15 candidates

7/1/2024 Place initial online learning modules on portal with assessments; Begin using direct outreach to recruit candidates onto portal; Place 20 candidates

10/1/2024 Implement “credentialing” capability; add additional learning modules; Place 25 candidates

1/1/2025 Increase pace of direct outreach to recruit adults of all ages onto portal; place 25 candidates

4/1/2025 Implement capability for employers to post job listings/key qualities needed on the portal; place 25 candidates

7/1/25 Implement robust matching engine, matching adults of all ages with job-listings and vice versa; place 25 candidates

10/1/25 Implement capability for employers to schedule/conduct interviews, track candidates’ progress, and pick direct placement or staffing firm option when making hiring decision; place 25 candidates

1/1/26 Place 100 candidates; prepare for portal to go to market at scale by testing bugs, ensuring platform can handle thousands of placements, etc.

4/1/26 Place 1,000 candidates; go to market with portal by ramping up exposure to employers and jobseekers using advertising, social media, and direct outreach

Between 4/1/26 and 7/1/28 place 100,000 adults of all ages into employment

Background

In 2020, 76 million US residents (23% of the population) were 60+, of which 55 million were not employed.

Helping adults of all ages become job-ready and facilitating their entry into age-appropriate employment will have enormous positive impact on them, employers, and the overall economy. “It is estimated that building multigenerational workforces and giving older employees greater opportunities to work could raise GDP per capita by 19% over the next three decades…older workers can boost firm productivity not only through their own experience and know-how, but also by enhancing team performance via age and skill complementarities between younger and older workers.”

Many Older Adults need extra income; in 2021 the poverty rate for those 65 or older increased, while falling or remaining the same for younger age groups.3 In addition, older adults can face loneliness, a loss of purpose, and declining skills. Employment can help older adults feel productive, find purpose, build social connectedness, and stay sharp. “I interviewed a number of people between the ages of seventy and one hundred in order to better understand what contributes to life satisfaction. Every single one of them has continued working.”

1 Promoting an Age-Inclusive Workforce, OECD study published on December 16, 2020

2 https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2022/demo/p60-277.html

3 https://ideas.ted.com/what-is-the-ideal-age-to-retire-never-according-toa-neuroscientist/ utm_source=linkedin.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social& utm_content=2022-02-08

Progress Update

In the first phase (the manual phase before we scale) , Jivan has made a slight adjustment to their strategy. They are now focused on persuading enterprise clients (mid-to-large sized employers) to create multigenerational workforces in a programmatic, intentional manner. Jivan made this adjustment for two reasons: 1) Having a large employer intentionally create a multigenerational workforce will signal the value of this approach to other employers; 2) Enterprise clients have more roles to fill, making it easier to reach their 100,000 goal.

Consistent with their strategy shift, Jivan won a mandate with a global bank to intentionally hire adults of all ages in the bank’s contact centers which serve their credit card and consumer banking customers.

Partnership Opportunities

Warm introductions to teaching partners who will make their programs available for free or very low cost.

Warm introductions to employers., The platform will offer participants in the federal SCSEP program and beyond comprehensive job-readiness training and job placement opportunities, at no cost to them. SCSEP is a government program serving as a bridge to employment for low income, unemployed older adults ((https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/seniors)