Older employees in demand with recruiters

Mature employees may find they are all the rage with headhunters as many scramble to get acquainted with the cream of the older crop before age discrimination laws kick in this October.

'Employers in the City and elsewhere will now have to recruit fairly,' Janet Lakhani, chief executive of the think-tank C2E, tells the Observer. 'Employers were previously specifying age, sex and other details in their job adverts. This is no longer an option.'

The report says a number of financial services headhunters are among those who have signed up to a new code of conduct requiring them to place older workers, ethnic minorities and disabled applicants. Lakhani says 'If you're an older worker or from a minority and you have all the right qualifications, recruitment agencies now have an obligation to put your name forward for a job.'

The code has been adopted by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), the professional body that regulates recruitment agencies.

Government measures against age discrimination could herald a new wave of litigation and may lead to a big shake-up in the Square Mile, where banks and brokerages have tended to recruit younger workers.