Good accountants never go to seed
28/11/2006
By Jayne Warren
At 52, Accountant Martin Lloyd-Penny had an experience common to many mature people: finding himself on the employment "scrap heap".
A lifetime of experience and expertise was sacrificed on the "altar of age", leaving him demoralised, cynical and under terrible financial pressure. But less than two years later Martin had started his own business and scooped the SAGA 106.6fm Business Achievement Award for people over 50.
Martin is a remarkable example of how one man's determination to overcome age discrimination has been hugely successful - not just for himself, but for many others. In his acceptance speech for the award, he was proud to relate that in one week alone he had found jobs for three candidates with a combined age of 162!
His business, www.matureaccountants.com, is restarting many other people's lives as well as his own.
"First of all, I prefer to use the word 'experienced' rather than mature or older. Because it is precisely 'experience' that so many employers want from employees - especially now the age discrimination laws have changed.
Knifed in the back
"The turning point for me came when suddenly, without warning, I was knifed in the back at work. No longer flavour of the month. I was 52, married with children, a mortage - all the usual financial commitments. I didn't want to retire, let alone the fact that I couldn't retire! I'd qualified in 1978, been a Partner with a top six firm and a held number of positions in industry at Financial Director and Managing Director level.
"Years of experience in my back pocket. I thought it wouldn't be a problem finding another good job. How wrong can you be?
"I began looking and applying. Nine months later I was still looking. It was so demeaning being interviewed by 25 year olds in recruitment agencies. Telling them about all my years of experience was like talking to a brick wall. To them, I was an old geezer - at 52!
"And the kind of salary I had been used to was impossible. They could take newly qualified accountants for a fraction of the price. I became more and more cynical and demoralised about the whole recruitment process. Eventually I got to the stage where I said I'd do anything. I desperately needed to get out of the house, pay my mortage, and the financial pressure was really worrying.
By August 2005, says Martin, he felt he could not go any lower, when a chink of light appeared.
"For years I had received the magazine called 'Accountancy Age', but never read one, not even opened one! But one day that August, I did. I flicked through and saw an article called 'When accountants go to seed'. It asked why, despite the shortage of accountants, members were resigning because they couldn't find work. It asked the Government to vote with its feet on age discrimination, especially with vanishing pensions and people expected to work until 68 or 70 in the not too distant future.
Long-suffering
"I woke up the next morning with an idea. (My long-suffering wife said 'not another one!'). It was: why not create a website for mature accountants? I registered the address, a great web-designer friend helped, and by 4pm it was up and running. I wrote to the magazine about the mature accountants' situation, they published my letter, and hey presto! I had 60 emails from people feeling disenfranchised. They'd all had the same experiences as me.
"I wrote some more letters, and well, it all took off. I now work 50 hours a week, have 400 registered jobs, and am actively looking for new Regional Directors to expand what we are doing."
Matureaccountants.com, says Martin is very simple: an experienced person can register, providing a CV with all the usual details. "I will check them out, or advise on how to improve a CV, maybe even offer a bit of job counselling to help them. Employers then register jobs with me, and I match them up. I'm like a dating agency. And it's not just for accountants anymore either.
"The thing I've leaned from all this is just how many companies really want experienced people, ones with a breadth of knowledge that can only come with maturity - especially in the commercial sector. For small businesses, where each employee has a greater role to play, the experienced worker adds even greater value: they are more likely to stay the course, not chase promotions, won't go out clubbing, and aren't green around the gills.
"The only criteria that we apply are to match the skills and capabilities (plus energy and enthusiasm) of our candidates with the roles that we are recruiting for. For example, we are regularly asked to find someone who is commercial and has a good business grounding, can hit the ground running and who doesn't need training or supervision. And a key benefit of our candidates is that they can work full time, part time, flexi-time, or on a contract or interim basis."
So far the company has been featured on various TV and Radio programmes, magazines and newspapers, and Martin is looking to expand and reach more people, both employers and employees. He has recently opened a London office headed up by a lady called Sara Longmuir and the pace of change over the last three months has been dramatic.
Adds Martin: "Frankly, its a win/win situation for both employer and employee. Just this week I've placed someone as a Finance Director for a £20 million company. They contacted me because they needed someone with experience. It's a £75,000 a year position. Good eh?"
There's obviously no accounting for age!