DAYS INNS OF AMERICA, INC. SENIOR POWER NATIONAL OLDER WORKER JOB FAIR
Opportunity:
In response to the burgeoning labor shortage in the service industry, Days Inns of America started hiring older workers. The benefits of utilizing this dedicated labor pool were immediate in decreased turnover and absenteeism and increased productivity. Thrilled with the results, the company decided to educate other businesses about older workers by creating Senior Power, its national older worker job fair. As the Senior Power Coordinator (and Days Inns Community Relations Manager), Shira Miller was responsible for planning the annual event and promoting the company's image from 1990 - 1992.
Solution:
We created a comprehensive planning packet that provided participating Days Inns hotels with all of the materials they needed to plan their local job fairs, which all were held across the country on the same day. By networking with groups such as the American Association of Retired Persons and the Commonwealth Fund, we built strong community support for the event. During the height of its success, Senior Power brought over 12,000 older job applicants together with more than 1,200 employers across the country. Our intensive media relations effort yielded over $1 million dollars worth of positive publicity for Days Inns with national, regional and local broadcast and press outlets for two years in a row. At the time, Days Inns also received numerous awards recognizing its innovative hiring practices and senior executives were even asked to deliver senate and congressional testimony in support of older workers.
"Senior Power helped our company carve out a unique niche with the highly desirable older traveler market segment. Shira Miller built the special event into one of the cornerstones of our communications effort as hundreds of positive stories appeared in major broadcast and print media outlets nationwide."
- Carol Bivins
Former Vice President of Public Relations
Days Inns of America, Inc.
