This 76-Year-Old Retired Engineer Launches Online Portal To Help Elderly People Find Jobs

On his 76th birthday last year, Ramesh Kumar Vij decided to give a unique gift to other senior citizens. Along with Kritarth Malhotra, he launched HUM Communities, an online community-based job platform dedicated to finding and creating job opportunities for elderly people.

¡°As an electrical engineer, I worked in various government departments and public sector companies, but once I retired in 2000, I found myself with a lot of time on my hands and began having negative thoughts,¡± he says.

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¡°I realised there are many seniors like me who are physically fit and can be gainfully employed for another decade or so but have nothing to do after retirement.¡±

In the one year since its launch, the social enterprise has extended its reach to other cities. There are now three HUM chapters in Delhi, one in Chennai, and one in Bengaluru. ¡°People can contact our community helpline and we add their profile and resume to our database. We also introduce them to the HUM ambassadors in each place, who then add them to the local WhatsApp group,¡± says Malhotra.

In Chennai, A Srinivasamoorthi, 56, is the ambassador. ¡°After 23 years of service with LIC, I retired in 2012. I then worked as senior manager in the non-banking financial sector but was not happy with my salary, and was looking for opportunities when I got to know about HUM,¡± he says, adding, ¡°Now, we have about 15 people, who have worked in top positions in various fields, in our group.¡±

Out of the 100 employers approached, over 25 have shared their requirements so far. ¡°They are looking for wealth advisors, writers, trainers, assessors, auditors, accountants and recruiters,¡± says Vij.

¡°Clients face a challenge in staffing certain roles, and have huge attrition, so they need stable people for certain roles. They also have surge months where they need extra people, for instance, audit firms at the end of the financial year,¡± says Malhotra.

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And there have been success stories. Delhi-based Mahabir Gulia, 67, retired in 2011 after 38 years as a banker. ¡°I then tried working in another firm and floating my own venture with other seniors but nothing worked out. I felt my skills were being wasted,¡± he says.

Recently, HUM helped him land a job as master consultant with Bajaj Capital Ltd and he is now happy. ¡°It gives me some flexibility as I don¡¯t have to be in office all the time. And sixty is no age to retire as many of us are mentally and physically fit,¡± he says.

HUM is also planning to launch other initiatives.

¡°In the next two months, we want to focus on community building, take seniors on holidays or to pilgrimage places, conduct yoga and pranayama classes and even see if we can tie up with pharma companies so that seniors can get medicines delivered to their doorstep at a concessional rate,¡± says Vij.