Let's get one thing straight: This company has a somewhat misleading name. A better name for Hire Retirees would be Hire Baby Boomers, since the company focuses on 50-plus Minnesotans who want to work — whether full-time, part time or temporarily.

Founded by AAA Labor, a stalwart of the local staffing industry, Hire Retirees is the first local business to target older workers and those who want to hire them. "Maturity is a good thing for a lot of companies," said Sandy McClintock, business development director for Hire Retirees. "There is still age discrimination out there. But some companies like the idea of hiring people who are mature, stable and don't have a lot standing in the way of them going to work every day."

Hire Retirees is "a pretty traditional staffing service" in every other way, said McClintock. Though the business is fresh and new (launched in 2012) McClintock and her associates have nonetheless opted to connect employers and job seekers the old-fashioned way, with in-person interviews and pen-and-paper skills assessments.

Lindell Burell, a "50-plus" quasi-retiree from Cottage Grove, recently stopped by HireRetirees.com to upload her resume. "I'm looking for part-time, full-time — whatever comes out of it," she said. A few days later she phoned the company's Bloomington offices to follow-up. "They called me back the same day," remembered Burell, clearly impressed. A couple days later she was placed with a temporary filing gig at First American Title. "It was definitely a simple assignment," Burell confessed, "but I was happy to get it."

That's not to say Hire Retirees specializes in clerical work. "We represent a range of experience — from file clerks to CEOs and controllers," boasted McClintock. "For example, I have a highly skilled operations manager who's interviewing with a manufacturer in the Twin Cities." McClintock said her client was expecting an offer from that manufacturer any day, though she also expected a caveat. "They will probably do temp-to-hire for this individual," explained McClintock, who went on to blame the shaky economy for all her temporary postings. "[Companies] like the idea of trying someone out before they hire them."

Christy DeSmith • 612-673-1754