About illume hire
In March 2020, we had a bold vision for illume hire. Match companies that are intentional about hiring older candidates with qualified job seekers. Simple right? Turns out, age + career is complicated. Older candidates often feel shame about their age. On the employer side, there are deep stereotypes about a person's ability based on chronological age.
We thought about our friends who are wicked smart and eager to work but struggling to land a job with benefits. Some would reach out crying and wondering what they could do differently. With the looming retirement crisis, rising healthcare costs and age bias at the hiring level still going strong, we wondered how we could help older professionals during a pandemic.
We interviewed job candidates and researched possible solutions and spoke with experts in the longevity space to help us understand the needs and trends in the future of work. If you're curious and ready to learn about new tools and opportunities, we're looking forward to hearing from you.
Our Team
Emily Clay
CEO and Co-founder
Emily has worked for ad agencies, two media tech startups and several media companies including U.S. News & World Report and Ziff-Davis. She drives branding, content strategy, events, partnerships & business development.
In addition to her work with illume hire, Emily was part of the founding leadership team at Age Equity Alliance, a non-profit focused on age diversity in the workplace.
Nick Burling
COO and Co-founder
Nick is a serial entrepreneur with deep product and operational experience built through leadership roles across multiple Fortune 500 companies and startups, including a successful exit to Microsoft for BlueStripe Software where Nick was the VP of Product. Nick drives operations for illume hire, including building out the company’s product strategy and tech stack.
Ken Marshall
Strategic Advisor and Acting CMO
Ken Marshall is the CGO and Managing Partner at RevenueZen. Ken is an advisor for illume hire working on SEO and targeted content marketing. His agency has developed systems that turn business websites from an afterthought, into a powerful tool that generates new sales and inquiries. His team has built up their superpowers around Google approved SEO and paid ads, targeted content marketing, stellar copywriting that converts, and powerful social selling methodologies. Ken loves learning about and growing businesses, creating useful and engaging articles, and drinking black coffee.