What Work Fits?
Work looks different after retirement. What will drive you to work might be more about social connections or having an impact than needing additional income.
The world of work presents many alternatives for retiring baby boomers. Some of the options might be new territory for you, so let's take a look at a few of them:
- Continuation: seeking identical or similar work, environment and employment terms
- New Terms: changing compensation terms through contract, part-time, and/or flexible-schedule work, perhaps with your current employer
- New Environment: changing industries, work cultures, size or type of organization, but continuing in a similar function
- New Work: significantly changing the nature of your work, perhaps using different skills or expertise
- Volunteerism: giving back or having an impact through meaningful work without compensation
- Sequencing: strategically moving from one option to another over time, building bridges to the next step while engaged in the current role
- Cycling: alternating work with leisure through project work, sabbaticals or the like
- New Venture: starting a franchise or consultancy, or buying or starting a new business
Exploring work options requires some brainstorming, networking and lots of research. Spend the time to work through the alternatives. Some steps you should take in this process include asking yourself these questions:
- What can I afford to do?
- What do I want to do?
- What fits for me?
- How do I find the possibilities?
- How do I determine the "best fit" option?
More specific help in exploring work options is available in What's Next In Your Life book. Also, a career and life coach may prove invaluable in your exploration. Certified coaches are available on this Web site.
Retiring boomers want to spend their retirement leveraging the knowledge, skills and experience they've acquired over the years. This generation wants to find meaning and have an impact on the larger world. Interestingly, respondents on the Merrill Lynch New Retirement Study who want a different line of work in retirement say they'd like to be a consultant or teach.
With the current shortage of teachers in the U.S., boomers can help to fill the gap. Consulting can provide significant income while allowing for a more flexible work life. If you're considering this option, you need to understand the importance of marketing and business development. Few consultants can simply hang out their shingle and expect work to flow in their door.
Many older workers will take advantage of the Internet. Business is booming on eBay, for instance. Other over-50s are finding employment as chat-room experts. Thousands of e-commerce businesses are being launched with virtually no employees but with global reach.
Your hobby might provide an avenue to paid employment as well. Consider the antique
collectors who open a thriving business during their "second half."
As you explore new work, take a careful inventory of your passions, dreams, interests, values, competencies and drivers to determine what work fits best for you. Spend time talking with those who know you best--relatives, friends and co-workers. Ask them questions about where they see you excelling.
Can you pursue new work overnight? Probably not. It takes time to prepare for any new employment. Determine the credentials necessary to enter a new field of work.
A David and Lucile Packard Foundation study, The New Face of Retirement, finds current and coming generations of older workers want to make service and volunteering a priority in their later years. These mature adults want to make a significant contribution both nationally and locally.
You might want to take a year off between retiring from your primary career and engaging in your retirement work. This transitional year off is affectionately known as the "boomerang year." Perhaps volunteerism, here or abroad, fits into your boomerang year plan.
Don't think of the plan for your "second half" as linear. Boomers will engage in sequencing and cycling. Sequencing allows you to move from one type of work to another (e.g., consulting to writing or lecturing) over time. One form of work prepares you for the next. In fact, you can build a bridge for the next work opportunity while you're still fully engaged in your present work.
Cycling is simply alternating work and leisure. In other words, you might accept a one-year teaching post, which will then be followed by a period of volunteer work, travel or other activities. You're cycling when you work intermittently as it fits with your plan. You might prefer to work for longer periods, and then take sabbaticals as a breather.