Retirement Investing - Retirement Jobs - Your Skills Are Still Needed - Part 2

Papabear — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 05:07:26 +0000

Yesterday we talked about getting a job after you retire, whether it’s because you want to keep active or because you could use some extra money. Today we’ll look at a couple of resources.

One place you can start looking is at your old employer. Where I work, some of white-collar folks retire and register with the local temporary labor company. Yes, this company does provide warehouse workers and day laborers, but they have developed a very close working relationship with the large company where I work. Our company goes to them for skilled white-collar professionals to help out when we have the need.

It’s not unusual for someone to retire one week from our company and be back the next week as a “Kelly Boy” in the same department. Now of course our company’s rules prevent us from using these temporary employees to replace a permanent employee. Instead they are used in true temporary assignments of one to three months. This is fine with us, since these short-time assignments don’t threaten the full-timers, and it helps us out during crunch times.

If your pre-retirement employer is not a possibility for this, that doesn’t mean you don’t have skills that businesses will pay for. Or that your years of experience won’t be invaluable to them. However, retirees often can’t recognize those skills or be able to articulate them either on a resume or in an interview. Nor do they always know how to prepare themselves for that old bugaboo “we’re afraid you’re overqualified” and be able to handle it effortlessly in the job interview or earlier in their cover letter.

Fortunately there are many resources available to retirees looking for employment.  One resource is your state Department of Aging. The folks there can provide you with a list of services and contact information for appropriate employment resources in your area. If you are looking for work because you are a low-income retiree, there are additional resources available to you.

Another free government resource is your local One-Stop Workforce Center or whatever it’s called in your state. They can provide you with assistance in your job search.

Don’t overlook a temp agency, even if you don’t have the situation we have with my current employer. You may have discounted temp agencies in the past because you needed a full-time job, but not only do temp jobs often lead to permanent offers, but there’s nothing wrong with temp positions being your part time job.  Perhaps even more important, temp agencies (as well as One-Stop Workforce Centers) can work with you on updating your resume to reflect your strengths (not your age), help you practice your interview skills, and work on all those other intangibles that can make or break your retirement job search.

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