When CareerBuilder.com launched the PrimeCB Web site for experienced employees, I was intrigued with all the questions that arose about work: What about work after retirement, part-time work, shared work, work as play, work at home, second careers, starting over, returning to school? Experienced employees bring a different perspective than the right-out-of-college-bright-and-eager employee. We bring wisdom as well as curiosity, responsibility as well as a bit of anxiety and while we are not inflexible, we bring a strong sense of how we like to work.
After more than 30 years in education, as an English teacher, school community liaison and high school guidance counselor, I was ready to retire. Ready to do NOTHING for a while. Nothing meant sleeping late, drinking that second cup of coffee leisurely instead of gulping it down before dashing out the door, walking every day, playing in the dirt – planting, watering, and weeding. It meant having more time for reading, cooking and grandmothering.
It wasn’t long before “nothing” had lost its appeal and I was ready for action. I had lots of opportunities to volunteer, through my church, my school, the neighborhood, as well as the entire city. I had begun making lists when a friend called asking me to substitute in her high school for two or three days a week. She wanted me to fill a spot in the final year of a college prep grant, working with high school seniors in their last push to get ready for college. Right down my alley! It was guidance without the testing, scheduling and paperwork. Because most of the students would be first generation college attendees, not to mention first generation high school graduates, the opportunity was exciting. The students kept me entertained and challenged. As graduation approached and the letters of acceptance to colleges rolled in, I realized that I will probably want to work as long as I’m able, because the kind of work I do is part of who I am.
The beauty of working part-time was that my retirement plan allowed me to keep all my benefits as long as I didn’t work more than 50% in a calendar year. In addition, the time I wasn’t working allowed me to fill my days with the leisurely activities I enjoyed.
When I was asked to write a blog for PrimeCB.com, I saw it as not only another chance to work part time, pulling together some skills that I already possess, but also as a way to be involved in what is happening in the work place for baby boomers as well as retirees and seniors, many of whom work well into their twilight years.
In upcoming blogs, we will address everything from job sharing and job trading to being forced out of work; how to continue in the job, but with fewer hours; how to restructure a resume; how to transfer skills from a current career to the dream career; how to deal with anxieties about retiring. We will bring stories from people who have been successful and people who are still searching. We hope to focus on the challenges as well as the benefits that come with being in or moving toward the “prime of life.”