Just because you have crossed a certain age landmark doesn’t mean you need to stop working. For people who have had enough of the corporate business world, it is understandable if they want to hang their boots and spend the remaining years of their lives without the pressures of a working environment. While most seniors resign from their jobs as soon as they touch the magical number of 60 years and enjoy the life of a retiree, there is still a large chunk of the populace that wishes to get off the mark in their second innings.
However, several people voluntarily continue to work well past the widely-acknowledged ‘retirement age’ for various reasons:
- The necessity to keep earning money to sustain the family
- Physical and mental ability to carry on for a few more years
- Willing to continue to contribute to the company’s growth
- The desire to sustain the current standard of living
- Unwillingness to quit the job due to the fear of ‘what to do post-retirement’
While rebuilding or reviving your longstanding career might not be the wisest thing to do beyond a certain age, we are definitely in support of senior citizens wanting to invest their time in something constructive that not only keeps them busy but also helps supplement the income needed to sustain their lifestyle.
The first step is to gauge what kind of work you would ideally want to do since there are several factors involved:
• Motivation
Are you motivated enough to get back to everyday work? Do you have the will to invest yourself in an entirely new job, career or industry?
• Satisfaction
What are you seeking from the new career? Will it leave you happy and satisfied every single day?
• Time
How much time are you willing to dedicate to your new career? Would you rather work part-time or go all guns blazing with a full-time job?
• Money
How much income do you expect? Are you doing this to make money or is the income just a byproduct of what you want to do in order to keep yourself busy?
• Efforts (physical/mental)
How much is the new career going to sap in terms of energy? Are you ready to bear the physical and mental fatigue that comes with working during old age?
• Productivity
Do you consider yourself effective enough to deliver upon the key result areas? Will age affect your productivity in any way whatsoever?
• Longevity
What is the term that you are looking at? Is this simply an avenue that you wish to leverage to keep yourself busy for a couple of years or is it something you see yourself doing for a long time?
Career opportunities for seniors
Once you have answered the aforementioned questions, you can choose from one of the three broad options below.
Start a business
Self-employed people are said to be the happiest folk. If you have a seed to sow, give wings to your idea by putting it into action. Starting a new business is never easy – it requires a proper plan, capital investment and viability in the market. Next up comes the execution, perhaps the most difficult part of running a business. However, if you have your heart set on an entrepreneurial venture, go for it! If you have an existing business setup, get involved in the different functions within the organization so you can unlearn, learn and take control of specialized areas that you probably stayed away from all these years.
Find a job
Seniors are a rare commodity in most domains unless they hold really high posts or designations within an organization. However, that doesn’t mean they aren’t welcome to apply for jobs. In fact, there are a few industries where the kind of jobs available is ideal for the elderly populace. Here’s a quick look at some avenues:
- Teaching
- Administrative assistant
- Sales
- Childcare
- Consultancy
- Writing
- Pet sitting
- Customer service
Most of these jobs are flexible, highly rewarding and involve little-to-no-physical-activity. Of course, there are hundreds of other options you can choose from depending on your specific skills, qualifications, experience, and areas of interest.
Consider volunteering
If entrepreneurship or a regular job is not your cup of tea, why not take up a volunteering role in an NGO? Volunteering work can not only be enormously satisfying but can also enable you to do something for society. Working with underprivileged children, training unemployed youth, helping substance abusers overcome their problems, enabling women to find jobs, etc. There are plenty of opportunities out there. All you need to do is find out a few NGOs and pitch your service to them. Trust us, they love it when people volunteer to help them out with their plans and activities.
To conclude, building a career post 60 years of age should not seem like a scary prospect at all. If anything, you must look at it as a challenge – assess your needs and desires first, and then work towards achieving your short- and long-term goals, step by step.
