The new pattern among retirees is this:
You exhale. Great to be finished with all that goes along with earning a living. Even if you loved playing in legal sandboxes, the pressure got to be too over the top.
Adjusting to a daily life without work can be challenging. But you did it. You even forced yourself to develop hobbies and enjoy them.
Life is good, until you find it harder and harder to make ends meets.
Then you're not making ends meet.
There's the Ah-Ha Moment. You have to return to work. However, you are clueless how to go about it.
One such retiree tells that story to MarketWatch.
In my coaching I am hearing about it more and more frequently.
The Federal Reserve confirms that one-third of retirees bounce back into working. Either that's as an employee or as self-employed. The major reasons are both financial necessity and boredom.
There is no one "best way" to circle back to working.
Here are the seven recommendations I make to those I coach who are over-50. Some were blessed and did a FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early). Others didn't have the financial resources to stop working until they were in their late 60s. Others sat on the beach and really didn't enjoy it because they had been forced out of their career before they were ready to pack it in. Eventually, all found themselves short on money.
The Seven:
- Stop the "too much money" from going out. That's immediate. There are many small expenses you delete from your life. They range from purchasing the brand instead of the generic to subscribing to this and that. The bigger items include struggling to maintain a house. If the real estate market is up in your neighborhood, sell the house. Then, relocate to where you can cut big chunks out of your budget. When I packed it in the New York Metro area for southwestern Arizona in 2014, I reduced my fixed expenses by 50%. My two boutiques generated increased revenues because, no longer so worried about money, I could sell in a more relaxed manner.
- Get a job or gig assignment. Anything. You need to be re-socialized on how to go to work. That's a must-do before you go after a job or gig assignment that is a good fit for you. Right off the bat, employers can pick up on someone who's been without work for too long. Here is a free read on re-entry Download Outwitting ageism.
- Research on the internet the new templates for resumes and cover letters in your particular field. Like everything else the models for those change.
- Study help-wanted ads on job boards for two things. One, to discern what skills and experience those hiring need. And, two, notice the language they use to describe what they're searching for. Language also keeps changing. Use outdated language and you will tag yourself as "old."
- Role play how to interview. Essentially you will do that in real time. That's why you should grab as many interviews as you can. You must get back up to speed on how you present yourself. Ask a trusted friend who hasn't left the workforce to help you continue to fine-tune everything from facial expressions to body language to the actual sale pitches.
- Get it that you don't have the luxury to become discouraged. If nothing is happening "reverse engineer" every aspect of what your thinking and doing in your search for work. Experiment with modifying each one of those. The weak link, for example, could be the kinds of work you are going after. Those doors may be closed to you.
- Look at a job or assignment you hate as not your "last job." Rather, it's the bridge to a better job or assignment. The new game is not linear. That's exactly what Willis Towers Watson posits about the future of work. And that future is already underway.
If you need a professional nudge to return to work, I'm here for you. Contact me for a complimentary consultation. If you sense a bit of coaching can help, there are sliding scale fees. I'm Jane Genova janegenova374@gmail.com.