08 October 2008

Examples of Unplanned Encore Employment

Over the past 3 weeks, I have been told (directly) about these jobs that "leading edge" boomers are taking:

1 - A colleague's 58-year-old husband was bored after one month of early retirement. He is now in year 2 of nursing school.
2 - A former business partner and her husband have applied for work as poll workers; they hope for early voting assignments but they will take Election Day posts, at the least.
3 - A cusp boomer (born late 1945) has begun training as an online instructor for a university.

The range of encore careers is great. For some, a whole new career beckons. For others, occasional or part-time work will suffice. For all of them, change is a feature. Serial careers may not be a new concept but it was not predicted for the leading boomers (born between 1946 and 1954). Trailing boomers and Gen Xers were expected to have multiple careers, as many as 5 to 6 across their working years. For those cohorts, education has had a plan: increase offerings for adult learners who will return to school or training every 5 to 10 years.

Cusp and leading boomers will not demand as much specialty training for their encore careers in large part because they are surprised that they are starting or even extending careers. But they may require some services such as employment matching. With the current economic downturn, more near-retirement boomers are likely to need those services.

© 2008 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

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