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Encore Careers – Part Three: Using Volunteerism to Find Your Dream Job

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In this series about encore careers, we’ve talked about why we should consider an encore career as part of our unretirement and how to figure out the right encore career. So, we have a game plan. Today, we’ll start talking about the task of finding it.

I was going to say finding your encore career is the hard part, but I’m not sure it is. I can’t help but wonder if figuring out what we want to do later in life is the hardest part. My guess is for the majority of us, we identify with our career. Changing to a different career or even going from full-time to part-time in the same job could be hard. 

It could be said that finding our dream encore career is challenging because job hunting in general is hard. And that’s true. But there are a few things we can do to keep our job search skills fresh.

Don’t stop thinking about networking and job search. Until you are 100 percent, completely and absolutely convinced you will never need to look for a job again, you should always have job search in the back of your mind. You should continuously build a network. As a human resources professional, I am amazed at the people (of all ages) who  find themselves looking for a new job, struggle finding something because they don’t have a network, swear that they’re never going fall into bad networking habits again, and as soon as they land a new position…they stop networking. 

Take some classes. Especially around the use of technology. AARP is regularly offering job-search webinars for older workers. And they’re recorded so you don’t have to listen to them live if you have a scheduling conflict. If you’ve never tuned into one of these sessions, it will only take you a few moments to realize that being a lifelong learner and keeping your skills current is going to be key in getting an encore opportunity. 

Get a retirement career coach. When we first started this blog, I interviewed Hannah Morgan (aka Career Sherpa) about getting a retirement career coach. This is a great opportunity to work with someone on developing an encore career that you will find rewarding. If you don’t have the budget for a coach right now, start reading some career related blogs that might offer some preliminary insights. 

Which leads me to my last point and the subject of today’s post – volunteerism. One of the best ways to learn about different careers, gain new skills, and show off the skills you currently have is volunteering. Lots of organizations want volunteers and they rely on them to help their operation. But, even with volunteerism, you have to be patient. You can’t just show up and expect the entire organization to give you whatever you ask for. If your strategy is to get involved with a non-profit in the hopes that you can get a job there, you have to think short- and long- term. 

Start getting to know non-profits in your area. Find out what they do, how they get their funding, who’s on their board, etc. etc. You want to work with a non-profit that aligns with your values, has solid funding, and a respectable, ethical board of directors. 

Apply for a volunteer role. Consider this to be the best job interview you could ever have. See how the non-profit treats volunteers. The volunteer experience will give you some sense of what working there will be like. See how they manage the organization. 

Talk with management about goals. Once you know that you’re happy with the organization and the people associated with it, then consider setting up a time to talk about transitioning into an employee role. You don’t have to rush this conversation. 

Becoming a volunteer is great for organizations and good for you. It can also be a source for your encore career. But it takes time to find the right non-profit and build the relationships. The good news is that you know what to do. You’ve been networking, interviewing, and doing job research your entire career. Use those skills to create the encore career of your dreams. 

What We Are UP To in May 2019

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Watching| Marvel Cinematic Universe           

> In anticipation of Avengers: Endgame, we’ve watched Avengers: Infinity War, Captain Marvel, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1. I won’t give away any spoilers, but IMHO, Endgame lived up to the hype. We’re going to see Endgame a second time in May on the big screen. The only other movie I’ve ever seen on the big screen more than once is the Rocky Horror Picture Show. 

Reading| Older, Wiser, Shorter

> A huge thank you to Jane Seskin for sending me her book of poems about the journey to seniorhood. “Older, Wiser, Shorter: An Emotional Road Trip to Membership in the Senior Class” definitely lives up to it’s title. The topics range from Meditation and Memories to Chores and Conscious. It’s an easy read that many will identify with.

Remembering| Old Music

> No offense against today’s music scene, but I’ve noticed a growing number of public places (like bars, restaurants, conferences, etc.) playing older music from the 70’s and 80’s. I’m certainly not upset by it. I grew up with the music. It’s been fun reconnecting with old tunes. The only downside is I’m downloading quite a bit of it. LOL!

Working On| Cast-iron Skillet Pizza

> While we’ve been living in the rental house, one of the things Keith and I miss is pizza. In South Florida, we had perfected making pizza at home on our gas grill. When we arrived in Gainesville, we put the grill in storage thinking we can live without pizza for a couple of months. Well, a couple of months turned into a year and we miss pizza. I don’t hate restaurant pizza, but it’s not the same. The other night, we saw a new episode of Rachael Ray’s 30-minute meals and she made cast-iron skillet pizza. Now, we are very excited about trying this!

Feeling| Health-Focused

> In particular, we’re focused on healthy skin. It’s amazing how this little UV skin tracker I mentioned to you a couple of months ago makes you hyper-focused on wearing sunscreen, moisturizing, and keeping your skin in tip top shape. While Keith isn’t wearing the UV tracker, he’s always asking me what the scans say because his skin is being equally exposed. We are also focusing this May on mineral-based sunscreens because they aren’t absorbed into the skin like chemical screens and they are more environmentally friendly.

Planning| Another move!

> It’s hard to believe that our home in Gainesville will be finished soon and we will be moving into our forever home. This has been the longest house building project ever and we can’t wait for it to be completed. While we’re happy that we took the leap and moved up before the house was completed, it will still be nice when we’re settled.

Loving|Thai Coconut Peanut M&Ms

> I’m a sucker for seasonal food flavors that come out – pumpkin spice, eggnog, etc. Recently, M&Ms came out with a handful of seasonal flavors including jalapeño and toffee. But the real winner was Thai Coconut Peanut. Part of me would love to see this as a regular flavor and the other part of me is hoping they leave the shelves as quickly as possible (if you know what I mean). They really are that good! 

Geeking| Our first “Con”

> There are many meanings for the word “con”, but in this case, I’m referring to a fan convention. Probably the most famous is San Diego Comic-Con. No, we’re not going to that one. MegaCon is nearby in Orlando in mid-May so we’ve decided to see if we’re “con” people. It should be fun. 

What’s UP with you this May?

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami, FL

Encore Careers: 4 Ways to Find a Thriving One

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In a recent AARP Bulletin, they published a list of the “99 Ways to Add Healthy Years to Your Life”. Number 83 caught my attention. It was “Don’t cling to a dying profession.” 

We’ve been talking about encore careers here at Unretirement Project. One of the things to consider as you’re thinking about an encore career is what the jobs of the future might look like. Here are a few recent articles that you might find interesting.

The fastest-growing job in the US is expected to grow 105% by 2026—here are the other 19.

The 20 Fastest Growing Jobs in America—And How Much They Pay.

Bureau of Labor Statistics: Fastest Growing Occupations

These types of lists can be used to identify a potential encore career. It’s possible that you have many of the transferrable skills that would make a shift logical and easy. Or you might see something completely different that looks interesting and exciting, so you can go to school and get the necessary skills. Either way, these lists serve a purpose. That being said, there are bigger messages here. 

  1. We should be regularly evaluating our career possibilities. Whether you’re 30, 40, 50, or older.The last thing you want to hear is that your long-term career potential is dwindling. These lists might offer some insight about your current career that would be helpful. And of course, your current career could have an impact on the decisions you make about an encore career.
  2. Career choices involve decisions about knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs).It’s important to keep the KSAs for your current job relevant. It’s also important to think about the KSAs you’ll need in the future. I cannot emphasize enough the need to embrace lifelong learning. Not only is it good for your mental health, but it’s good for your career and encore career. 
  3. Figure out how you like to learn and what you need to learn.The conversation about KSAs and being a lifelong learner is really about self-learning. As we start to think about our unretirement and retirement, we need to think about how we will continue to learn. There won’t be any more corporate training programs. Or vendor sponsored webinars. Our learning will come in different forms. But it will start with us personally. 
  4. Today’s hot jobs might be lukewarm tomorrow. While lists of growing occupations can be helpful, we must be careful when it comes to taking these lists as the only truth. If today’s fast-paced, technology-driven business world has taught me anything, it’s that today’s bright shiny concept could be a dud tomorrow. As you’re looking at your future career, make sure you’re not trading one dying career for another.

There are many factors that go into the encore career decision including what we like, what we’re capable of doing, how much money the job pays, etc. One important factor is the future for that role. Will it be around in a decade? Researching industries and occupations can help us find an encore career that’s growing and thriving. 

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the streets of Disneyland and San Francisco, CA

5 Activities to Avoid Becoming the Indoor Generation

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I heard a term recently that fascinates me – the “Indoor Generation”. As the name implies, it’s a label for people who spend most of their time indoors. They’ve figured out how to do as many things as possible without leaving the house. 

I totally get it. We can do our shopping on our home computers or mobile devices. We can order food, and have it delivered to our home. We can talk with a doctor via webcam. Keith and I are building a house and we talk about it being both the place we work and our sanctuary. I can absolutely see how the term came into existence. 

The indoor generation is also a term that defies age. I see young people who spend a lot of time inside – maybe reading or watching television and playing video games. But for today’s post, I want to talk about the indoor generation in the context of getting older.

In a study sponsored by Velux, it’s been found that there are health risks to being indoors all the time. We need sunlight as part of our wellness. The research found that daylight can improve learning abilities up to 15 percent. We need fresh air for our health. Living in damp or moldy homes increases our risk of asthma by 40 percent. And a lack of sunlight impacts our general wellbeing. According to the research, a lack of daylight makes 15 percent of us sad. 

So, what’s the answer. Well, it’s easy just to say get out more. But the reality is, going outside needs to feel good. Otherwise it will be a chore and we won’t get the desired benefit. Here are five things that might help us get outside more:

  1. Talk and walk. I’m going to mention this one first since it’s the most obvious. Find time to take a walk. Keith and I have what we call walking meetings. Instead of sitting inside the house to talk about stuff, we take a short walk. It’s good for us and we can still have a productive conversation.
  2. Take up an outdoor activity. People laugh when we mention that we play Pokémon GO. But it gets us out of the house every single day. We also discovered a nearby botanical garden that has lots of Pokémon Gyms and PokeStops. So, we purchased an annual membership. We get to see the gardens and play at the same time. 
  3. Build outdoor time into our daily routine. One of the things we’re looking forward to in our new home is drinking our morning beverages outside. It doesn’t seem like a lot, and it’s not, but it’s a few more minutes outside. 
  4. Turn outdoor chores into something worth looking forward to. This is totally not me, but Keith loves working in the garden. And he enjoys mowing the lawn. Once a year, I’ve been known to assist with mulching (well, maybe). My point is, find a way to turn being outdoors into something more than drudgery. 
  5. And finally, if all those ideas don’t work, try to bring some plants and sunlight into your home. We’ve discovered that we enjoy having live plants in our home. And dark walls might be on trend, but they make the house dark. So, we’re opting for lighter colors.

As we age, it can be very easy to shift our routines, so we spend more time inside and less outdoors. It could have a negative impact on the way we feel. Maybe we just need to change what we do outdoors. Find new activities that fit more with our unretirement lifestyle. 

Image created by Sharlyn Lauby

Encore Careers – Part Two: Figuring Out What to Pursue

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In the first post in this series about encore careers, we talked about what an encore career is and why you might want to start thinking about one as part of your unretirement journey. As a quick refresher, encore careers are jobs or careers that happen later in life. They often fulfill different needs than the jobs we have early in our career. So, an encore career might be something that aligns with a passion you’ve had over the years or possibly just something to get out of the house and make a few bucks. 

Once you decide that you want to pursue an encore career, the next logical step in the process is to figure out what you want to do. Remember when you were in high school and everyone started asking, “What are you going to do when you graduate?” Well, think of this similarly but the question becomes, “What are you going to do when you retire?”

I would suggest that the first step toward figuring out your encore career is to take inventory of your knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs). Even if you change jobs and industries in your encore career, you’re going to want to choose something that you’re good at. So, think about the skills you’ve collected. 

It might even make some sense to prepare an “unretirement” resume. Instead of saying to yourself, “I don’t need to maintain a resume anymore. I’m going to retire in a few years.” Maybe it’s even more important now. Use your resume as a way to discover and showcase your encore career skills. In addition, take a moment to ask yourself, “Of all my skills, which ones have a mastered as a result of being older.” There a reason you should do this that will become more apparent as you read on.

Now, some career coaches might tell you that ideal encore careers for older people are in the areas of people management and coaching. Let me dish out some tough love here. Your age, your desire to become a coach, and your skills in communication, empathy, and listening are three different things. I’m not saying that older people can’t become coaches – they certainly can. And I’m not saying that older people don’t have the skills to become coaches – they might. But making the assumption that because you’re 50 or 60 automatically makes you a people person…sorry, no. 

Your encore career should be something that you’re interested in, that fulfills a need for you, and that you’re good at. You might say, “I’ve spent my entire career coaching employees and the last thing I want to do in my retirement is coach employees. I want to take care of animals because they don’t talk back.” And to that I say, good for you. 

Another option might be simply tweaking the job you have right now. Maybe you’d like to do the same thing you’re doing right now just less. Or maybe your current job has two primary functions and you’d like to focus on one of them. It makes me think of a marketing manager who is responsible for marketing, public relations, and social media. Maybe for an encore career they want to focus solely on social media.  

After you conduct your skills assessment, hopefully, this will point you in a direction. It might shed some light on skills you want to acquire before you retire. This allows you to put a plan in place to gain experience and knowledge over time. You can do things at your pace and within your budget. It also gives you time to think about how you’re going to transition into your encore career. Will you be able to just change jobs? Or is there an interim job that will make the transition easier? 

There’s one other thing to consider. As you think about your work experience and skills, along with where you want to go with an encore career, consider how you would answer the question, “Why do you want to take a job where you’re overqualified?” While companies might not come right out and say it, you know that there will be recruiters and hiring managers thinking this. As you’re planning your encore career, plan an explanation for your encore career.  This will demonstrate to prospective employers (including your current one) that you’re focused, planful, and detail-oriented. 

Encore careers can be a wonderful, fulfilling part of your unretirement journey. Start thinking about it early and put a plan in place to get there. 

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the island of Maui, HI

Encore Careers – Part One: What They Are and Why You Might Want One

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One of the most common questions people ask themselves when they’re thinking about retirement is “What am I going to do?” We spend the majority of our lives identifying with a job, whether that’s one that happens in Corporate America or at home (as in being a stay at home parent). When those things stop, we have to figure out how to answer the question “So, what do you do?” Even when we hear people say, “I’m retired.” it seems like the next question is “Well, what did you do?”

Figuring out how to answer the question about what you do isn’t simply to satisfy others. It’s also for ourselves. Every time someone asks, “What do you do?” does it cause you to pause? I know lots of people who are saying they’re not ready to retire. They say that they want to still contribute but maybe not 40+ hours a week. 

One option available to us as we’re thinking about our retirement (and unretirement) is an encore career. It’s defined as a job or career that happens later in life to provide both purpose and money. According to Encore.org, some of the most promising fields for encore careers are in the non-profit sector, management services, and services for aging persons. The older generation is also currently the largest freelancing group. 

Encore careers can be related to your existing career or they can be something completely different. Either way, if you’re considering an encore career, you will want to plan a transition to the new role. Keith’s career path is a perfect example. While it happened when he was younger, it demonstrates how you can transition from the role you have today to a new (and different role). Here’s a summary of his experience:

  1. College degree in Wildlife Biology
  2. Animal care specialist for a zoo
  3. Duckmaster for a hotel chain (position was 50% animal care and 50% public relations)
  4. Marketing coordinator for hotel chain
  5. Marketing manager for safety products company
  6. Marketing manager for HR company
  7. And now he works with me.

You can see how he transitioned from working with animals to working in marketing. You can also see how he accepted positions of greater responsibility along the way. And you can see how he transitioned to HR-related companies. Now this took several years. Which is why if you’re considering an encore career, you don’t want to wait until you’re a couple of days years from retirement. 

The second part of this transition to think about is salary and benefits. Again, I mentioned that Keith’s path happened when he was younger, so he was able to earn more money and benefits. But as we’re transitioning to an encore career, we might have to adjust our expectations. It’s possible the encore career we’re considering doesn’t pay as much as we made during our peak earning years. It might not be full-time, so we won’t get benefits like health insurance. But our encore careers might serve a different purpose. 

Encore careers might help us keep our minds fresh. They could allow us to work for an organization we’re passionate about. Oh, and yeah, maybe we can make a few dollars too. Before you start looking, ask yourself, “Do I want an encore career? Why or why not?” You can also check out Encore.org or the Encore.org LinkedIn group for some additional information. 

We all know that our work lives can bring tremendous satisfaction or incredible heartburn (or even just plain boredom). It’s important that we have the right job with the right company. The same holds true when we’re considering an encore career. You didn’t make the decision about where you’re working right now in a silo. Don’t make that mistake with this one. In part two of this series, we’ll talk about how to find your encore career. 

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the island of Maui, HI

What We Are UP To in March 2019

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Disney Sand Sculpture

Disclosure: Occasionally we receive free products for review or include advertising links in posts, but no one impacts the honesty of our opinions. 

This March, I rearranged our “What we’re up to …” list to reflect what’s going on right now. Read on and you’ll see why.

Geeking| Groove Bands

> I like backing Kickstarter campaigns. As a small business owner, it’s a way to pay it forward. And I like the cool items that I get to try out. We just backed a campaign for Groove Life, which makes silicone rings. They’re introducing watch bands that complement their ring designs. Besides the technology itself, one of my favorite Apple Watch features is the changeable band. I’m hoping this will be a nice one. 

Loving| Smith Teas

> I gave up coffee years ago and now I love a nice cuppa tea. A couple of my favorite tea companies have gone out of business. During a trip to Portland, Oregon, I discovered Smith Teas. They are absolutely wonderful. A bit pricey, so I don’t drink them every day but a delicious splurge. If you have a favorite tea company, I’d love to hear about them!

Planning| Vacation!

> For our anniversary this year we’re crossing something off our bucket list. We’ve always wanted to take a repositioning cruise, so this year we’re going from Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale through the Panama Canal. Very exciting! We’re looking forward to some relaxation and education along the way.

Remembering| Disney

>I grew up on Disney. My father worked on the construction crew for Walk Disney World (he built Cinderella’s Castle) and my mother worked there for over 30 years. That being said, I’ve never been to Disneyland in California. So, prior to our cruise, we’re going. To quote a very old expression, I feel like a kid in a candy store.

Reading| Dune

> My cruise reading includes the Frank Herbert classic “Dune”. Keith loves this book. I’ve never read it and was able to get it quickly on Paperback Swap. I know there’s a Dune movie remake in the works, so we’ll see if I become a Dune fan. Stay tuned.

Working On| Our Annual Strategy Meeting

> Businesses carve out time to do strategic planning and budgeting. When we started our consulting firm, we decided that it was important to set aside time to do the same. We feel better when we do it and our company is better because of it. Part of the conversation is focused on retirement – what do we want ours to look like? 

Feeling| Surprisingly relaxed

> You would think with all of my business travel and an upcoming vacation that I would be a stressed-out mess. But surprisingly, I’m not. I think we’ve planned everything well. We’ll see once we start our trip, but I’m delighted that this is one of those moments where my obsessive planning might pay off. LOL!

Watching| Captain Marvel

> Like there was any doubt that we were going to see this movie! I’m not going to give away any spoilers except to say, “Goose!” If you’ve seen the movie you know exactly what I’m talking about. Now that we’ve seen Captain Marvel in March, we’re looking forward to Avengers: Endgame when we return from vacation.

What’s UP with you in March? You might notice that we’re posting less frequently for the next couple of weeks, but don’t worry, we’ll be back on track soon.