Better heath and later pensions mean we’re
all rethinking the third age. Money expert Niki Chesworth talk tactics.
Those who work past retirement age are
healthier and happier, latest research shows. This is especially so if they
work part-time, do so because they want to (rather than having to stay in a job
they hate) and continue to work in the same field. It’s not just about the
money either. Six in ten people surveyed wanted to work longer because they
enjoy it. Here’s how to make it a reality for you.
Keep Current
Most women who want to stretch their career
past 65, want to continue working for the same employer – even if it’s in a
different capacity or on a part-time or flexible basis. Career Coach Corinne
Mills, managing director of Personal Career Management and author of You’re
Hired! How To Write A Brilliant CV, has these tips…
Be flexible
Staying open to new ideas, and continuing to contribute ideas is all important.
Employability is not about age, it’s about energy and creativity.
Update your skills IT skills are the number-one focus, followed by any courses to keep
abreast of what’s happening in your profession or sector.
Add qualifications Check first that the qualifications are what employers want from
today’s recruits. Start by researching in-house courses offered by your
employer and evening classes at local colleges.
Try distance learning This can be done at home in your own time. Try learndirect.co.uk,
which has recognised qualifications, form bookkeeping to health and safety. For
example, web-design courses cost round £60 and professional IT courses £66.
Also try skillstrainuk.com. You can also take an Open University module or
degree (open.ac.uk) relevant to your career, and seven in ten study while
working. Development courses offered by your professional body or industry
organisation are also worth investigating.
How The Law Has Changed
Default Retirement Age Scrapped As from October last year, your employer is no longer allowed to
set a mandatory retirement age. This means they won’t be able to ask you to
stop working at 65 purely on the grounds of age, and require a more objective
reason if they don’t want you to continue in the job. Of course, you can still
retire at 65 and take your state and occupational pensions when you are
entitled to them. However, you can also be made redundant or dismissed if you
aren’t up to the job. Some employers often incentives to encourage staff to
move on at a certain time in their career.
State Pension Age Increated If you want to wait until you can claim your state pension before
retiring, you’re going to have to work to 66 if you were born after 6 April
1960 and to 67 if born after 5 April 1961. Anyone born after 5 April 1977 will
have to wait until 68.
Take A Fresh Approach
Work Champion Angela Tresise of the
Papworth Trust says hard times call for a new approach.
Volunteer This
is a great way to add to your skills – for example, showing you can have a
responsible position by being a school governor – and it can make you stand out
from other candidates. For volunteering ideas, see do-it.org.uk.
Try Before You Buy Internships are not just for young people. People in the 50+ age
group do particularly well if they offer to do an unpaid work placement. If
they prove themselves, they often get hired in the future.
Use Social Media
Get those in your professional network to
endorse you on Linkedln, says Corinne, and if you don’t yet have a web
presence, get one. Many jobs are posted on Twitter and email alerts for the
type of job you are interested in. Most main recruitment websites such as
monster.co.uk also provide Twitter alerts. When using Twitter to network,
remember these key points…
Be Professional Twitter is informal, but represent yourself in an attractive and
professional light. Your Twitter profile should include a professional-looking
photo, an appropriate bio and a link to your CV, Linkedln profile or website.
Increase Your Visibility Think of tweets as mini press releases. You can use them to provide
business updates, commentary or foe retweeting articles or content that you
think others would be interested in.
Make Connections You can follow individuals and companies and get their regular
updates. They will often follow you back. Use this connection as a starting
block to send a direct message to a company, with the aim of building a
relationship that will translate to an email exchange, a telephone call and the
hopefully a meeting. It’s much more acceptable and easier to follow complete
strangers on Twitter than it is on Linkedln or Facebook, so take advantage of
this.
A New Direction?
One in five workers over 50 would relish something
different, according to research from Career Advice Service, So how do you open
up a whole new world of opportunity? Karen Mattison MBE set up recruitment firm
Women Like Us, which specializes in part-time jobs for women, after finding it
impossible to get a flexible job to fit round her family. She has these tips…
Value your experience think about and sell your transferable skills.
Work your contacts It’s often who you know that counts. Network at all levels because
personal recommendations can open doors. Also see social media above.
Make yourself affordable The longer you’ve been in the workforce and the more experienced
you are, then the more expensive you are for employers. So consider working
part-time, or on a short-term contract or project basis-firms can then afford
you, and you continue working at the same level.
Next step At
a senior level, you can hire yourself out as an interim manager – a high-flyer
parachuted into organisations to run projects for a fixed period. See
interimmanagement. uk.com. Agencies such as skilledpeople.com focus on 50+
recruitment, finding skilled and experienced staff to fill part-time and
short-project positions, womenlikeus.org.uk recruits for flexible and part-time
roles, and offers career coaching.
Consider going it alone self-employment is booming, so think about how your expertise can
translate. Consider offering your services as a consultant or mentor and ask
your existing company first. The next best is other organisations you’ve worked
with before.
