7 key steps for boomers to work online in retirement
If you’re like me when I retired, you “need” to work. Even if you don’t “need” to work for the economy of it, you still “need” to work for the meaningful sense of participation.
Your financial survival as a retirement likely depends on some combination of retirement accounts, retirement savings, Social Security, rentals, and royalties. When that total number falls short, it’s just a fact of life that many of us Boomers who retire will at some point begin to consider adding carefully chosen part-time work to balance our retirement budgets.
This is not a negative or pessimistic reality. Working after retirement can be a benefit for life. It can help us stay involved in worthwhile activities, engaged with people, grounded in practical matters, and otherwise active, healthy and lively.
Deciding whether to work after retirement
During our long-term careers as full-time employees, we give up our own freedom to meet the schedule and schedule expectations of our employers. After we retire, we are more likely to not have a predetermined schedule beyond the demands of life, family demands, and possibly a travel schedule. As a retiree, you are probably ready and eager to enjoy the freedom as a result of your previous career. Whatever type of work you consider doing next will need to accommodate this sense of freedom, with a good balance between retirement and work.
Establishing a well-designed plan to accomplish this is an active process, not a passive one. But there is very good news to consider. The job market has changed significantly since we started working so many years ago, transformed by the Internet. This completely changes the possibilities of combining sustained work with a flexible retirement lifestyle.
If you wanted a job online, how would you find it?
Given the vast interconnectivity and “anytime, anywhere, anyone, at any pace” of the Internet, online job opportunities abound. If you are a retired Boomer looking for a job online, you can be sure that there are thousands of companies, in the United States and in a variety of countries around the world, that are looking for you. The key is knowing where to look. Knowing what you want to do and what you will be good at doing is also key.
This is where having some guidance is crucial. The obvious route, as with everything else online, is to start with a Google search for the type of work you want to do. As a word of warning … some of the bolder online advertisements that appear in search results may seem too good to be true. And, in fact, they are. These ads, which sometimes promote jobs with Google or Facebook and the like, are not actually published by Google or Facebook, but by third-party companies that want to sell you something, not pay you something. Their claim, of course, is that if you buy their service, you may be able to earn money as a result. If you are asked to spend money to earn money, go ahead.
But real work online for pay is definitely available, even in abundance. In fact, online job agencies claim that the online contract workforce is growing at twice the standard labor force rate. According to oDesktopOne of the largest online staffing services, more than 90% of American companies now use contract talent on a regular basis and are spending $ 120 billion on this type of experience every year. Another important online employment service, eLance, reports from its small business survey that 80% of small businesses plan to hire up to 50% of their workers as online contractors. Another online agency claims that monthly demand has passed supply by more than 30%, leaving thousands of jobs hired in its job bank unfilled. And this is all just a reference to one type of option for online work … contract work. There’s others.
Seven necessary steps
Confusion about working online is all too common … and it gets in the way of retirement for boomers who might be making money working online at something that is challenging and satisfying for them. If the concept of participating in an online career after retirement seems a bit fuzzy or out of reach, a good place to start is by completing these seven necessary steps:
- Determine who you are and what you do best. Re-explore your personality type and temperament, as well as your interests, values, abilities, and traits, to identify an upcoming work direction that is best for you and improves your future life. Include any and all of your internet skills, communication skills, and interpersonal skills as assets that can and will make you a valuable contributor to online employers.
- Develop a clear idea of how long you want and can afford to work, and when. Keep this guide in mind when searching for and selecting the particular job to do next.
- Read key books and resources and apply their guidance. This will save you valuable time and guide you in a direction that will benefit you, both financially and in terms of finding a job that you find attractive and satisfying.
- Learn internet search strategies that will get you the kind of results you want. Given current SEO (search engine optimization) techniques, many of the search results that appear on the first page of your search are not actually job or job opportunities, but rather so-called “investment opportunities.” Seek guidance on how to search in a way that leads you to real opportunities.
- Take time to prepare and organize your online work environment. Realistically evaluate your equipment and resources and add them as needed. Create a wonderful workspace for yourself where you can be productive. Strengthen your skills in Internet, search, file management and use of software, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other tools of your future business. If you don’t have all the skills you need yet, take classes, read books, complete tutorials, and otherwise gain the mastery you need to be an “ace” in your new domain.
- Spend a minimum of 10 days conducting a systematic job search. Start by focusing on contract, outsourced, and freelance employment websites (see the book “Shifting gears to your life and work after retirement“for direct links to dozens of these sites.) Work on your job search like your own 9-5 job. Take notes. Keep track of key clues.
- Notify your network with the details of your plans. Include former and future colleagues in your job search network, both in your local area and beyond. Also connect with family and friends. Define and clearly communicate, via email, Facebook and other means, the details of what you will be doing, the services you will provide, the costs of these services, substantial evidence, and samples that demonstrate your skills and abilities in these areas. and descriptions of the types of job assignments you are seeking.
Online may be your next best option as a workplace. When you envision yourself at the beginning of your workday, consider the differences of working online. How about a morning outside, playing golf or gardening or biking or swimming, followed by an afternoon of online work? Would working through a laptop from your oceanfront terrace on Belize’s Ambergris Caye have its appeal? Or maybe working flat out for 6 months, then taking a three-week break to ride the four scenic trains through the Alps … traveling east on the Glacier Express to St. Moritz, then south. on the Bernina Express to Lake Como in Italy, then north on the William Tell Express to Lucerne, then west on the Golden Pass to Montreux on Lake Geneva.
Having WiFi, roaming … Or having WiFi, you can stay at home … These and many other options will be yours.