A Second Career

Working after retirement can keep you active and engaged, happy and healthy. Radhika Madhavan tells you what you should be looking out for. 

Work after retirement

Looking at the title of this article, you must be sarcastically asking, why would anyone want to get a job after retiring? Isn’t retirement about being idle, being relaxed, taking care of the grandkids, indulging in a hobby and moving ahead on the spiritual path? To some extent it is. But for many, retirement is also about work, an integral and ingrained part of their life. M. Basavraj, 59, who retired from a public sector bank and found work after retirement, joyously pronounces that “work is worship” and that he wants to enjoy working till his health permits.

Senior experts who are in their 50s, 60s and 70s, come from a different era of work ethics altogether. They are also extremely disciplined, dedicated and hard-working. After all, when one has been working for 30 or 40 years, it becomes a habit. And we all know how difficult it is to break a habit!

Work a day keeps the doctor away

Research backs up the claim that working, part-time or full-time, is extremely beneficial to a person’s overall well-being. The Journal of Occupational Healthy Psychology published research conducted over a six-year-period that states that working individuals ‘got fewer major diseases and were able to function better day-to-day’ than those who had stopped working completely. The only caveat they added was that it was more beneficial to work in the same area of expertise rather than shifting into a completely new realm of work. If all new skill sets need to be learnt, it might be more stressful than helpful to the senior expert.

Dr. Jitendra R. Raol, retired from NAL, who is a Professor Emeritus at M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology says, “being somewhat busy after retirement keeps me active and mentally healthy. Writing a technical book is a demanding exercise, but I do it because my knowledge and experiences would get recorded and will be available to a larger volume of the concerned readers.”

Money Matters

In this day and age of mass consumerism, heightened inflation and increased expenditure, it’s difficult to fall back upon savings. Even a part-time or free-lancing job can provide a senior expert with additional money. Balakrishnan Kunnath, working as a Quality Expert in his second innings, admits that in addition to being intellectually engaged, it makes sense monetarily. “A job after retirement is required to meet financial commitments,” he mentions.

Part time or full time 

After retirement, many options open up. Senior experts need not work full-time, come home at 10 p.m. and deal with stress like youngsters today in India’s highly competitive business environment. They can instead work part-time. Dr. Raol prefers to work part-time. “I am planning on writing more books and also have plans on guest-editing a special issue of a technical journal. Working full-time does not allow me to indulge in all my interest areas. That is why I have chosen to work part-time only,” he says. On the other hand, Basavaraj is emphatic that he wants to work full-time because he wants to “live life fully”. Work timing options allow senior experts to go back to work on their own terms so that they lead a holistic, happy life.

Getting a job after retirement

How does one get a job after retirement? For some, networking plays a crucial role. If the senior expert has built up a strong business and social network, it becomes easier for him/her to find a new job. However, even if one does not have a network to lean on, one can search on job portals or even seek assistance from NGOs who specialize in assisting seniors. There are several on-line initiatives aimed at helping seniors find jobs. One such networking initiative is called ‘ExpertEase’ (www.seniorexperts.org) which helps Indian senior experts (Aged 50 and above) to find not only jobs but also volunteering opportunities across India.

Another one is from Dignity Foundation, which is currently hosting off-line job fairs in five cities across India. Fore more info, visit http://www.dignityfoundation.com/index.php/dignity-job-fair.html.

With a little effort, you can also find jobs for seniors on regular job sites like Naukri or Monster. It’s smart to register in as many places as you can to increase one’s chances of landing a new and interesting job.

With a myriad of options and help from many quarters, senior experts have a lot to look forward to after retirement. It means not just more work, but possibly even more satisfaction the second time around!

Radhika Madhavan is a consultant, author, entrepreneur and ardent supporter of senior citizens!