My hub and I have just become
"micro" workers at a large university. I say "micro" since we are
each committing small amounts of time for what amounts to micro pay. In his case, it is a 1/4 time position at a pay grade miles below his last full-time salary. In brief, he will be netting less than
1/10th of his former pay to give them 1/4 of his time during the
coming year -- all of course with no benefits.
But hey, it's a job. A nice job, in fact, doing something he finds truly neat, bringing business world methods to academic R&D. So it will keep his resume current while doing some good on both sides.
In my case, the pay is more psychic. I have a nice title, a tiny
stipend, and a lot of leeway to shape my flex-time role in a campus lab
doing brain science. Technically, I am not a real employee; I have a
time-limited fellowship sponsored by an outside entity. In business, we would call me a consultant.
But "senior fellow" will sound nice on my resume too; and like the hub,
I have a smalll quixotic hope it might aid in some way with some real pay some
day. If not, at least I will learn some interesting things about
current-day research while helping them to communicate.
That may be as win-win as it gets in this frozen economy.
That may be as win-win as it gets in this frozen economy.
We each got our gigs on the same campus at the same time via different routes.
He was recruited after his second year judging in a national science fair
that put him on the radar at the School of Engineering. I applied for
my mine in response to a flyer found on a table after a lecture,
and wound up being one of four people picked for a cross-disciplinary program in Psych.
That our offers came around the same time seemed completely coincidental. We did not know when we accepted these posts that we were joining a movement with a name. But, in fact, we are part of a new wave of "Encore" workers filled with Boomers extending careers with new kinds of employment.
That our offers came around the same time seemed completely coincidental. We did not know when we accepted these posts that we were joining a movement with a name. But, in fact, we are part of a new wave of "Encore" workers filled with Boomers extending careers with new kinds of employment.
Typically, an encore position entails enticing a retiree back into the
workforce while gaining the added skills of a veteran worker. But in
practical terms, you don't need to be past your 50s. You just need a good chunk of
flexible time and a well-seasoned resume with skills that are relevant
to the employer.
For a lot of us these days, part about flexible time is no longer an issue. Meanwhile, it
sure seems more constructive to plug in somewhere than to keep
web-surfing the same scarce opportunities being avidly sought by hordes
of job-seeking youngers who still have small mouths to feed. If you
are, instead, in a phase where the kids are grown and you own your
home, you might (in theory) be more willing to accept a fairly low wage
if the job is sufficiently interesting.
Not that every "encore" opportunity involves a trade-off between
personal interest and personal income. Some of them involve "real" jobs
with "real" pay for companies who are increasingly more willing to
value seasoned workers for the added dimensions they bring. How
refreshing for all the workforce vets who felt they had been set adrift long before it was time to go fishing.
Below some detail about the more active players in this new wave of later life employment.
Below some detail about the more active players in this new wave of later life employment.
One of the more active entities in this new wave can be seen at yourencore.com.
It represents a "network of retired and veteran" experts who are
"providing our clients with proven experience." In their model, the
veteran -- or "Expert" -- plugs in at a client company "without the
long-term commitment of a full-time employee." Their current
matchmaking projects seem to be mostly for scientists in chemistry and
biotech, but they also list disciplines such as mechnical engineering,
packaging, product design and organization development at the web site.
The client assignments can be as short as one day, or as long as one
year, they say. Partner companies include Proctor & Gamble, Eli
Lilly, Boeing, and General Mills. Enrollment details can be read here.
Another big player in the "Encore" movement is Civic Ventures, a
non-profit San Francisco think tank that appears to be spearheading
this wave as part of its ongoing interest in the aging of Boomers. As
explained at their site at Encore.og,
"The tarnished dream of Golden Years of endless leisure is giving way
to a new form of practical idealism: real jobs tackling real problems
and making real impact," Their campaign hopes to engage "millions of
Boomers" in encore careers with a positive social impact. Their own
opportunities emphasize one year paid positions in leadership and
management for non-profit and public-sector entities. An offshoot
program, co-sponsored by the David & Lucile Packard Foundation, is
specifically focused on Encore careers for Boomers in Silicon Valley. Meanwhile, this page at the Encore site has a wealth of information and links related to the Civic Ventures intiative.
If this movement is of interest to you, you might also enjoy this look at parallel efforts back East as profiled in the Boston Globe, and this information from the first Encore Careers Summit last February, as well as this Smart Money article on "Switching Careers at 50" that takes a look at what it takes to live on less in later life.
Me, I am going to spend this Saturday night on the sofa muching a
tuna sandwich while I feed my head with a stack of unread research articles.
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