You’re a busy professional today? Expect another career ahead. These tips can help you prepare.

Number 177

According to business journalist and career transition expert Kerry Hannon, “The vision of people 50+ spending their retirement years gardening, golfing, and lounging on the beach is out. Meaningful work is in.” What’s different now, she says, is that baby boomers are thinking of paid work as “a pillar of their ‘retirement’ plans.”

In recent years, while researching her books and columns, Kerry has talked with leading career and retirement experts and interviewed hundreds of people about their jobs and transition plans. What she has been hearing is that most of us expect to keep working long after Social Security kicks in. That’s partly because we’ll need more money to maintain our lifestyle. But it also reflects a growing understanding that staying engaged is a key to healthy and happy aging.

Kerry agrees with studies predicting that today’s average 60-year-old can expect to work at least part time for another 15 years or so. And for the most part, she says, this is good news. “To me, it’s exciting, inviting, and empowering. For many retirees, ‘working in retirement’ is quickly becoming a new stage in career progression.”

Despite the grim employment statistics of recent years, Kerry says that the future will bring more jobs, greater employer flexibility and a vast wave of entrepreneurial opportunity for people who want to keep doing some paid work long after the close of their major career.

Kerry’s latest book is, “Great Jobs for Everyone 50+: Finding Work That Keeps You Happy and Healthy ... And Pays the Bills.” In Part One of this useful guide, Kerry offers a smorgasbord of job categories for older workers, like part-time, seasonal, “snow bird” and “night owl” jobs. She says that jobs held by older Americans tend to be more professional, with a third in managerial, business or other professional occupations.

In Part Two, Kerry provides her “Great Jobs Workshop,” a summary of professional advice and strategies she has collected during more than 20 years of writing about career transitions, retirement and financial planning. While her book is aimed at older people, her insights could be helpful to anyone thinking about a job change. Here are some tips that Hannon applies to her own life:

• Go slowly. For almost two decades, while working as a full-time journalist, Kerry built up her free-lance business on the side. She says that many of the successful second actors she has interviewed spent years extending their skill sets, saving money, networking and researching possibilities.
• Keep learning. You never know when you may have to reboot your career. Kerry says we should push ourselves to keep up with evolving technologies; we should be open to new ways of doing things; and we should invest time and money in professional development. As a young woman she expected print journalism to be her “one true love,” but her willingness to explore new media has allowed her to build up a thriving business that operates on many platforms.
• Be nimble and flexible. Kerry says you tap into skills and expertise built over time. But you also should be willing to push into areas that seem uncomfortable or less visible yet have potential to grow. The path in her case was, “print to web to speaking, to radio and television platforms, to consulting with people on career transitions and retirement and personal finance issues and helping them find their path.”
• Watch the trends. “Great Jobs” includes a whole chapter on “ways to ride the age wave.” Kerry says that, “As the 50+ population explodes so do the number of jobs that serve them, from fitness experts and retirement coaches to home health aides and geriatric nurses.” As you explore future career options, think about broad trends that could translate into big opportunities.
• Apprentice, volunteer or moonlight. Kerry suggests you “Do yourself a favor – do the job first. It’s a great way to get in the door and see what goes on behind the scenes. It’s also a networking opportunity.” She says it’s a mistake to discount the value of volunteer work as a way to get started on a new path.