Temporary jobs in retirement - looking for ideas!

[Lifechangeahead]

I’m planning to retire next spring from a senior public sector role. I’m just awaiting some final financial info and then all being well will inform my employer in the summer.

Obviously I’m feeling a mixture of emotions about this but I am confident this is the right time to go both for me (I’ll be 58) and the organisation.

I have a some ideas about how I will fill
my time but my main area of concern is the winter months when outdoor hobbies will be limited. I like the idea of being able to pick up a few months of temporary part time work at these times but no idea if this is realistic? I don’t particularly want to be an employee again with restrictions on annual leave etc. I like the sound of working in the style of a employees on a recruitment bank/locum/supply teacher etc where I could say I available to work for X period of time.

However, I’m not a clinician or any teacher - more a generalist really.

Does such a thing exist? I’d love to hear if others have found something, thank you.

Replying to bookmark.

I have just resigned from my part time (3 days) job as it still want giving me enough flexibility.

I may be exploring ideas for truly flexible working if I decide I want a bit of extra pocket money. It depends how much travelling I end up doing.

I CBA with annual leave requests and “someone else will have to work on December 24th”

Absolutely this. It’s interesting how many of us are looking for something that provides the same thing ie a chance to keep active, contribute to society, meet people and possibly earn small top ups to pensions, whilst just not wanting all the hassle that we had when fully employed.

Ironically, as much as I think zero hours contracts are awful for younger people with families etc, it’s probably a set up along these lines that’s work well for me (but without a deliveroo bike!).

i just don’t think politicians realise this when they go on about getting over 55s back to work.

loving all the ideas here though and I’ll definitely look into some. As much as I’d like to do some work in schools such as individual support or voluntary reading support, I just can’t get into a situation where others rely on me to do the same thing on set days during every term. I’d have less holiday flexibility than I do now.

I plan to to take off work when not travelling though I have less constraints. I have an offer from my local pub which will suit me fine - if I'm not working I can do activities in the week and work weekends!

My local council has a Temporary Staff Register. Once you've been assessed by them and accepted onto the register, you can then decide to apply for any temporary roles which come up. These are often to cover illness/maternity/short-term understaffing, so might be for 2 - 12 weeks and/or part-time. No requirement to apply for any vacancies or to commit to work for longer than you want.

Cover support at schools doesn’t need a teaching qualification. You sign up with an agency, do a dbs check and away you go. Several of my retired friends do it, pays about £70-90 per day and you choose when you work.

@Lifechangeahead totally agree with your last post.

I want a zero or low hours contract. I think those should be to plug occasional gaps in a rota, or do a very small job that just could not support even a PT "normal" role, perfect for the over 55s-ish but less likely to be removing opportunities or facilitating the exploitation of younger people.

Pre-pandemic I also volunteered in schools as a Beanstalk reader. Loved it (I had a great school where they took it seriously) but too much commitment to regular slots and term times (I could of course go away but the kids missed me even though they claimed to hate reading). I've found my museum volunteering much more flexible as there is a range of roles and slots and I can take it up or down as suits.

I have lots of friends in their 50s who've given up their main jobs and now have zero hours contracts enabling them to pick and choose when to work. They work as:

Polling clerk/postal vote checker
Exam invigilator (colleges will typically have more exams/assessments in the Winter than schools)
Wedding celebrant/registrar
Airbnb host
Baker of celebration cakes
Babysitter
After-school childcare
Cycling proficiency teacher
Exam marker
Funeral celebrant
Temporary staff for local council
Homestay host for foreign students learning English
TEFL teacher
Bank staff in NHS
Working in festivals (wardens, hosts, parking)
Hospitality staff at one-off events
Cover/standby Matron in a boarding school
Chalet "girl" (can be any age!) during the ski season
"Appropriate adult" in the justice system
Theatre usher
Occasional bar work
Magistrate (unpaid)
CAB and Samaritans (unpaid)
Box office staff

More!

Charity shop volunteer
School governor - meet 6 times a year?
Parish council clerk (producing the minutes)
Non-executive director of a local charity
Reading in a primary school
Counsellor/therapist

I retired in my mid fifties and although we have excellent pensions, no mortgage or debt etc it still felt a little strange not having a job to go to (I guess I was missing the structure or sense of belonging somewhere?).
Although I only did it for a while (until I eased myself completely into retirement), I got a job shelf stacking in my local supermarket.
A more different job to my previous career you could not imagine but I found it strangely enjoyable and although I only worked two shifts a week, the £1k a month was nice pocket money PLUS I got staff discount!

As I say, was gone within a year but it was a way of slowing down until I gave work up completely.

I'm surprised by the number of people suggesting jobs in schools and education. It means that you can't take advantage of cheaper holidays (June, September, etc) and they tend to pay only minimum wage. Not worth it.

How much does invigilating pay?

What does a clerk to a school governing body do?

@blueshoes
I only have experience of one school but I found:
You are part of an army of invigilators, they take on more than they need so that they have cover in an emergency. The Exam Officer is trying to keep everyone sweet so you don't get many hours; they share the work out, with shifts here and there. You might get a 90minute exam in the morning then a two-hour in the afternoon. This means that you are tied up for most of the working day for only 3½ hours' pay (actually, it's a bit more than that because you are paid set-up and tidy-up, but the point stands).
It paid not much more than minimum wage. Because the working hours are so irregular they didn't accrue holiday, you got it paid instead. So I was on £10.60 basic plus £1.54 hol pay = £12.14 for each hour worked. No perks (e.g. somebody above said they got supermarket discount).
I'm afraid that teachers are ... um ... how shall I put this tactfully? They think that they are very important people and support staff are very much secondary. They don't seem to think about the effect of their actions/inaction on other people. You know the concept of judging people by how they treat waiting staff in a restaurant? - it was that.

On the plus side: it was good to feel that you were doing something useful for the community, helping pupils do their best at a stressful time. Most of the pupils were nice and you made special bonds with the SEN kids that you met regularly in the smaller rooms.

I now do something else where I get a solid block of hours but it only takes up two days a week. In that time I get twice as many hours in a month, at more than twice the rate of pay. It's also regular, not seasonal. I found that part-time was better than temporary; it was a no-brainer.

@senua that is great insight. Really appreciate your taking the time to share that information.

I was thinking that my first 'planing down' job after retirement is probably part time using my current work experience (better paid, more fixed hours but less flexibility), followed by the next job being ad hoc relatively unskilled temporary (probably zero hours).

Sounds like a plan! P/T in your skill-set moving on to temporary in whatever-takes-your-fancy seems the way to go.

My mum does exam invigilating/admin in a local school.

Invigilator get paid per hour about £12. Be careful though it is not a day rate. You may only be paid per exam. Some exams are 45 mins and some up to two hours.

exam marking is not worth it imho though I have done it in the past as CPD. Lot of effort but poor return

If you live in a city then might be worth seeing if the music exam boards (ABRSM/trinity) have work stewarding at their exam centres. There are 3 exam sessions a year and stewards are usually employed either for the day or half day so may well work out better than invigilation. Its also more interesting as you can talk to candidates and their parents and examiners. Rates aren't that bad either.

If you are bank staff you only work when it suits you, so if you want a holiday during term time you can go without any issues.

Very interesting thread OP and I think you might be taking the right approach and getting away from shenanigans like leave applications. I'm also planning to go next spring but on early partial retirement, dropping to .5, and although it's agreed in principle my LM is already being difficult re preferred work pattern so it's very tempting to think of alternative paths.

Good luck when the time comes, an exciting new chapter!

Postwoman- Usually recruit at Christmas. Temp job at Amazon in the lead up to Christmas, retail jobs. Restaurant/bar staff. I’d do something completely different if I were you.

What did you decide to do, OP?

Work on your local hospital bank as a porter or domestic. No previous hospital experience usually needed, then you can pick shifts when you want.

A lot of our staff are people retired from their main jobs, and we hire them over the youngsters as they've more life/people experience! And tend to be less lazy!!!

Do you work with any consultancies? They will often add “experts” in an area to a bid for 3-5 days of work over a few months

obviously only reach out after you’ve retired.

I'm looking into this for the future - I'd love to work in a theatre or museum.