Transcript

Encore Careers · Talking FACS

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Welcome to Talking FACS, what you need to know about family,
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food, finance, and fitness.
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This nationally recognized, award-winning podcast is hosted by the University
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of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program.
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Our educators share research knowledge with individuals, families,
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and communities to improve quality of life.
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Hello and welcome to Talking FACS. This is your host, Dr.
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Jennifer Hunter, Assistant Director for Family Consumer Sciences Extension at
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the University of Kentucky.
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Today, I'm pleased to be joined by Caroline Francis, Director of the University
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of Kentucky Alumni Career Services, and Amy Gamblin, Associate Director of the
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University of Kentucky Alumni Career Services.
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Welcome, Caroline and Amy. Thank you.
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Today's topic is going to focus on encore careers or semi-retirement.
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And as we kind of introduce this topic, I want to start first,
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Caroline, by asking you to define encore careers.
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Encore careers can be, it's not necessarily age-specific, but it's the opportunity
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for for people to try something new and different.
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And people are retiring or going into semi-retirement at different ages these
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days, and they're using that opportunity to make a pivot.
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So what type of trends are you seeing at Encore Careers?
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Well, people are living a lot longer. So that means we're going to need to work a lot longer.
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Younger most americans do not have enough
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in savings to last and
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last 30 or 40 extra years at
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the end of their life so that's a
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trend that we're seeing also baby boomers and gen xers are totally redefining
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retirement and most of them want to work and contribute in some fashion as long
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as they're physically able that could be volunteer work part-time work seasonal work gigs,
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consulting, or maybe figuring out a way to keep their same job,
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but just do a lot less of it, maybe part-time instead of full-time.
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You gave me a term prior to us starting to record today, the 100-year life.
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And can you speak a little bit about that? It is fascinating.
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We know from research that more and more people are going to live to be 100.
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And there are a lot of things that we should be doing earlier in life to help us get ready for that.
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Fabulous book out of the London School of Business on the 100-Year Life.
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Also, the Stanford Center for
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Longevity has a fabulous research study also called the New Map of Life.
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And they both look at different areas and things that we can be doing to help
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us live better, age better, starting from birth.
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So good information that I include in talks to students all the way through
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people that are retired so that we can live a longer, healthier, more productive life.
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One of the big findings of the study was that our health span and our lifespan are not aligning.
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In America, we're spending about 12.4 years dying, which is not a good statistic
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for a developed country.
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So we need to be doing things
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early in our life to stay healthier longer so
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that we can work longer and enjoy life and social connections and being a contributing
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member of society so as an individual looks towards an encore career what are
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some common considerations that you hear from folks.
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People still want to give back and help others. Ideally,
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we want to be able to help people continue to nurture their passion or find
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their passion if they do not feel like they've been in a career that has allowed them to tap that.
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So many people of all ages, we want to be useful.
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And when we are working, we're more engaged with society and other people.
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We're going to to be healthier.
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Lots of research, especially that Harvard longevity study or longitudinal study
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that recently has been in the news a lot, that social connections,
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which many of us get our social connections through work, as well as challenging our mind.
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These are all things that can come from work that are going to help us live longer and healthier.
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I think it's also a great opportunity for those who are reaching semi-retirement, retirement,
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to explore some passions that they've had in the past that maybe that they haven't
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felt like they could explore during their working, quote, working years,
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and can continue those passions and exploring it in different ways to work in
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those different areas. is.
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And that brings them so much joy.
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And when they have that and they're able to explore that, then it brings longevity to their life.
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They're doing something that they love, that they feel passionate about,
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and it really brings a smile to their face, is what I've seen.
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For an individual that is looking for an encore career or a semi-retirement
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opportunity, how is it that they can make themselves attractive to employers?
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It helps if they keep their skill sets up to date. It also helps if you've been
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able to continue to nurture your network and do things in the community and get involved.
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There are lots of ways to take free or inexpensive continuing education or online learning programs.
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Volunteering also is another great opportunity. Find out what organizations
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in your community that you are aligned with or that you're passionate about.
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How can they use your skill set? Or maybe you could even learn something new.
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Excellent. As we wrap up today, do either of you all have resources or additional
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information to share for someone that may want to explore Encore career opportunities?
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Yes, UK Alumni Career Services, which are open to anyone that would like to
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become a member of UK Alumni Association, whether you've attended UK or not.
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As part of your membership, you can get two coaching sessions where we can work
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with you one-on-one and administer assessments that'll help you focus on encore
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careers and making a smoother semi-retirement transition.
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That is becoming a very popular topic.
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We also have a workshop series and information on our website that I think many
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people would also find fascinating.
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And the coaching sessions, are those available both in person and virtually?
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Yes, they are. I think that's always important to note since we have listeners
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all over for our podcast series,
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but I will put an additional plug for the coaching sessions that I know that
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they receive wonderful reviews and are extremely, extremely helpful.
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Caroline and Amy, thank you so much for joining us today.
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I do want to make a note for our listeners that we will have a link to the UK
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Alumni Association Career Services in the show notes if they are interested
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in learning more about the topics we have discussed.
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Thank you. Thanks for joining us.
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Thank you for listening to Talking FACS. We deliver programs focusing on nutrition,
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health, resource management, family development, and civic engagement.
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If you enjoyed today's podcast, have a question or a show topic idea,
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leave a like and a comment on Facebook at UKFCSEXT or send us an email at UKFCSEXT at uky.edu.
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Visit us online at fcs.uky.edu. To learn more about the University of Kentucky
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Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program,
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or contact your local extension agent for Family and Consumer Sciences,
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we build strong families.
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We build Kentucky. It starts with us.
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Music.