Un-Retiring
Is retirement on your radar? Last week I wrote about the "disappearing" jobs phenomenon, and this week I promised a few words about returning to work after a period of retirement.
The recession has brought about the interesting, but not surprising, trend of retired NPs wishing to re-enter the workforce. Not a bad idea in theory, if your retirement savings are down and you have loads of experience to offer, one would expect you would be welcomed back into the workplace with open arms.
Unfortunately, you would be incorrect. In an ironic twist of fate, employers are not so quick to jump on the "unretirement" bandwagon. In fact, they are not only passing up the returning retiree, but are often choosing instead to go with a new graduate. Why?
Try to see it from the employers' perspective. In their eyes an ideal candidate is one who will be with them for the long run and potentially stay in the job for several years. By sharp contrast, when they see a retired NP seeking work it practically screams "seeking short-term employment."
Of course, no one openly declares on their resume their intention to re-retire as soon as the economy recovers, but you WILL have to explain why you haven't been working at all for the past couple years. I don't think you need to be Einstein to figure out when an applicant is coming out of retirement due to a bad economy that once the recession ends a resignation letter is bound to not be very far behind.
Just as NPs have readjusted their priorities and goals with the recession, so have employers. In the current job market, more value is now placed on assuring a return on investment. Budgets are decreased and hiring costs money, so no employer wants to repeat the hiring process again anytime soon. Patient satisfaction is also at risk -- when providers leave a practice, sometimes the patients do, too.
Not the best news if you are a retiree looking for work, you may have to consider looking at temporary or locum positions, or maybe even doing some nonclinical work.
If you are toying with the idea of retiring and have been telling yourself you can easily come out of retirement if your finances run short, you may wish to rethink that strategy and hang in there for the time being.