There sure are a lot of open opportunities today and recruiter contact has recently escalated. Something of a surprise since I haven’t updated an online resume in over a decade. After a recent back and forth with a recruiter about an interesting opportunity, I’ve come to realize that at this point I might just be an unemployable retiree. Surprise! It has nothing to do with stale skills.

Many years ago when I retired early at the age of 51, I had a plan to retire early and often. I spent years being pigeonholed during my long engineering career to support all the legacy crap. The tedious old money-makers that new people didn’t want to learn while denying me the new fun stuff. So my plan came with a list of paid adventures I wanted to learn and do. My retirement gigs were fun and rewarding to jump in and out of. I basically ran through my list and have since enjoyed stepping back from all of that while remaining open to maybe one day doing it again. But can I?

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Hitting Unemployable Retiree Status

There are many stories about how people want to retire and do some type of paid work. I’ve always believed retirement is the absence of NEEDING to work, not the absence of work. A philosophical view and lifestyle that I have lived for over 13 years now. 

We always hear warnings about people who retire and then want to return to work but they didn’t maintain or gain the necessary new skills to remain attractive to the hiring system. I know that is a real thing to be cognizant of and work to address. However, what I’m now experiencing is something else. It’s something that I think every retiree who is open to working in retirement might also find one day happening to them.

My years of retirement freedom living life on my terms have changed my definition of rewarding work and what I’m willing to do when trading my time for money. After decades of obligated work duty acceptance, I stuck to a narrow and focused target of what I would accept doing in retirement. Career servitude certainly changed me over the decades. But there’s little question that over time, my early retirement has also changed me from what I was in the first years after ditching my long career. 

I’ve had a lot of time to think about all of the sacrifices I had to make in order to succeed in my past career and now a financially independent retirement.

Too much of my career had over the top unacceptable treatment. Today I wouldn’t tolerate any of it regardless of outcome. Rejecting some of those workplace shenanigans were put to the test in my retirement gigs. I just successfully refused to bend and offered to immediately resign. But I now feel even more rigid about my work acceptance parameters. Here are a few observations that make me believe I may have reached unemployable retiree status.

Advanced BS Detection

I used to be a lot more trusting. Giving a pass to some contradictory statements or work scope discrepancies that seemed to drift throughout a conversation or opportunity interview. Not so much now. My BS detection kicks in and I immediately feel the need to call it out and clarify. Strangely it’s something I’ve found that interviewers and especially hiring managers aren’t used to and don’t appreciate. In the past I just took mental notes and knew what to watch out for later if I accepted the position. Today I’m not willing to go anywhere near there.

Rarely does someone get past my working in retirement screening. But the last time that an interesting opportunity did, I actually cleared through a couple of interviews to the final hiring manager and director interview. This was the earliest realization that I may be an unemployable retiree. I had laid out clearly what I was willing to accept throughout their earlier interview process. Now these two were mentioning things beyond the earlier interview agreed position scope. All of a sudden there were required position elements that were consistently mentioned as my having zero interest in doing. 

The moment I brought it up in that final interview I sensed hostility toward my gall to even mention it. I knew what that alone meant. Even if it was favorably explained to me, I knew that I wouldn’t be high on their hiring list just for having the audacity to raise the issue. Nor could I trust it wouldn’t rise up again later if we did decide to move forward. At that point I decided we were wasting both of our time. I simply said it doesn’t sound like it’s a good fit. That was my way to politely end the interview.

Lack of Needing To Prove Myself 

As far as I am concerned, as a financially independent retiree I’ve got nothing I need to prove to anyone. There seems to always be a competitive element to the workplace. Be the best, go the extra mile, surpass expectations, bell curve performance rating, etc. and be able to prove it. It all ends up being compared to peers with metrics that are meant to drive competition to drive higher productivity. Something that doesn’t necessarily result in higher compensation. It’s a way to have overperformers cover for the underperformers so that the business continues without delay. I get it, but I’m no longer interested in any of it which is an unemployable retiree stance to have.

I find that a lot of managers need their carrot and stick practices as a primary motivation. As a retiree I just want to do the best job possible and no longer seek climbing in job status or chasing any other corporate-world carrot of the day at the cost of my personal life. Meaning, I will gladly trade some of my time for money doing the agreed upon job scope that I accepted and if it isn’t enough, then let’s just part ways. 

As a financially independent retiree I consider any paid opportunity as a learning and doing experience of interest that will ultimately run its course one way or another. Not being motivated by carrots or having fear of any sticks may just be the definition of someone being an unemployable retiree, even in this wide open job market. 

Overtime Will Never Pay Enough

Money was never the primary reason for any of my paid retirement gig adventures. So time always beats money ever since I retired early. In today’s understaffed environment, whether due to mismanagement, design, or bad luck finding people, overtime seems to be the business go-to. When I was a young parent I had to work all the overtime I was offered. Something about financially desperate employees really plays well into the employment system. Now that isn’t the case for me which I think takes me to, and even beyond, unemployable retiree status. 

What I Would Do If The Perfect Opportunity Presented Itself

I try to believe that I could revert back to my slightly more bendable early retiree self if I was presented with the perfect gig. It would have to be something I really wanted to do. I do think even with the introduction of some slight employment shenanigans I could temporarily fake it until I could either mold things my way or get a big enough taste to feel good about just walking away if it was unbearable. Even getting to that point will rely heavily on what I have always done to land my past paid retirement adventures.

Trust My Screening Process

It takes a lot to get to me. Much has to be in perfect alignment for me to even engage in the first place. I am getting a lot of recruiter emails and a few voice messages and nothing passes the smell-test these days. Having already gone through my list of jobs I wanted to learn and do in my retirement, I can’t think of anything at this time that I would even entertain. It would take me believing in the people, project, business, or cause to peak my interest.

Be Brutally Honest

In all my retirement gig interviews I honestly said what I will and can do. The way I see it, there’s no reason for either party to have false expectations. Whether they believe it or not, what they see is what they get. It would only happen if it is a good fit for both of us. Not sure that would fly in today’s environment. Seems the world values bluster, exaggeration, and self promotion over truthfulness or facts.

Stick To The Payable Strengths That I WANT To Use

I’d stick to my skills that I would love to use and the job itself. I have no interest in working using even payable skills that I hate doing. On top of that, there’s no interest in climbing any ladder to something more. The truth is a retiree is a short-termer. It’s no secret that I am older, why would either party tiptoe around it?

Tell Them Why I Really Want To Do It

Obviously if it gets to this stage, the match of resume, skills, and job scope have been perfectly aligned. Explaining why I want to do a job just ties it together. Especially if there is any question of overqualification. Everyone then knows exactly where we stand. Frankly, I can’t think of anything today that could get me past this hump to even tell myself let alone an interviewer. This issue makes me now really believe I’m an unemployable retiree. 

 

My plan to retire early and often is a great plan. It is a rewarding lifestyle to adopt and I’m optimistic under the right conditions that it still could be in the future. But like everything else in this world and life, nothing lasts forever. This retirement philosophy will have to evolve as we always seem to change. I think we end up at some point deciding for ourselves that we are an unemployable retiree. Something to consider as time goes by living a life of FIRE.