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Are you retiring, already retired or hoping to retire soon? Are you worried that the moment you retire, you will be bored or run out of money or both? This article looks at the employment opportunities for retired people and picks up the best retirement jobs.

DO YOU REALLY WANT A RETIREMENT CAREER?

Firstly, take a moment to consider why you are looking for a job after retirement. Do you really want to need to work after retiring? Perhaps it is the pressures and expectations of our modern society to be rich and always busy rather than a genuine desire for retirement income or a way to occupy your day.

Recent research has shown that three-quarters of German adults find it difficult to switch off and do nothing. They have even coined a term for it: ‘freizeitstresse’ or ‘free time stress’. This is guilt or stress when we are doing nothing with our free time. We might be stressed that we are ‘only’ reading a book, sitting out in the garden, having a nap or watching TV.

Even retirees are thought to suffer from this free time stress. They feel a subconscious social pressure to be active and ‘do stuff’. Is this the reason you are looking for retirement work? Do not rush headlong into the first retirement career you are offered. Consider the underlying motivations for your desire to work. You can keep busy and live a fulfilled life without taking on a job, or you can do absolutely nothing! It is your life and you have earned the right to do what you like with it.

Perhaps you want to supplement your retirement income. You are worried that it will run out. This is a perfectly valid concern. Many people head into retirement without enough funds. Analyze your financial situation with an adviser or check with one of the many retirement calculators online to see if you have enough money to sustain the lifestyle you have chosen in your later years.

Also be wary of jumping into work as a status symbol. Having a job often defines who we are, and thus our self-worth. People love boasting about how busy they are, how they haven’t slept for days in order to meet this or that deadline. It is a curse of modern society that we consider overwork and high work stress to be a badge of honor. Are you looking for a retirement career simply to avoid sitting at a dinner party and hearing those words “so what do you do?”

Now you have considered the reasons for working again, let us list out the best retirement careers out there.

WORK AT HOME

Finding a work-at-home occupation is probably of the most popular retiree jobs. Working from the comfort of your own home, without having to commute to the office each day, wear a suit, or deal with the same old office politics, gossip and plain pointless conversations; there are certainly many advantages to working from home.

Companies are seeking ways to reduce their overheads. With this come opportunities for part-time, stay-at-home work.

Some of the most popular jobs you can do at your kitchen table include writing, proofreading, editing and researching. If we just look at the category of writing, there is a unbelievable variety of related jobs such as ghost-writing, resume writing, technical writing, blogging, travel writing. I have even seen jobs advertised for people to simply cut and paste internet research findings into a word document.

You can find many opportunities like this at freelance websites such as elance.com, odesk.com and freelancer.com.

Other work-at-home jobs include data entry, crossword creation, recipe testing and writing, graphics design and computer programming. My friend’s retired mom is a medical coder. Her local hospital even supplied her with a computer to work with and an allowance for her broadband internet connection.

Admittedly, she was a trained medical coder at the same hospital for many years before retiring, but it is possible to receive online training and certification for this.

GARDENING

Some view gardening as hard work, while others see it as a glorious chance to work in the great outdoors and be one again with nature.

In modern families, often both parents work, so they have less time to maintain a garden. Isn’t it one of life’s ironies that people work so hard today to be able to afford a large house with a pretty garden and then don’t have time to enjoy either of them! Their loss – your gain. They are more likely to employ a part-time gardener to mow lawns, trim hedges, weed and water plants.

Gardening is physical work but there are so many useful gardening tools and gadgets for almost every task. This includes knee rests, light weight tools and longer handles so you can avoid back strain.

There is a wealth of anecdotal evidence to support that gardening improves your mental state and can even stave off Alzheimer’s disease.

MYSTERY SHOPPER

How can you satisfy your shopping urges without having to spend any money? Even better, get paid to shop or eat out! A mystery shopper goes into a fast food restaurant or a store and pretends to order or buy something just as a regular customer. Meanwhile, without the staff noticing, they are quietly noting all the small details of their experience and service: the time it takes to order and receive the food, the cleanliness of the toilet, the response to queries or complaints, the appearance and attitude of the workers.

This is life of the mystery shopper and for many retirees, this is the dream career. In 2004, in the US alone, they estimate that a whopping $645 million dollars were paid out to mystery shoppers. You might be in a fast food restaurant in the morning, buying electronics in the afternoon and enjoying a swanky top class restaurant in the evening; all on someone else’s money!

I was once paid for spending a night in one of the world’s finest hotels. A third-party security company had hired me and dozens of others to secretly test the emergency fire procedure. We spent a very comfortable evening enjoying the hotel’s delights including an evening meal, swimming pool, spa and gym. At around 10am the next morning the fire alarm sounded. We were guided by the staff to the nearest emergency exit and simply had to complete a 45 minute interview about our experience. The easiest supplementary income I have ever earned.

When looking for mystery shopper opportunities you can do an online search but research each opportunity thoroughly as there are internet scams. Also, there is no guarantee you will be accepted first time round or by the first company to which you apply, so be patient and persistent.

NEW RETIREMENT CAREER

It is said that 80% of people finish up in the wrong job. So looking at a new career in your retirement is an opportunity to try something completely new. Po Bronson says his popular book “What Should I Do With My Life” says many retirees draw inspiration from his stories in order to find meaningful work for their retirement years.

These are just a few of the opportunities available to you to add to your retirement income. I hope you have enjoyed this brief guide to the best retirement jobs. All the best wishes for your new career!

Today, the fashion retail industry is growing and proving to be a very stable business sector. One of the benefits of pursuing a career in retail fashion is the breadth and diversity of available opportunities. For example, if you are good at dealing with people, there are plenty of fashion jobs that you can try pursuing. There are plenty of positions available in this industry ranging from marketing positions to merchandising and management.

If your inclinations lie in designing, there are plenty of fashion design jobs you can try as well. Other opportunities include those related to buying, marketing, finance, and supply change. Indeed, retail is a growth sector these days. Unlike other industries which are confined to a particular location, retail shops are strategically located in various places in the area.

Even with the increased prominence of online shopping, retail continues to grow, keeping pace with the demand of consumers and tourists. The retail sector is one of the sturdiest and more robust sectors. In fact, during the economic crisis, many retailers increased their workforce.

In terms of stability, very few industries can match the retail sector. When you talk of scope and variety, very few industries can match fashion retail. Whatever your level of experience may be, you are assured of finding a position that matches your interest, skill, and experience.

You can certainly find work in areas like marketing, finance, human resources, buying, and visual merchandising.

Retail also has a low barrier of entry, with many companies willing to take employees with limited experience for some positions. On top of that, it is fairly common in the industry to see people work their way to the top. Retail employees also enjoy a few perks that can leave employees in other sectors green with envy. These include big discounts on store merchandise.

The great thing about this industry is that many retailers provide employees with training programs as well as a fast career progression. Although many retailers accept graduates from different backgrounds, you will have a better chance of landing a retail job if your educational background is related to business, management or economics. It also helps if you are highly skilled in relationship management and customer service. This can be your edge to land the job you want.

For those who want a long-term job in retail, they should take the time to determine the specific role or career direction that they want to pursue. It is also a good idea to brush up on their knowledge of the business side. Indeed, retail jobs are growing and are still proving to be stable as ever.

Optional practical training for occupational therapist jobs offer therapy students an opportunity to apply the knowledge gained through classroom studies in real situations, generally in an outside environment. The candidates can therefore obtain more practical experience, which in turn gives them the confidence to work efficiently in well-known medical care facilities.

Students with F-1 Status Can Obtain OPT Jobs

Optional Practical Training (OPT) is an authorization granted by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), for those students having F-1 status. This consent helps the candidates obtain provisional employment based on their academic discipline so that they can be benefited by a solid foundation for framing their future career.

For utilizing this excellent job opportunity, candidates must have enrolled with USCIS recognized schools at least for a period of nine continuous months. They must also possess F1-status at the time of applying. Students satisfying all these criteria can undergo the training in the following instances:

• After the completion of the course requirements for degree (before the submission of your thesis or dissertation)

• After obtaining the degree

• As part-time, while school is in session

• On part-time or full-time basis during annual vacation and at other times

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has now extended the duration of optional practical training from 12 to 29 months, which can be utilized by candidates maintaining the F-1 immigration status. The new rules will help the students to utilize OPT for a longer time without worrying about their graduation dates, and they can also concentrate more on their job search.

Approach an Experienced Staffing Service Provider

By utilizing the services of experienced healthcare staffing service providers, you can find suitable optional practical training opportunities for occupational therapist jobs in top-class healthcare settings throughout the United States. When you register with these companies, the staffing professionals will provide you with expert assistance to secure permanent or temporary placements with attractive emoluments and benefits.

99.9 percent of all Google searches for “work from home” are scams. This does not bode well for people interested in working from home legitimately. You have to know which ones to pick. Paid online surveys working from home is an excellent choice. The key is to select the good companies who need your valuable feedback and WANT to pay you.

I started doing paid surveys online back in 2011 with a website called Springboard America. Trusted brands like Yahoo, World Vision, and Lenovo use a marketing research company called Maru/Matchbox to make their businesses better. Maru/Matchbox created Springboard America back in 2009 to deliver legitimate surveys paid in points. Later on members trade in those points for cash and/or gift cards.

Vindale Research is another website dedicated to delivering people cash for their opinions. You have an opportunity to make up to $50 per survey. Why are they legitimate? They have been in business since 2004, a member of the BBB with an A+ rating, TRUSTe certified, and Norton Secured. With these qualifications it places them in the top tier of legitimate paid surveys jobs.

Toluna is another awesome website to join. They are one of the more interactive sites. Toluna includes polls, comments, and discussions for members and staff to interact with each other on a daily basis. Not online will you be rewarded for your opinions but also for participating in a potpourri of discussions that rewards your account for participating in as well.

The final job I am going to mention is American Consumer Opinion. They have been in the market research business before the internet took off. Established in 1986 as a direct mailing survey company, have since evolved into an online solution for people to join and discover how they can share their opinions for money.

Anyone of these companies will launch your survey career. Once you join, many of them will link to other legitimate paid surveys jobs within their program.

PRODUCT TESTING

In addition to being paid for surveys online you may be asked to evaluate a product or service at home. You will be sent a product and asked to write an honest review of the product. You will be able to keep the product received and in addition receive a cash payment.

Legitimate paid surveys jobs are everywhere. Companies need your input in order to make products or services better. In addition to receiving cash rewards your going to be assisting in building a better tomorrow for people.

The companies mentioned are free to join, legal, and sometimes pay you to join instead of the other way around. Many scams online will ask you to pay for some sort of course or access to an exclusive membership. Legitimate paid surveys jobs is an excellent choice to earn from home.

Blogging jobs sprout like mushrooms as the blogging phenomenon becomes a mainstream hype and had already built a strong audience. A blog is like an online diary where people put in ideas either for mere pleasure or business with the use of pre-designed templates and a simple navigational structure.

Blogs can help you generate income in a relatively easy way that is why a lot of people are rooting for it as an additional source of income, while others even make it as their full-time career. However, before you can even think of the prospect of generating cash online, you need first to create a carefully planned blog that you think you will excel. Of course, it is important that your main subject should be in the line of your interests so that it will be easier for you to create posts when you finally found a job.

The best way for you to find blogging jobs is by going to a particular website that does not have a blog site yet and tell them your proposal of creating a blog to promote their company. However, this can be very intimidating since you still have to prove your worth to these companies. An easier way to find blogging jobs is to use the different outsourcing sites that you can find online. In order for you to be placed on a certain job, you have to bid on the projects that you think you can provide a great service. It is necessary that you sell yourself to these sites but you should do it at the right price. Mention every now and then your availability so that the companies will have an idea as to when they can hire your services.

You can have as many blogging jobs as you like but it all depends on your skills and time management because blogging is relatively simple to do if you have the passion for writing.

Applying for jobs can be tough going. Sometimes it can feel like a full-time job just applying for jobs!

And it can be easy for your self-confidence to take a nosedive if you are not getting many positive responses. It certainly can feel demoralizing and dis-empowering.

So I want to remind you today, firstly, that your job DOES NOT equal your worth as a person. Sure, a job has many benefits: it can provide you with opportunities to learn new things, to tackle challenges, to make a difference, to make new friends, to develop as a person, to apply things in the real world, to grow in confidence, to earn money, to feel settled and stable, to socialize, to feel part of something greater than yourself. But it does NOT substitute for your intrinsic worth as a person, which is fixed and will never change – regardless of whatever job you do or do not have.

Now we have got that cleared up… I also want to share with you something else you can do to keep your spirits high. While not wanting to get too woo-woo about it, it’s important to get your energy working for you while you are job hunting.

As Wayne Dyer famously said: “You don’t attract what you want. You attract what you are.” And this principle applies just as much in your job applications as in anything else.

So consider what feelings and experiences does the thought of having your dream job generate in you – is it about security and stability? Or excitement and innovation? Or something else?

I challenge you to consider how you can bring more of that energy into your life right now…

Perhaps it is about feeling grounded and supported – in which case you could take a walk in nature, spend time with loved ones or do some exercise.

Or if it is about vibrancy and taking on new challenges, perhaps you could take on something you’ve never done before or join an adventure-based club to make new friends with like-minded people.

Energy really is contagious, so while you’re waiting to land that job, you can create more of the energy you want from your ideal job in your life straight away. In a way that our rational minds can’t really understand, this actually makes it much easier for you to find and be offered the job that you truly want.

Are you interested in work from home jobs? You can find several home jobs on the internet, but before applying for any of the home based jobs you have to do some research about the company that is providing work from home projects. You have to ensure whether the company or website is legitimate or not. Some of the home based work options available through internet are customer service, sales, scheduling services, recruiting services, marketing, telemarketing, online tutor jobs, call center jobs, transcription jobs, technical writing, and content writing. Several websites on the internet are offering various home based jobs. You can find both full time and part time jobs on the internet.

If you are a job seeker, then you have to spend enough time to sort out real jobs from the scams as you can find several job scams in the job market. The skills required for the home based jobs are same as those required for the office jobs. To be qualified for such employment options, you should have necessary qualifications, phone, computer, printer, fax, required software, and other office equipment.

To begin your search for work from home jobs, you have to spend some amount of time to search for the jobs as you will be doing for traditional ones. You should dedicate few hours every week. The best way to find freelance work is to log on to various websites that offer work from home projects. Never sign up with websites that are asking for any sign-up fees. After signing up to the websites offering home based assignments, you have to identify the type of work suitable for you depending upon your skills, knowledge, experience and qualifications.

In addition to the online portals, you can find various opportunities at work from home forums. These forums contain advertisements on various work from home opportunities. Newspaper classifieds are a good resource to find home based jobs. Never try too much of jobs at the same time as it will prevent you to obtain great success. You have to focus on a single job and then concentrate to improve the skills for it, so that you can increase the probability of your success. To avoid any cheating from people who are offering work from home projects, you can ask for an advance payment or escrow to ensure that they will pay once the project is accomplished by you. The employers can release the payment after receiving the completed project from you.

Looking for work? Somebody out there wants you to design websites, write an application for mobile phones, maybe remotely sort out their network, or just do PC support, either on site or via the internet. And they don’t want to do it all formally. It’s more like “You do this for me, and I give you money”

Our world has become extremely small. No, we won’t be running out of space soon, but as far as computing is concerned, very small. We are capable of controlling a computer on the other side of the world remotely (with the owners’ permission, of course) and fix or modify it without breaking a sweat.

Whether you call this consulting, freelance or “Micro Jobs,” more of us are headed that way, according to Kristin Cardinale. The author of The 9-to-5 Cure, Cardinale cites U.S. Department of Labor projections that “millions of short-term workers” are needed.

Short-term gigs can help programmers meet specific goals like paying for their studies, saving towards a new car, or just having some spare cash lying around.

Many people simply don’t want to punch a clock, according to Odd Jobs: How to Have Fun and Make Money in a Bad Economy “Usually you decide when you work and when you take the morning off to sleep, or the week off to go skiing,” writes author Abigail R. Gehring. “And the variety of people you will meet, places you’ll find yourself and skill sets you’ll discover are sure to keep life interesting.”

Pros and cons.

OK, before you zoom off to go and quit your day job, there are (always) a few things you have to remember: Working for yourself is challenging.

If you think self-employment equals endless free time, think again, it’s not always so.

However, this working lifestyle may be perfect for people who:

• Are not Office Johnnies, and prefer to work on their own, at their own pace,
• People who travel long distances, and find that the time and cost of getting to work are sometimes not worth the effort.
• Have a special skill, and wants to make these known to a large audience of clients.

Other advantages of being your own boss?

• Work according to your own hours.
• Every day is Casual Friday!
• Take holidays whenever you want, provided of course, you are on schedule.
• Meetings between you and the client are really easy to arrange.

However, there are (always) the potential disadvantages:

• Work-play balance control, There is an amount of dedication involved.
• You need to keep your administration under control.
• No insurance or retirement. (Some full-time jobs don’t provide these, either.)
• You work alone. No other colleagues to chat to. (May be an advantage)
• Unpredictable, and fluctuations of income. It will be important to budget properly.

Right, so how do I do this?

The Internet has always been your friend. There are many sites that offer freelancers the ability to post their listing, often for free. Clients react to these post fairly quickly, obviously depending on the type of work you have to offer.

Some sites even allow clients to bid on your work, and you can then accept the individual or company that you want to work with.

Google the net for reputable sites and work with them. Try the Micro Jobs arena and see how it pans out for you. There is lots of money to be made in this new and wonderful money-making haven, and the whole concept just makes a lot of sense.

Previously, only webmasters used to perform Search Engine Optimization tasks for a specific website. But today, the internet business has grown to a high level which requires that the Search Engine Optimization work should be performed by an SEO expert. Freelancers search for SEO jobs nowadays as there are many opportunities in this field for those who have the skills to do the job. Many of these jobs can be found on various freelance websites on the Internet.

Freelancers search for Search Engine Optimization jobs because this career is ever growing and there is always a demand for SEO specialist. Many freelancers have a very lavish career in Search Engine Optimization and one can find a job in this field quite easily if he has the skills and abilities matching the job criteria. For persons who do not have much experience in the SEO work, there are lots of different online websites that provide guidance and understanding of how this work can be done.

There are several websites that offer SEO related job postings where freelancers search for a specific kind of job that suits their SEO expertise. A freelancer who has the ability to do anything in this field would no doubt garner success in finding appropriate work for himself. A person who is familiar with Search Engine Optimization can gradually develop expert skills while working.

Freelancers find SEO jobs and take it as a very serious career. Many companies prefer to hire individuals who are able to develop their websites and also have good SEO expertise. People often regard Search Engine Optimization as a not very appealing kind of job but this is not true at all. Persons who have great SEO expertise can earn a very handsome living due to increased demand of SEO experts nowadays.

There are many options available for SEO experts throughout the internet. There are plenty of websites that offer SEO job openings on a daily basis. Freelancers search for SEO related jobs on various freelance websites and they earn a very decent amount of money. Job listings present on these websites come under the search engine and related jobs category.

With the help of internet, it is not very difficult to have freelancers search for SEO related work. But the key is to do your research well and find out the best opportunities related to this field. One can pursue a very long lasting career as an SEO expert. Although sometimes it can be time-consuming to find jobs through the internet in this specific field, but once found, one can benefit a lot from it.

For many of this country’s largest trucking companies, reducing turnover and retaining truck drivers is a primary ingredient to remaining profitable. The professional truck driver labor pool market is the tightest it has been in 20 years, and the turnover rate at large trucking companies exceeds 100%, according to the American Trucking Association.

Recent statistics indicate the long-haul segment of the trucking industry has a national shortage of 20,000 drivers. It predicts the shortage will increase to 111,000 by the year 2014 given the current demographic trends. A severe shortage of drivers could hurt the U.S. economy. Trucks carry more than 75% of domestic goods we consume on a daily basis, and without enough well trained truck drivers to haul the nation’s products, consumers will be subject to unexpected delays on those items they both want and need. And if the supply/demand ration continues to result in an ongoing shortage, compensation will continue to rise to find and keep good truck driver talent. As a result, we will all see higher prices in everything we purchase.

The trucking industry admits it has a critical problem and has been focusing on new, creative recruiting strategies to enhance the levels of CDL truck driver applicants, and recruit new people into the industry that keeps our national economy moving. To fill the increased demand CDL truck driving jobs, trucking companies and truck driving schools are appealing to demographic groups, such as women, retirees and husband-wife teams, who traditionally have not fit the trucker stereotype. Women are perhaps the fastest-growing group in the field. Since 2002, when only 5% of the nations truck driving jobs were filled by women, most nationally known truck driving schools are experiencing a 50% growth rate in the number of female applicants as compared to men applying for the same positions.

Another employment pool niche that being tapped into to fill some of the truck driver shortage gap are former factory workers. There are now 2.7 million fewer manufacturing jobs in the USA than there were 10 years ago. With factories expected to do little hiring in coming years, many former workers are seeking a new career. Truck driving jobs give these often displaced workers an opportunity to start a new, productive career.

Often times, Individuals with the ability to retire from 20-25 year careers in manufacturing often take advantage of financial assistance programs offered by the government. The bottom line is the government supplies displaced workers with tuition and free cdl training school opportunities. This is a golden labor pool for trucking companies as many of these new found recruits are dependable, reliable and often times in very good health.

Minorities have also become a favorite recruiting target for trucking companies. Well structured programs are producing strong results. One recent training program sponsored by a Latino community organization tracked their results and found 70% of the 50 students who attended these classes found CDL truck driving jobs earning average annual compensation of $47,580.

Good luck in your truck driver job search. Be patient, persistent, expect good results and you will see positive results far sooner than you think!