Majority of Workers Plan to Work After Retiring, CareerBuilder Survey Finds

CHICAGO, Feb. 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- More people may be spending their "Golden Years" at the office.  A new study from CareerBuilder shows that retirement no longer means the end of one's career.  Sixty percent of workers age 60-plus surveyed said they would look for a new job after retiring from their current company, up from 57 percent last year.  The nationwide survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive^© on behalf of CareerBuilder.  It included more than 680 U.S. workers age 60 and older and more than 2,600 hiring managers and human resources professionals between November 1 and November 30, 2012.

When asked how soon they think they can retire from their current job, more than one-in-ten (12 percent) respondents said they don't think they'll ever be able to retire. Other responses included:

• 1-2 years – 27 percent
• 3-4 years – 20 percent
• 5-6 years – 27 percent
• 7-8 years – 6 percent
• 9-10 years – 5 percent
• More than 10 years – 4 percent

There is good news for mature workers who are putting off retirement.  Employers are looking to hire more seasoned staff, with 48 percent of employers planning to hire workers age 50-plus this year, according to the survey.  Forty-four percent said they hired workers age 50-plus in 2012. Seventy-six percent of the employers surveyed would consider an application from an overqualified worker who is 50-plus, with 59 percent of employers saying mature candidates bring a wealth of knowledge to an organization and can mentor others.

"We're seeing more than three quarters of mature workers putting off retirement, largely due to financial concerns, but also as a personal decision made by people who enjoy their work," said Brent Rasmussen, President of CareerBuilder North America.  "The majority of workers who have talked with their bosses about staying on past retirement found their companies to be open to retaining them.  If you're approaching retirement age but hope to continue working, an open line of communication is very important."

Mature workers can find job search success by emphasizing the qualities that set them apart from other workers. CareerBuilder offers these tips:

• Highlight professional and personal experience – When updating your resume or interviewing for a job, think about your experience in terms of both work-related and life skills. Whether it's your strong leadership skills or your wherewithal to weather a tough economy, use your age to your advantage and play up the strengths that come with having more years under your belt.
• Stay current – Workers of all ages are going back to school to increase their marketability.  Attending seminars and workshops or taking formal courses is a great way to keep your skills up to date and can come in handy during an interview.
• Find new ways to benefit the company – If you're looking to stay with your current company beyond retirement, come up new ways to contribute to the organization outside of your day-to-day tasks. Running mentorship programs or training new hires are examples of how some mature workers have reinvented themselves within their organizations.
• Utilize your network – Being in the workforce for an extended time gives you the advantage of a broad professional network. Whether it's offline or online, reach out to former colleagues, vendors, clients, etc. to see where opportunities may arise.
• Consider part-time or freelance work – Fifty-two percent of workers age 60-plus said they will most likely work part-time once retired. Check out job boards, staffing firms and other resources for part-time, freelance or temporary work.

Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive^© on behalf of CareerBuilder among 2,611 hiring managers and human resource professionals and 682 workers age 60 and older (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government) between November 1 and November 30, 2012 (percentages for some questions are based on a subset, based on their responses to certain questions). With pure probability samples of 2,611 and 682, one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 1.92 and +/-3.75 percentage points, respectively.  Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies.

About CareerBuilder®
CareerBuilder is the global leader in human capital solutions, helping companies target and attract their most important asset - their people. Its online career site, CareerBuilder.com®, is the largest in the United States with more than 24 million unique visitors, 1 million jobs and 50 million resumes. CareerBuilder works with the world's top employers, providing resources for everything from talent and compensation intelligence to employment branding and recruitment support. More than 10,000 websites, including 140 newspapers and broadband portals such as MSN and AOL, feature CareerBuilder's proprietary job search technology on their career sites. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), Tribune Company and The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, South America, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com.

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SOURCE CareerBuilder