My dad is a civil engineer. He has Ph.D. He’s near retirement. Since he works for the govt I am sure he’ll be forced to retire in the next few years but still a pretty capable guy and my mom is also working.
He still wants to work. I would prefer that he work part time in a non stressful environment. I don’t like the private sector or corporate jobs for him at this age.
What are his options? Work as consultant? Teach? Start a small business? Another career?
Re: Finding Jobs for my Dad
I need to know your Dad's location ...
Re: Finding Jobs for my Dad
Teaching is a good option. I wont advice a business as it could get pretty stressful
Re: Finding Jobs for my Dad
Teaching is stressful too...maybe a consultant.....
Re: Finding Jobs for my Dad
Nature of existing job will enable us to reply better.
Re: Finding Jobs for my Dad
Yeah , consulting looks like the best option ..
Since the only key objective at this point in life is to keep oneself busy , hence it might be worth to look around and see if there are any office based roles out there , even if they arent as senior in grade ...
Good luck though. It can be hard but I am sure there is a way , though it largely depends on what country they live in.
Re: Finding Jobs for my Dad
For a retired civil engineer there can be tons of consulting opportunities and it is least stressful job.
Re: Finding Jobs for my Dad
I like CB's suggestion the best... I don't know about the opportunities in your dad's dept., but I know many people who've retired from govt. jobs but continue to work in roles similar to their jobs but on a contract basis. Here in Canada, the govt. has very high dependency on contingent labor. If your dad likes what he's doing right now, he should look into extending his stint with his current employer through contracting.
At his age, you need to factor in the change factor... if he hasn't done consulting or teaching for a while, it's going to be a steep learning curve, a new work culture and routines. From personal experience, government, consulting, and teaching are all very different ballgames.
Re: Finding Jobs for my Dad
Depends on where your dad is. My dad worked as a civil engineer in Saudi for 27 years, 5 years ago he decided to quit his job and move us all back to Pakistan, where he set up a construction business that's gone very well mashallah. He didn't want to continue working into retirement age so he took the plunge and it paid off. So starting a construction business, for eg building and selling houses, is something your dad could do to get started, its not stressful if you have the right people working for you. Of course you do need a fair bit of investment initially. This is only for Pakistan though, I wouldn't know anything about the business climate in North America.
Re: Finding Jobs for my Dad
^My uncle was a Civil Eng in the Pakistan Army for a number of years, then retired and did exactly what rizla86 mentioned. He started his own contruction business. His son helps to manage all the contracts and has labor workers hired to carry out the projects. But then again, that is for pakistan, not sure how functional such an approach would be elsewhere. I dont know too much about it, but those are just my 2 cents.