An Atlanta reader sent me a great question: “I am one of the army of people who lost their jobs in this recession. I am 64 years old. I have basically retired, but I would like to work part time -- clerking in a store, McDonald's, temp work, anything. Could you do a column on people my age breaking into the part-time field?”
I’m happy to oblige, for several reasons. For one thing, I think part-time jobs are great for workers who need flexibility and some income but don’t want the obligations of full-time work.
These folks might come from the upper and lower ends of the age bracket, or they might be balancing other responsibilities, such as child-rearing, coursework or elder care. They also might be recovering from an injury or illness, or living with a disability that makes part-time work the best fit.
Of course, the ranks of part-time workers also include those who would rather work full time but can’t find the position they prefer just now.
No matter your reason for seeking less-than-full-time hours, here are a few things you need to know.
First, understand that part-time jobs come in all sizes. In some companies, for example, 32 hours a week is considered full time, while the same schedule is called part time elsewhere. So you’ll need to ask questions in each situation, rather than assume you and the employer share the same definition of the term.
Along the same lines, you should bury the myth that part-time jobs are always dead-end or low-ranking. I have known part-time CEOs, part-time marketers and part-time pilots, as well as part-time clerks and grocery stockers. Knowing this, you should base your part-time career choice on your needs or skills, not on an assumption about the work you will find available.
Next, you need to understand why an employer might use a part-timer. Of course, the cost of benefits can play into the decision to trim hours. But that isn’t the whole story, or even a factor in some cases.
Employers also use part-timers when they want scheduling flexibility and bench strength, when they want one person to focus on a single process or client, when there isn’t enough work for a full-timer, and when they’re beginning something new. Some part-time jobs will become full-time jobs, and others never will. If your goal is to go full time eventually, you’ll need to ask more questions to decide if a particular position is right for you.
Finally, you need to know that part-time jobs are the least advertised of all positions. Scanning the job boards could lead you to believe there aren’t many part-time jobs around, but just the opposite is true: My guess is that there might be more of these jobs available than there are full-time jobs.
Even so, part-time jobs are less likely to be advertised, for reasons ranging from the cost of advertising to an employer’s uncertainty about the job itself. Not to mention that other employees might be covering the workload while the boss waits for the right person to come through the door.
This last piece of information is golden. When you acknowledge that you won’t find your position in the ads, you can free yourself to ask the right questions: What do I want to do? Where? On what schedule? And, most critically: Who would need me for that work?
Once you have identified the skills you want to offer and the type of employers who could use them, you can build your job search strategy. This won’t differ significantly from other best-practice job search processes, so these tips may sound familiar to you:
1. Develop your relevant strengths and put them on a resume. If you want a position in customer service, like my Atlanta correspondent, identify your best customer service skills and build the resume around them. Even if you were an engineer for 40 years, your resume should be 90 percent customer service and 10 percent technical.
2. Approach employers directly, rather than waiting for ads. In some cases, this means walking into the store when it’s not busy and asking to talk with a manager. For other types of employers, consider sending a letter of introduction with a resume, requesting a meeting to discuss potential openings.
3. Network like crazy. If you tell all your acquaintances the type of work you seek, you will learn about jobs that have been languishing for months on some employer’s wish list. Remember: Everyone knows someone who could use more help at work. Your task is to be sure they also know you, so they can make the link between employer and employee.
Amy Lindgren owns Prototype Career Service, a career consulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com or at 626 Armstrong Ave., St. Paul, MN 55102.
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