There are many jobs out there where hiring senior staff members is desirable. There are certain jobs where aged wisdom is a benefit, where an older person’s patience pays off, and where a diligent and un-impulsive manner is the most desirable trait. Here are five jobs where employers will happily hire senior citizens fairly promptly.
1. A Security Guard
But wait a minute? Doesn’t a security guard have to be an 18stone 6-foot tall man who can bend steel with his frown? Doesn’t he have to be some sort of Mission Impossible bad-ass who can jump through windows and over cars in pursuit of armed bad guys?
Well, it really depends on the sort of place you are guarding. Typically, guarding a bank is a fairly sedate job, as is guarding a warehouse. If you are asked to guard a building site, especially at night, then they will expect you to do a lot of walking.
The type of guarding job will determine what sort of person is hired. Most of the time, your biggest fight is with boredom. You may have video screens you need to watch, and you may need to open a few doors, but in most cases, your age doesn’t matter so long as you are vigilant and you can call the police or raise the alarm when needed. Oddly enough, it is the people who guard grocery stores, weed stores and liquor stores who experience the most action.
2. Delivery Drivers
Wait a minute, don’t delivery drivers have to carry massive parcels and big items? Isn’t it back-breaking labor? Well, in many cases, senior citizens can quite easily carry large, bulky and heavy items. But, even if you don’t fancy delivering double glazed window frames or sofas, there are plenty of jobs where carrying and lifting is not a big deal. There are many jobs where the upper limit to each parcel is 25Kg or 20Kg. And, even if that seems a little too much, there is a slew of new delivery jobs for food and grocery items. There is Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Just Eat, PostMates and so forth, all offering delivery jobs where you don’t have to carry very much on your deliveries.
People over a certain age tend to lose the reckless nature that sometimes leads to driving infractions. A more mature person may be a more careful driver. At the very least, the older person is more likely to be a careful driver [1]. These are all ideal qualifications for a delivery driver. It may get a little tiring having to lug bags and boxes around all day, but most of being a delivery driver is the driving part itself. It is nice to get out and stretch your legs during the delivery.
3. Administration Jobs
There is a mind-blowing number of admin jobs out there, which makes it a little unfair putting it on this list, especially when you consider how many younger people are hired too. That is the thing about admin jobs, they are looking for “anybody” because there are always administration tasks that need doing.
There are jobs out there like elderly care, where they will accept anybody because there is such a shortage of staff. The staff, in that case, have to be qualified, have an okay record, and be available to work. That is a case where the employers will hire just about anybody suitable who walks through their door. When it comes to administration, companies will hire anybody without discriminating against very young and very old people. It is not that admin jobs are targeted at older people, it is that they will hire you no matter what your age.
4. Shop Assistants
With apologies to the Woke crowd and the SJWs out there, here is a statement that is a generalization, but it is fact if you talk to almost any shop owner/manager, they will say that middle-aged to senior women make the best shop assistants. [2]
By this time in a woman’s life, she has typically had and raised kids and/or had lots of worldly experience, so she is good with old and young people in the area. She has spent years associating with other parents and/or friends and becoming part of the community, so her communication skills are typically good. Plus, she doesn’t have the impetuous, impulsive nature of a younger person, which makes her ideal for standing around in a shop and serving people. As unfair as it seems, if you offer a shop owner a young man, a young woman, or a middle-aged-to-senior woman, he will pick the slightly older woman first.
It is true that we cannot judge all people by their demographic. There are plenty of older women who are rude, feckless, abrasive and thieves. But, woman over a certain age have often had enough life experiences (kids or not), and often have a fair amount of maturity, which makes them typically more reliable and more suitable for a shop assistant role.
5. Caretaker or House Sitter
There are actually quite a few jobs where you are caretaking or house sitting, but they are often called different things. Perhaps the word caretaker or handy person sets the wrong tone. In short, they want you to do anything that is available, from mopping up messes to replacing batteries in smoke alarms. Try looking for jobs for caretakers and house sitters, but also try grounds keepers, housekeepers, maintenance person, house manager, household staff, estate hand, and so forth.
Again, it is all about having somebody there to do the jobs that they can’t find people to specifically do. You may find yourself dog walking, picking up kids, cleaning out chicken coops, fixing the table, and so forth. People and companies want a “body” under their employ so that if something comes up, then they have somebody around to take care of it. They want somebody who will do regular jobs and ad hoc unexpected jobs too. If you are having trouble finding these types of jobs, or any of the jobs on this article, try typing in different things. It sounds weird, but employers often have trouble defining the jobs they wish to offer. Hunt around a little, run a few related searches, and you will probably find the right sorts of job offerings for you.
References:
1. https://www.consumerreports.org/elderly-driving/how-seniors-are-driving-safer-driving-longer/
2. https://womenreturners.com/building-confidence/the-value-of-older-women-to-workforce/