Job ideas for semi-retired man

Becles

My Dad took early retirement from teaching, due to a number of circumstances.

After a couple of years, he decided it was boring being retired. He has been working for a book company where you put the books out in offices, nursing homes, schools etc., then go back the following week and dish out the orders.

Over the last few months he's been getting really cheesed off with the job. The market is saturated with "book men" now, and he's being turned away from many places as they are over run with books. As his wage is commission based, he cannot afford to have such poor sales. At the moment his wage is working out around £2.50 an hour, which is rubbish. He works for the book company on a self-employed basis so minimum wage doesn't apply.

He'd really love to find another job, but can't think what he wants to do. At the moment I keep telling him off as he keeps looking at these work from home scams - the "send £30 for info on how to make £1000 a week" type ad's.

He loves the freedom of being self employed, the flexibility that he can work when he wants (has good and bad health days), likes driving his transit van and loves meeting and chatting to people.

Has anyone any ideas of what sort of work he could do? He said he can't go back into teaching now he's retired so that isn't an option.

tanith

Someone I know was a teacher for years and took early retirement , and guess what she does... she is a bank teacher and works where and when she wants... she loves it , non of the usual preparing lessons, marking homework etc etc etc... she just lets her agency know which days and how many she wants to work in a week and they call her with a placement , she goes in takes the class and goes home... perfect....

I am also taking early retirement and have already approached the local authority transport dept and got a positive reaction to joining thier school transport drivers , this is part time 4 hrs per day taking disabled children to and from school.... I am looking forward to Sept when I will probabley start...

Spendless

My Dad is semi-retired after redundancy some years ago. He drives the bus that picks disabled children from their home to school and drops back off at home. He had to go on a course to learn to drive the mini-bus. No idea how much it cost as it was paid for by the company that made him redundant as part of his package. disadvantages you have a split day, out in morning and then again PM but the rest of the day is yours and you still get all the school hols off.

FIL was made redundant last year in his 60s and has yet to find work. He has been applying for caretaker/handy man jobs at local schools and community centres.

Is he not allowed to teach or just he doesn't wish to? If he is not allowed can he not get round this by offering private tuition?

Becles

He said he can't teach anymore but I'm not sure of the exact reasons why.

Trying to keep control of 11-16 year old charva's full of "their rights" in a rough East Durham comprehensive (Billy Elliot area) is enough to put anyone off teaching though! That was his last teaching job.

He also works seasonally for the exam board writing the GCSE papers and organising teams of markers, so I think teaching might conflict as he knows what is on the paper before the exams are set.

Dora_the_Explorer_5

A couple of blokes in my area set themselves up as 'House Husbands - we do the jobs your hubby can't'. They have more work than they can cope with because there are lots of older folks who just want a wardrobe moving, tap washer replaced, curtains changed, mirror or picture hung, internal door handles replaced, stuff taking to the dump, etc etc etc. So if your dad's been handy around the house would this kind of thing be an option for him? He might find the contrast with his academic work quite refreshing.

Prudent

Dora_the_Explorer wrote:

A couple of blokes in my area set themselves up as 'House Husbands - we do the jobs your hubby can't'. They have more work than they can cope with because there are lots of older folks who just want a wardrobe moving, tap washer replaced, curtains changed, mirror or picture hung, internal door handles replaced, stuff taking to the dump, etc etc etc. So if your dad's been handy around the house would this kind of thing be an option for him? He might find the contrast with his academic work quite refreshing.

I would second that idea. I bought a house in late 2002 that was in very bad condition. For 2 1/2 years I had a wonderful retired man who used to do lots of odd jobs for me. He would even go out and purchase the paint/ wood etc. I don't think any of the jobs were higly skilled - mainly painting, wall papering, things that required a drill. However as a single parent in a demanding job (also a teacher!) they were simply too much for me. Sadly he can now no longer work at all for health reasons, and I miss him.

Becles

The handyman is an excellent idea, however my Dad is Mr Bodge It :eek:

After electrocuting my Mam on numerous occasions, and cutting umpteen corners in their own home, I wouldn't trust him near anyone elses home!

Sallys_Savings

Does he mean he wouldnt teach at all?...or would he consider home tutoring?.
We used to pay for my son to have extra lessons out of school for english and it was really hard to find someone to take him on.
My sister in law does this now and teaches three pupils privately for a bit of extra cash. She teaches maths and music to one pupil (the music being a treat for completing the maths which he hates) and english to the other two pupils.
It only needs to be a few hours a week ..perhaps he may consider this?

inmypocketnottheirs

What about Courier work. As a self employed freelance courier he could pick and chose the days he wants to work. PM me if you want anymore info.

seven-day-weekend

Sallys_Savings wrote:

Does he mean he wouldnt teach at all?...or would he consider home tutoring?.
We used to pay for my son to have extra lessons out of school for english and it was really hard to find someone to take him on.
My sister in law does this now and teaches three pupils privately for a bit of extra cash. She teaches maths and music to one pupil (the music being a treat for completing the maths which he hates) and english to the other two pupils.
It only needs to be a few hours a week ..perhaps he may consider this?

It depends what his subject is....no one wants to pay my husband to do extra tuition in Geography,

Nelski

If he has good sales skills which he sounds like he has and a lot of experience in teaching then he could go into consultancy and training and make a lot of money either with someone else or on his own terms.

Rather than thinking about the smaller jobs that will earn him so much an hour if hes lucky maybe he could think about all he has to offer (which sounds like its a lot) and go for some bigger stuff.

The other option which may well suit him Becles is personal and professional coaching via the telephone - bet he would make a great mentor.