What Baby Boomers Need to Stage A Comeback?

The second half of the last century has seen tremendous advances in medical and health care technologies; as a result, it has not only increased the life expectancy of people, but also in general, made people more healthy and fit. The baby boomers generation (born beetween1946-1964) is the first generation to directly benefit from these advancements. So gone are the days when people work till the age of 60 or 65, and then retire to gardening or playing golf.

This generation expects to live much longer than any other generation in the history of mankind, and is very much physically, as well as mentally able to do so. The number of people aged over 50 is about a quarter of the US population, and there is bound to be a huge shortage in work force if all of them retire to the peace of their homes. This is giving the industry insiders jitters regarding the shortage of workforce that might result. The baby boomer generation is in the best position to be actively employed post retirement. Many will leave their current boring jobs, and do some thing they like or have always dreamed of doing. Some might work full time, while some will continue to work part time, or work as freelancers, as well as do some other things that might interest them, such as community service.

For some less fortunate, who have spend their lives doing low wage jobs, they won’t have the option of retiring from active jobs, and will need to continue working. There are also a large number of old workers, who haven’t saved enough during their active working life, and have a quite high standard of living. Such people will also need to work if they expect to maintain their current lifestyles. However, considering that majority of them are in good health for their age, as well as the shortage of work force, these people can expect to be actively employed.

But older workers will have to come to terms of the modern work place, essentially, the use of computers that centers any industry. Most of the people from this generation haven’t grown up with the computers, and some felt overwhelmed with this technology. But statistics show that more and more elderly people are using the computer and the internet in their daily routines. Today, 54% of people aged over 50 use the internet, up from 38% about five years ago. This is positive trend, and will certainly better the prospects of older people looking to work.

Older people will find that for most of the jobs that they would like to opt for don’t require a master computer programmer, but only the knowledge and application of basic computer skills. This includes -

The ability to use the mouse to navigate the cursor, and to be able to navigate through files and folders on the computers.

Operating basic Microsoft Office programs, essentially Word (to make word documents), Excel (to work on spreadsheets), and PowerPoint (to work on presentations).

Ability to browse through the Internet for acquiring information (including using search engines like Google, which makes this task quite easy), and be able to send and receive e-mails through a web based mail program.

Author's Note:

Do you have any questions about career development or lifestyle changes for Baby Boomers, which you think others, like you, would want to know the answers? Please email your questions to me at Anna@AnnaBanks.com, and maybe I'll feature them in a future article.

Read more articles by Anna D. Banks, GCDF go to: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewByAuthor.asp?authorID=1855.