Great Jobs for Everyone 50+: Finding Work That Keeps You Happy and Healthy ... And Pays the Bills

CHAPTER 16

Why Part-Time or Contract Work is Worth It

Today was the day. I put away the last vestige of the ho, ho, ho season—the festive bowl of holiday cards with pictures of smiling kids and pets, along with the occasional annual letters detailing whirlwind lives.

As I was taking a final gander, one caught my eye. It was sent by Gwenn Rosener. I interviewed Rosener last year about her firm, Flexforce Professionals, a recruiting and staffing company in the Washington, D.C., area that focuses on helping professionals—including retirees who want to continue working—find part-time work with competitive pay. The job seekers she places are typically college-educated workers with 10-plus years of professional experience, who are eager to work 20 to 30 hours a week at hourly rates ranging from $20 to $70. The companies she works with are generally small, and fast-growing, and looking for experienced employees who can tackle a range of duties.

Rosener, who was once an Ernst & Young senior manager and holds a Harvard MBA in her back pocket, and her partners, Sheila Murphy and Ellen Grealish, all have executive-level management and consulting backgrounds. Grealish worked at Hewlett-Packard and Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), and Murphy held consulting posts, mostly with government clients, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The three partners started their ...