What is interesting about exam invigilating? I have done it as part of my day job, and found it excruciatingly boring. You can't take a book to read, and it is a cross between stress in case anything goes wrong and having absolutely nothing to do for hours at a time.
I can see that it is a useful source of extra money, and that it can be done at your own convenience, but interesting?
Gransnet forums
Legal, pensions and money
Part time casual work at 60
(57 Posts)How easy or difficult is it for a 60 year old fit and active woman to get part time casual work? I’d like to work for about 20 hours a week and would appreciate a few pointers as to which employers appreciate senior workers.
Wow all! So many good ideas to keep us on the move if we are able and interested. Such a lovely post.
I love it that in B&Q you can approach an older assistant and they know what widget you're asking for, or exactly the right tool for the job.....
This may be helpful
restless.co.uk/
Problem with retail/hospitality is they require total flexibility 24/7. Also contact local electoral services, in Septish they need canvassers to chase people who've not completed registration forms and you can also sign up to be a polling clerk/vote counter for elections. I agree exam invigilating can be boring but Iget £12 an hour. My parttime job only pays £8.50. I am 66, I retired from a stressful full time job in 2014
When you say casual do you mean you don't want a contract and that you want to temp? If so I guess your best bet would be to sign on with some agencies..
I do exam invigilating at a local school and a local university but it is seasonal and very casual. I could probably work almost full time certain parts of the year but I tend to only do a couple of days a week for 2 or 3 weeeks at a time about 4 or 5 times a year. It suits me because I don't want any big commitments and I quite enjoy it.
What is interesting about exam invigilating?
I often invigilate 1 to 1 exams for people with support needs which can include reading the exam papers for the student too. We are allowed to sit down and take a book to read in 1 to 1 exams. And you also get chance to get to know the student. I do find invigilating those exams interesing
The bigger exams in can be boring I agree and I don't do many of those. but again even in those I often work with students who have support needs so take them out for rest breaks etc. Which can be more interesting.
Have you thought of being self employed? I like gardening and decided to start my own little gardening business 4 years ago. It wasn't very expensive to startup either. Battery lawnmower, and handtools ( which I already had) for weeding etc. My car carries all these easily. Leaflets made up and dropped through local letterboxes initially and now through word of mouth I have to turn people away! The elderly ( I'm now 60!) especially, are so pleased they have a female gardener to do all the gardening jobs like weeding. I love my job and can work hours that suit me!
I think all the supermarkets - Aldi pays very well for part time work.
M & S are a great company to work for an.d their hours are flexible.
My DIL works their and it`s ideal with having two dc.
PatriciaH
And they pay peanuts! But it's a nice environment.
(I volunteer at a local NT house)
Apparently Lidl are good too.
I haven't had a job since retiring, but I had thought of pet day or holiday care should I have found the days long. In fact I never wonder what to do with myself, don't know how I had time to work!
A little pocket money provider I wouldn't mind, being an early riser, would be to do the on-site bread and bun baking and displaying for the local village Co-op.
I'm 60, and I applied to lots of different places, online, for jobs. My C.V. is on various sites such as TotalJobs, Jobsite, and Indeed. I got my 15 hrs a week job through Indeed, and it suits me nicely. It's Warden of a sheltered housing scheme. 2 weeks ago, I found another job, collecting then delivering school meals. It's 40 minutes a day and pays £16 a day. There are jobs if you look on a few websites.
According to a cashier to whom I chatted, Lidl is a very fair employer in terms of pay rates, sick and holiday pay and staff discount. If you’ve shopped there, you’ll know that the staff have to be flexible, stacking shelves but opening tills if required.
Thank you all for you responses. Certainly helps me as I’m aware I’m taking a risk walking away from a well paid position. I can’t keep it as I’m also going to move 100 miles to be closer to my grand babies. I’m not allowed to work from home except when it suits my Manager. But even if I could I’d still be unable to spend more time with the boys.
You’ve all mentioned many of the things I’ve considered and I appreciate your very helpful replies. Thanks.
Going to tell you a heartbreaking story. A colleague of mine took up our council's offer of voluntary early retirement. She was 64. Her DH had just retired and they figured they could just about manage on their work pensions until her state pension came through. The very day after her ver was accepted her DH literally dropped dead. Apparently even if he had been in hospital when it happened nothing could have saved him. Our "caring" council refused point blank to rescind her request to finish. They didn't want to "set a precedent" !!!!. My colleague was forced to finish even though she could no longer afford to do so. She has now got a job at Asda which she absolutely loves. She says many of the workforce are ex council employees who took early retirement and are bored at home!
I’m 60 and work 30:hours and if I wanted to can reduce as I get older. My sister is 66 and she found part time work.try your local shops or library for help I think you’ll be fine.
Can I just add my husband has had a few jobs from indeed they’ve been very good. Salsa queen I agree.
Harris27. I have to laugh. It was from the local library that my colleague had taken ver. The council are so desperate to get rid of us that staffing levels are down to the absolute minimum. Anyone going off sick or daring to ask for leave causes total chaos.
Very helpful posts here. Worth remembering that what everyone here has in common is years of experience. You may not be able to earn your real "worth" in a part time or completely different environment, but if you're happy to try something new and give up perhaps something stressful for a new challenge, why not just go for it. If a job is there, there's no reason for anyone to feel "past it" or on the scrapheap. Grans Unite ! (and Granddads, too)
Try Hays Recruitment - they look for people to fulfil temporary contracts (I'm with them as a Project Manager, started on 2 days a week and now 3 days). You don't need to set up your own company, they do it all for you and deal with the tax and provide holiday pay too. Paid weekly based on a day rate - whch will be miles btter than minimum wage!
Last summer I did some exam invigilating. It came about quite unexpectedly. My good friend's daughter is a teacher and they were stuck at short notice.
I did several one-to-one invigilating sessions at the students' homes. Could take a book, was provided with coffee and biscuits regularly.
Loved it. However, can see that it could be boring in a school/university setting.
Try marker research like I do. If you have the stamina you can earn well. I just don't have the stamina after 20 years although its almost paid for my house and allowed me to run a car on my own. I can't really complain
I am 67, my background was in Human Resources. Living in Cumbria there is a lot of part time seasonal work available (April to October).
I am lucky to work in a Castle and get invited back to work every year, many of my work colleagues are of a similar age.
Main requirements for the job are, customer care and people skills.
At our ages, we have this in abundance, we are also flexible and reliable. Good luck in your job search.
Thank you all for your extremely useful posts and information. I’ve taken on board some excellent tips and advice. I’m really looking forward to this next stage of my life.
Join the conversation
Registering is free, easy, and means you can join the discussion, watch threads and lots more.
Register now »Already registered? Log in with:
Gransnet »
