Day 349 of 365 - Back to Work
Well, at the age of 65, I'm going back to work! What? It's only a very casual part-time job, maybe one day every couple weeks. I'm trying it out to see how I like it. I have not actually done any real paid work in several years, since we moved from our home to our apartment. But, I'm ready to dip my toe into something different again.
As has been the case for me with most of the jobs I have taken, this one easily fell into my lap, with a recommendation from a friend. There was no intensive resumé building or interview process required. Instead there was a simple online application followed by attending a group recruitment session to be oriented to the program and to do a brief presentation.
This job is something that I had hoped to get involved in a year ago, via the university health sciences program. However, other than attending one orientation session, it did not result in other work offers. They simply have too big a data base of participants to select from and a small pool of these seem to become regular workers.
Instead, I will be working at the local community college as a simulation participant in their health sciences program to assist with student learning of practical skills. There will be a variety of roles to portray and we give feedback at the end of our sessions.
Though the pay is decent I am not going back to work primarily for the money. It's mainly an opportunity to try a different experience and apply my skills in a different way. I expect I will also learn a lot from each case and will have practice at honing my ability to interact with and give helpful feedback to students.
I've had my first session of work and enjoyed it very much, so I'm off to a good start I think. The most stressful aspect is finding the best route to drive through the city and then to locate a parking spot while still arriving on time. Once I got there, the rest seemed to flow. The students were very nice and seemed eager to learn and practice their skills. I'm scheduled for another session in a couple of weeks, portraying a different role.
One of my personal criteria when returning to work now is, that I don't sacrifice my self care practices. The occasional nature of this job allows me to typically schedule around those, so that I will seldom miss any of my classes or have to omit my early morning routine of stretching etc. The days of making work the first priority in my life are over, and I'm grateful that I can say that and act on it.
As has been the case for me with most of the jobs I have taken, this one easily fell into my lap, with a recommendation from a friend. There was no intensive resumé building or interview process required. Instead there was a simple online application followed by attending a group recruitment session to be oriented to the program and to do a brief presentation.
This job is something that I had hoped to get involved in a year ago, via the university health sciences program. However, other than attending one orientation session, it did not result in other work offers. They simply have too big a data base of participants to select from and a small pool of these seem to become regular workers.
Instead, I will be working at the local community college as a simulation participant in their health sciences program to assist with student learning of practical skills. There will be a variety of roles to portray and we give feedback at the end of our sessions.
Though the pay is decent I am not going back to work primarily for the money. It's mainly an opportunity to try a different experience and apply my skills in a different way. I expect I will also learn a lot from each case and will have practice at honing my ability to interact with and give helpful feedback to students.
I've had my first session of work and enjoyed it very much, so I'm off to a good start I think. The most stressful aspect is finding the best route to drive through the city and then to locate a parking spot while still arriving on time. Once I got there, the rest seemed to flow. The students were very nice and seemed eager to learn and practice their skills. I'm scheduled for another session in a couple of weeks, portraying a different role.
One of my personal criteria when returning to work now is, that I don't sacrifice my self care practices. The occasional nature of this job allows me to typically schedule around those, so that I will seldom miss any of my classes or have to omit my early morning routine of stretching etc. The days of making work the first priority in my life are over, and I'm grateful that I can say that and act on it.
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