Micro Retirement or a Career Break
Have you ever considered micro retirement or taking a career break?
If so, I recommend that you know how to manage your health and you have the courage to take that break of a few weeks, a few months, or a year or more.
That you improve your financial management skills and that you continually build your network both personally and professionally.
You’re going to need to continually educate yourself and have a backup of friends and advisors on call for those ups and downs.
Now, as I say in my Gigsters book, the future of work, in my view is work, not jobs.
And that means you’re going to need to use technology to attract aligned gigs.
That includes your LinkedIn profile and your own name website.
If you’d like to know more, look in the link below.
Thanks and bye for now.
#microretirement #careerbreak #sueellson #returntowork
I started my career in 1982, just six days after my last secondary school examination. I worked at Westpac Banking Corporation in Adelaide, South Australia for 11 years in a variety of roles until I moved to Melbourne in 1994. After securing a new job, I was dismissed whilst pregnant. I haven’t had a ‘real job’ since.
So I have had the privilege of ‘working to live’ rather than ‘living to work’ since 1994.
It hasn’t always been easy, but I have had the opportunity to enjoy many short 12 hour sabbaticals since 2007 and extended breaks for engaging with volunteering opportunities (including as a parent helper for two scouting jamborees and one cuboree), combining tax deductible travel and working overseas in 2010, writing my first three 80,000 word books in 2016, and enjoying a variety of different types of work over many years. My Gigsters book explains how I managed to do it. I have also avoided burnout.
So when I hear about the ‘new’ trend of micro retirement as I pass the average age of retirement in Australia (56.9 according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics), I can reflect on how I have enjoyed several micro retirements throughout my career.
I have been able to pursue a variety of projects, passions and interests and most importantly, manage my work around my family life (as all of my relatives live interstate and I wanted to be present in my children’s lives).
What have I learnt from this experience? Well, there are few significant skills and strategies you can develop whether your career break is for weeks, months or years and whether you are considering a break from a ‘job,’ starting a side hustle or business enterprise of your own or moving towards more freelance or contracting work.
Micro Retirement Strategies
- A commitment to managing your health – if I don’t work, I don’t get paid – so I have had to look after my health as my number one priority. I have always focused on eating well, getting as much sleep as I can, semi-regular exercise (I could improve on this one!) and regular health checks. I particularly enjoyed participating the Life! healthy lifestyle program and completing the Mental Health First Aid course.
- The courage to take a break – it can be ‘easy’ to maintain the status quo, put up with a few annoyances and plod on when you are receiving a regular pay check. I haven’t had the ‘luxury’ of a regular income, or a defined vacation time each year, so I have had to plan ahead to take a break and make sure it meets my physical, emotional, spiritual and overall life goals. Without standby childcare, I have had to manage work around school hours. Having regular breaks has also helped maintain my health and energy, particular during a period when I had to overcome a significant trauma.
- Clever financial management – rather than spending all that I earn, I spend only what I need and save the rest. This allows me to create a savings buffer and build financial assets that generate wealth so that when I am not working, income keeps coming in. I have been planning for a retirement income for many years just in case I can’t work for an extended time in the future. I do not have any debt and never use buy now, pay later schemes.
- Developing a strong network – there is no such thing as a ‘safe’ job or income – but what can keep you going is a network of contacts that you can reach out to whenever your circumstances change or you decide to pursue a new direction. I connect with everyone I meet personally and professionally on LinkedIn and it continues to generate work opportunities without direct marketing.
- Advisers and friends on call – there are times when I need to call on others for another perspective and in some cases, a pep talk! These people are trusted confidants that can help manage the challenges and uncertainty that I have often faced and are essential now that I spend many hours on my own.
- Constant education and upskilling – to maintain my currency and value in the ‘marketplace,’ I have been attending between one and four events every week since completing my undergraduate degree in the year 2000. It has meant that I have always been ’employable’ and up to date with skills that are of value to various individuals and enterprises.
Returning to Work after a Career Break
I am happy to say that I have chosen to ‘never retire.’ After losing my job at 28 and realising that I could be classified as ‘obsolete’ by 40, I have made various choices to ensure that I remain employable at any age. If you have taken a career break and are returning to work, here are some strategies that I would recommend:
- Develop your networking and referral skills – the best way to secure work when there is any perceived level of ‘disadvantage’ is via networking and referrals. So reach out to everyone you know or could provide a referral and ask for further information.
- Set realistic expectations – after a certain age, it is probably not possible to become a brain surgeon! However, there are many alternatives and it is worth exploring these regardless of your age or length of your break. Be open minded and consider utilising your skills in different ways. It could be shorter days on a casual basis with more than one enterprise rather than full time in a basic role (that you may have had earlier on in your career).
- Be aware of ageism in the marketplace – Sadly, there are certain roles that favour younger candidates – and we need to accept this fact. Some industries and enterprises actively exclude people over a certain age. Rather than conceding and giving up, the joy is in finding opportunities that are aligned. Focus on speaking to older decision makers rather than younger ones!
- Focus on opportunities that are close to home – Reducing your commute time and connecting with your local community are two creative ways to make the most of your time and energy. Don’t be afraid to ‘walk the streets’ and find out what enterprises are close to home – remember that up to 90% of jobs are never advertised – you may be able to shop yourself in to a local enterprise and offer them a ‘taste test’ before a full-on commitment.
- Review your current technical skills – no, you don’t need to enrol in expensive formal education to update your skills, but a few relevant micro credentials of both professional and personal skills could be helpful to you and be a great interim step whilst you are out and about looking for your next role. There are free and low costs courses available online at MOOCs and in Australia, you can have free access to LinkedIn Learning with a local library card. Local community houses and vocational learning providers may also offer something relevant to your goals. Don’t be afraid to ask for further training either – if you were younger, most employers would assume you would need training and they would have a budget for it.
- Remember the value of social interaction – if you find yourself considering a role that is not as well paid or even beneath your capabilities, don’t dismiss the idea because you will gain enormous value by having something to do on a regular basis and going from one job to another is easier than going from no job to a new job. You may find that your wisdom can be shared in unique ways and that you may be able to progress once working in the enterprise. It is also a great networking opportunity.
Other general career break tips
If you have taken a career break or are coming back after a career break, make sure you allow six months to become unconsciously competent again.
Remember that even if you were 100% capable of completing a role, it would still take six months to become unconsciously competent.
Artificial Intelligence is changing workplaces very quickly but that doesn’t mean that all of your skills will be obsolete after a break either. If you can keep up to date by staying in touch with your industry professional association or following relevant thought leaders online, that is a great way to keep your finger on the pulse of change.
Don’t assume that micro retirement is only for the younger generation either. Whilst it is quite fashionable for Generation Z (those born between 1997 and 2012), it can be suitable for anyone at any time, particularly if your personal context changes and your values and strengths remain the same.
Maybe you find yourself suddenly caring for a loved one and you can no longer manage a full time role. It is perfectly okay to have a ‘job for now‘ and it is always a good idea to have a backup plan if you are unable to work or find work for an extended period of time.
If you can’t find a way to negotiate a full career break or micro retirement, you could also consider negotiating more flexible work arrangements and managing your time differently.
As I mention in my Gigsters book, written before the COVID pandemic in 2019, I believe the future of work is just that, work, not jobs and that gigsters are people who use technology to attract aligned gigs. So if you really want to gain the most value out of a flexible lifestyle, make sure you keep your LinkedIn Profile up to date and consider creating your own name website to showcase all of your skills, knowledge and networks!
Please do not fall for the ‘shiny object syndrome’ of becoming an online ‘influencer’ or any other version of a ‘get rich in two hours a day’ schemes. For the most part, these require an enormous investment of time (and sometimes training cost) and a very small percentage of people actually make it work (despite how they are ‘sold’ to us). I met someone recently who told me that AI told them that their out-of-date idea would actually work when I know from plenty of professional experience over many years it wouldn’t work.
I will also never forget the story of a young married couple who spent about three years of their life doing ‘any work they could find,’ living in their entry-level first home and saving every dollar they could (no bought meals or going out to anything that cost money). They did so well that they paid off their property in record time and had the financial flexibility to do whatever they wanted after that. There is a lot to be said for living a minimalist life and enjoying free experiences so that you have more freedom of choice in the future.
Finally, allow some time to re-integrate if you decide to return to a full time role after your career break or micro retirement. You will have new skills and wisdom. You may even decide that there are new elements you would want in your future career based on your recent experiences.
Personally, I could never go back to working full time for one enterprise. However, I have a range of strategies in place to manage my whole life that I would never have implemented if I didn’t take full responsibility for all aspects of my personal and professional goals.
Additional Information
‘Micro-Retirement’: The New Career Trend Rising Among Gen Z By Bryan Robinson, Ph.D 29 January 2025
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bryanrobinson/2025/01/29/micro-retirement-the-new-career-trend-rising-among-gen-z
What is microretirement? New trend emerges among millennials and Gen Z – 7 February 2025
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/microretirement-new-trend-millennials-gen-z-b1202614.html
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