Need a side hustle to support your retirement dreams? Here's how to find work right now.

By Richard Eisenberg

 7 tips for navigating this tricky job market 

 Many employers are reluctant to hire workers, including people looking for part-time jobs in retirement. 

 Most retired Americans don't have employment income to supplement their savings, even though a majority wish they did. That's a problem in this "no hire" economy, as one economics writer put it. 

 More than 9 in 10 people said they didn't have a side gig in retirement, but 60% wished they did, according to a survey by the financial-services firm D.A. Davidson. This comes in the middle of what people are calling a "no hire" economy, where finding work in retirement is becoming a struggle. 

 Read: CEOs say they won't add many jobs in 2026. Is a low-hire, low-fire labor market the new norm? 

 Consider these statistics about the deep freeze in the labor market: 

 -- People think they have only a 43% chance of finding work in the next three months if they lose their job, the lowest level in 12 years, a New York Fed survey in December said. 

 -- The U.S. added essentially zero jobs over the last five months and just 44,000 a month last year, the lowest since the pandemic recession. 

 -- 37% of workers surveyed by the Employee Benefit Research Institute said they've seen hiring freezes at their employers in the past 12 months. 

 -- The 108,435 layoffs announced in January - including huge job cuts at Amazon AMZN and UPS UPS -were the highest to start a year since 2009, according to the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. 

 -- 81% of recruiters post "ghost jobs," positions that are nonexistent or have already been filled, a MyPerfectResume survey found. 

 And that's affecting workers across all ages, not just older individuals who may face the additional struggles of age discrimination in the workplace or hiring process. 

 "There's a sense of precarity in the air. I think it's going to be a rough year," said Kerry Hannon, author of "Great Jobs for Everyone 50+," at the recent Trendspotting 2026 webinar about older workers. The webinar was offered by the Encore Network, a nonprofit championing people over 50. 

 Why is job hunting so tough these days? Many employers are reluctant to hire workers, including people looking for part-time jobs in retirement, because they're apprehensive about the economy. Consumer spending is expected to slow, and businesses are turning to AI as an alternative to bringing on staff for things like customer service and data entry. 

 What's more, said Isaiah Hankel, author of the new book "Too Good to Get Hired," America has an "overqualified" crisis, with employers routinely snubbing older job applicants due to their age and years of experience. "'Too good to get hired' sounds like an oxymoron, right?" he said. "You would think it's impossible to be too good to get hired. But the data shows this is just not the case." 

 Hankel, the older-worker experts at the Encore webinar panel and LinkedIn authorities have seven smart tips for finding jobs in retirement: 

 For anyone preparing to retire, review your finances and start thinking about where to look for part-time work 

 If you're nervous, 2026 is a year to plan, said panelist Chris Farrell, senior economics contributor at American Public Media's Marketplace radio program and author of "Unretirement." 

 "Come up with a budget you can control and reach out to people in your network," he advised. Then, Farrell noted, you might be able to say to yourself: "If I make this amount of money, I'm going to be OK financially not making as much as I did before." 

 Spend more time networking than applying to online job listings 

 Most online job applications result in a 0.1% to 2% success rate, according to the HiringThing blog. 

 "You can't rely on job boards the way you used to," Hankel said. A Congressional Research Service report said 27% of all U.S. job listings on LinkedIn are likely ghost jobs. 

 Consider boomeranging part time to the employer you retired from 

 "Boomeranging used to be something companies would avoid; there was a stigma attached to it," Farrell said. "That has changed dramatically, because the employer knows who the person is and what they can do." 

 When applying for jobs in retirement, play up what you can do for an employer - not what you've done 

 "Make more potential-based statements, not just proof-based statements about your prior work," Hankel said. 

 Fix your LinkedIn Profile to be a stronger job candidate 

 The LinkedIn social-media platform recently launched an AI-powered ranking and recommendation system called 360Brew, which makes job candidates get seen more - or less - depending on how they appear to the algorithm. 

 The 360Brew system favors consistency, linear careers and clear titles, wrote Viveka von Rosen, a career adviser for women age 50-plus, in a LinkedIn post. She recommends ensuring your LinkedIn headline isn't vague, your About section isn't bloated and your Experience section doesn't read like a "resumé archive." 

 Speaking at an Encore webinar about "the new LinkedIn," communications specialist Debra Yearwood recommended writing a LinkedIn headline that combines your desired position and your skills. 

 Yearwood also advised amplifying your LinkedIn profile's Experience section by showing your personal brand. "Put in a bit of a description of the work you did at a job, the organization itself and your achievements there," she said. 

 Be sure to include the skills you've acquired, and that your top two show up at the beginning of your profile. Ask former colleagues to endorse those two skills, too. 

 Look for jobs in fields related to the aging of the U.S. population 

 "We have a critical mass of baby boomers who are getting older, and a Silent Generation who's getting even older. They need access to products, services and care," said panelist Catherine Collinson, who publishes the Transamerica Institute's annual Transamerica Retirement Survey. 

 Hannon calls this "riding the age wave," and notes that getting hired to serve the health needs of older adults doesn't require a medical background. "You could be a healthcare accountant or a project manager or use skills from a previous job," she said. 

 Deflect employers' ageist hiring practices by starting a business in retirement 

 In a recent Harris Poll, 69% of professionals said owning a business is the best protection against ageism in the workforce, antiageism advocate Janine Vanderburg wrote on LinkedIn. 

 While running a small business could be a lot to manage in retirement, there are some options that play into a retiree's experiences and skills. For example, among the 25 fastest-growing jobs in the U.S. for 2026, according to LinkedIn: strategic advisers, independent consultants, and founders. 

 "Solo entrepreneurship is continuing to grow," Farrell said. "That's probably the one part of the job market to be the most optimistic about." 

 -Richard Eisenberg 

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-28-26 1119ET

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