Careers: A Choice Contract

After 30 years at General Motors, Alan Korpi, an auditor and a certified fraud examiner, had just 30 days to decide whether to accept early retirement. But when the last day came, all Korpi knew he wanted was a 15-day extension. Ultimately he did retire, in November 1999, relieved and looking forward to the future.

Fast-forward to 2001. Korpi, who before retirement had roamed no farther from Flint, Mich., than Mexico and Canada, is an international troubleshooter who analyzes plant operations and car dealerships in places like Indonesia, Thailand and China. In November 1999, he hooked up with Jefferson Wells International, a firm that places auditors, accountants and other specialists in temporary assignments. The jobs are fulfilling and lucrative. Yet he manages to play plenty of golf. His GM buddies are amazed. So is Korpi: "I still can't believe I asked for the extra 15 days to think about it."

Korpi, 54, is part of a growing cadre of retirees who work as free agents. A Congressional Research Service study shows that nearly 2.4 million pensioners in their mid-50s or older had jobs last year, 13% more than in 1994. Some retirees return to former employers; others establish second careers. But many, like Korpi, prefer shorter stints as fill-ins or consultants, and in recent years there's been rapid growth in the placement companies that cater to them.

In the Middle Ages, the term locum tenens, Latin for "holding the place," was used to describe substitute priests. Though still a church term, locum tenens is also used for temporary health-care jobs. John Huneke, 69, who last year sold the ophthalmology practice he ran for 33 years in Ada, Okla., has done several locum tenens stints through CompHealth. Now he and his wife Frances crisscross the country in a Dodge pickup, towing their one-bedroom, fifth-wheel camper. This summer they camped in the Painted Desert, 70 miles east of the Grand Canyon, while Huneke worked in a government-run Navajo health clinic in Tuba City, Ariz. "It's more challenging," he says, "but really it's more interesting."

Will such opportunities persist in a postattack economic slump? Nik Theodore, research director of the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago, warns, "When the economy begins to slow down, the staffing industry feels it first." But the dearth of baby-bust workers (born between 1965 and '76) may help counter the bad news. Besides, says Ann Kelleher, president of Mature Resources, an Omaha, Neb., staffing company, special factors may insulate older temp workers, especially highly skilled ones. "We see companies really valuing the work that experienced older workers bring to the table," she says, especially their conscientiousness and judgment.

Retirees who work by choice have advantages that can ease the strains of being a temp. Whereas younger workers see uncertainty between jobs, older workers often see flexibility and free time. Since many are covered by health plans from previous jobs, they are immune to the fears of lost medical benefits. And although older temps may make less money than they did during their careers, their earnings often supplement retirement incomes. High-level executives average six months of work a year with average earnings of $135,000 a year when placed by IMCOR, the Stamford, Conn., placement company that pioneered the interim executive concept.