Are you “writing your next career chapter,” ✍️ “chasing what’s next,” 🏃♀️ or another LinkedIn-ready reference that you’re looking for a new job? (I am!)
(Stone-faced daytime infomercial gaze here) 📺 Have you looked into a micro-retirement?
Thanks, Gen Z. Love, a youngish Gen Xer. 💖
A micro-retirement is the new term for a career pause not unlike a sabbatical — an extended period of time away from work for self-discovery, to recover from burnout, or to chase some other personal goal.
Whatever the nature, impetus or timeline for your job search, we job seekers could apply some lessons from micro-retirements to our situations.
Now, I’m not trying to frame what’s often an involuntary job search in the same context as a voluntary journey of self-discovery. Often, we’re working against the clock to find a new income source and benefits to power our lives and families. ⏰
But full-time, hard-core job searches can lead to burnout, just as any full-time, hard-core knowledge work job can … and often does if not mindfully managed. That’s where we can find lessons from the micro-retiring.
🗓️ Even when micro-retiring knowledge workers step away from their daily thickets of Teams calls and other routines, they still need a structure and a strategy to make the most of their time away. And so do you, job seeker. Allot proper time to balance your search, your family, your self, and perhaps a modicum of new-found breathing room for a hobby or two (see below) that you didn’t make time for when pushing out deliverables. Put it all on your calendar if it helps.
💰 Micro-retirements and job searches are often unfunded or underfunded — rainy-day funds and state unemployment pittances for the latter notwithstanding — so it’s critical to know how much and how long you’re working with from the get-go. Create or revisit your budget and consider how quickly one-time seasonal expenses (like my daughter’s summer-camp fees) and the monthly bills will eat away at your reserves. Do you have reserves for your reserves? Generous, understanding family members?
🤝 Whether you’re newly micro-retired or newly job seeking, it’s best to get out there and be social with your time. Join networking groups (LinkedIn has many tools for this!), visit chamber meetings, and build and nurture your network that will be there for you — and you for it — whether you’re looking for qualified job contacts, or you can help someone else with the same. The bottom line: Please do not do this alone.
🌎 Now we move on to the long-awaited self-discovery parallel! Take micro-vacations with friends/family, find a new fitness class, make a dent in that unread cache of books or Kindle library from months (years?) ago — basically, partake in activities that expand your mind and perspective. Baby steps here beat audacious leaps that may exhaust you. And you may just open yourself up to other career opportunities!
As with any major life event — micro-retirement, retirement, job search or thousands more — intentionality begets success. Focus on all the aspects of you that need nurturing during this time, and you’ll likely return to work relaxed, with stronger work-life boundaries and new tools to write all the chapters you still have ahead of you. 📚
Jay Magee, APR, is a communications and marketing leader who helps enterprises strengthen brand trust, grow digital engagement, and move stakeholders to action. Learn more about him and his work at jaymagee.com.
Bonus Reading: Need a Career Break? A Micro-Retirement Might Be For You