In our last article, we looked at the research behind why a small amount of flexible work can genuinely improve wellbeing — for retirees easing out of a career, and for mums whose days are full but whose "own thing" got put on hold. The obvious next question is: okay, but what would I actually do?

Turns out there's a real answer, and it's not what you might expect.

The "unretirement" trend is real, and growing

Since 2001, Australia's workforce participation rate for people over 65 has more than doubled — from 6.1% to 15%. Researchers have started calling it "unretirement": older Australians deliberately choosing highly flexible, casual work — not to climb a career ladder, but because it gives them a reason to get up, a bit of routine, and a way to stay connected to their community.

One retiree, a former corporate bookkeeper who now does casual pet sitting, put it simply: after losing her own dog, she "needed a reason to get up and do something to keep active." Her husband agreed — the money's a nice bonus, but the routine is "the real currency."

What people are actually choosing

Here's what shows up consistently across the data, roughly ordered by how well it fits a professional background versus a hands-on one:

None of these require starting from scratch. As one industry guide for retirees put it: "If you've balanced budgets, processed payroll, or turned financial mess into order, you're sitting on a ready-made answer" — the skill is usually already there, just unused.

For mums specifically

The picture looks a little different, but the theme — flexible, skill-based, built around a life that's already full — is the same. Women in Australia perform an average of 32 hours of unpaid work and care per week, nine hours more than men, which is exactly why "flexible" isn't a nice-to-have, it's the whole point. Online tutoring, admin and bookkeeping support, and skill-based casual work all show up repeatedly as options that fit around school pickups and nap times, rather than requiring a fixed 9-to-5.

The common thread

Almost none of these jobs require retraining or starting over. They lean on something you already know how to do — an old career, a hobby, a skill picked up along the way — and turn it into a few flexible, well-paid hours. As one retiree who went from a career in IT to helping a friend install garden irrigation systems a few hours a week put it: it wasn't really "work" in the old sense — it was something enjoyable, totally different from his career, that turned into a lot more hours than either of them expected.

Where Greatjob fits in

This is exactly the gap Greatjob exists to fill locally — a way to list a skill like the ones above and get booked directly by people in Killara, Lindfield and Roseville, without needing to build a business from scratch or commit to anything beyond what you actually want to take on.

Got a skill from the list above — or something else entirely? Get in touch and we'll help you get started.

Sources: The Senior, "Beyond the gold watch: the casual gigs getting retirees to clock back in"; Starts at 60, "The 9 best jobs for people 60-plus in 2026"; Training.com.au, "Seniors Over 60: The Best 11 Jobs for You"; Swinburne Open Education, "Careers for retirees"; Monarch Institute, "Best jobs for stay at home mums."

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