25 Jobs for Retired Teachers Who Aren’t Done Learning
If you're a retired teacher looking for a fulfilling job to get you back to your busy (happy) place, look no further. Here are 25 jobs for retired teachers that you may find just as rewarding as your teaching career.
1. Professor
If you're a retired teacher but still miss teaching students, consider a job as a professor. A professor can earn about $78,470 per year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
2. English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) Teacher
Again, if you miss teaching, you can still do it! Teach English as a second language to students from or in other countries. You can do this in person or online. Tutors can earn about $26,970 per year without a degree, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
3. Entrepreneur
Earn your own income by working for yourself. You've already put in your time working for someone else — the school system — and now it's perhaps time for you to follow your passions and pursue self-employment. Maybe you want to start up that baking business you've been meaning to do for years but never had the time. Or perhaps you make jewelry and want to finally register for an LLC. Whatever it is, retirement may be the time to now get your own business off the ground, up and running.
4. Human Resources Professional
A human resources professional is responsible for recruiting, screening, interviewing and placing workers, as well as handling employee relations, compensation and benefits, and perhaps even training new-hires. Given your experience as a teacher, you're already equipped to handle and train new employees. And you can earn about $60,880 per year or $29.27 per hour doing it, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
5. Librarian
If you're already used to being around books and students, you may want to consider a job as a librarian once you're retired. Most libraries are open early, but you should be used to these early morning hours since you've been getting up early every day during the school years. Librarians earn about $59,050 per year, or about $28.39 per hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
6. Financial Planner
A financial planner is someone who can offer financial planning to both businesses and individuals who need to better manage their finances and plan for their financial futures. Financial planners can earn around $88,890 per year or $42.73 per hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And, of course, having experience in lesson planning and helping students to set themselves up for success in their futures, too, can be majorly beneficial.
7. Lesson Planner
This "second career" aligns perfectly with your experience, since you've created many lesson plans in your day. In this role, you'll leverage that expertise to create lesson plans for other teachers, usually working with businesses that distribute these plans. Glassdoor finds that that lesson planners can expect to earn an average of $65,291 per year.
8. Consultant
A consultant is someone who offers advice and expertise to organizations or individuals in order to help them manage and improve their business performance. This might have to do with their profitability, their organizational structure, the strategies and processes or something else entirely. You're essentially responsible for teaching clients how to improve. And you can typically earn between $60,000 and $90,000 for doing it, according to Business Insider.
9. Virtual Assistant
Work from home in your retirement by taking a virtual assistant gig. You'd be responsible for all sorts of routine clerical and administrative duties that you're already used to handling as a teacher in charge of your own classroom. And, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, you can earn $38,880 per year, or $18.69 per hour as a virtual assistant.
10. Journalist
A journalist writes for a magazine, newspaper or online outlet either as a general reporter or with a specified beat. As a former teacher in a specific field, you already have the knowledge you need to color your content. Journalists make, on average, about $43,490 per year or $20.91 per hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
11. Novelist
A novelist might write fiction, non-fiction, westerns, romances, mysteries, fantasy, horror, action-adventure and other types of books. As a teacher, you might have experience teaching about a lot of famous novels or you might have enough in-depth knowledge on a specific subject (like philosophy or history, for examples) that you can write your own novel. A novelist can earn upwards of about $62,820 per year, according to PayScale. Of course, if your novel is a hit, you can earn a lot more than that, too.
12. Executive Assistant
An executive assistant earns an average total compensation of $47,656, according to PayScale. Their primary responsibility is to serve the executive of a company, helping out with an array of administrative tasks. Again, because you already have experience at the helm of your own classroom, you know how to take the lead and support your executive.
12. Test Scorer
Former English and humanities teachers can find side hustles as graders of tests at academic institutions of many levels. Leveraging their writing and editing skills and knowledge, this job can usually be done remotely. Glassdoor reports a wide range of annual salaries, from $55,193 to $23,240, depending on factors like the amount of work you do.
13. Event Planner
An event planner may plan parties, business conferences, weddings and other sorts of events. And, thanks to your years of experience planning lessons for the classroom, planning is already your strong suit. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, event planners can earn about $49,370 per year or $23.74 per hour.
14. Social Worker
A social work earns about $49,470 per year or $23.79 per hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Although some social workers only need a bachelor’s degree in social work, some clinical social workers do need to have a master’s degree, at least two years of post-master’s experience in a supervised clinical setting and a lisense in their state, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. So you may need additional schooling to obtain a job as a social worker, but your experience as a teacher can certainly help you in your job hunt.
15. Corporate Trainer
According to Indeed, this is a lucrative job for retirees — they earn an average of $65,352 per year. In the role, you'll work with businesses to improve employee performance, strategizing with management and leadership and advising them on the best strategies to use according to their specific needs and goals.
16. Caretaker
A caretaker is someone who may look after children, elders or even animals — just as a teacher essentially looks after their students. And caretakers can earn about $23,950 per year or $11.51 per hour doing their jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. You, of course, can earn even more money depending on how often you provide care and to whom you provide care.
17. Resume Writer
Everyone needs a solid resume to land a job in their chosen field. A retired teacher's professional history, along with their editing skills, will equip them to assist job seekers with polishing these vital documents for success. According to the BLS, the average salary for all writers was $62,170 annually in 2018. Of course, resume writers' earning will vary depending on the amount of work they receive.
18. Paralegal
Experience in teaching — and the certification you have already — will prepare you well to assist attorneys with legal research, drafting important documents and keeping everything organized. The BLS reports that the profession is expected to grow substantially in the next 10 years, and the average annual salary was $52,920 in May 2020.
19. Childcare Provider
For someone with extensive experience working with children — such as a retired teacher — it's a natural transition to babysitting, nannying or working at a daycare. These professionals take care of children, sometimes helping out with homework, cooking, cleaning and other tasks as needed.
20. Personal Fitness Trainer
If you already have experience teaching a subject like math or science or English, why not try your hand at teaching something else — such as fitness or nutrition to clients instead of students. A personal trainer can earn about $39,820 per year or $19.15 per hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, doing exactly what teachers do: leading, instructing and motivating.
21. Blogger
Using their subject-relevant knowledge and interests, retired teachers can blog about a wide range of topics, from news to history to literature. Their earnings will vary based on their readership, advertising partnerships and other factors.
22. Tutor
Tutoring is very similar to teaching, except that you'll typically work one on one with clients. Students who need extra help will come to you to learn strategies to boost their performance in particular subjects, and you can use your teaching knowledge and experience to assist them. According to Indeed, tutors earn an average salary of $42,640 per year.
23. Proofreader
Ziprecruiter finds that proofreaders earn an average of $23 per hour (depending on the location and other factors). This is a great fit for former English teachers and others who spent a lot of time correcting and editing students' writing. You'll be looking over important documents in a range of industries to correct grammar, spelling and factual errors.
24. Career Coach
A career coach is essentially an educator, so this is a glove fit for retired teachers. Working with professionals in many sectors, you'll use your problem-solving and critical thinking skills, along with a healthy dose of compassion, to help clients meet their career goals and plan out their professional futures. Indeed reports that the national average salary is $30,960 per year.
25. Camp Counselor
Here's another one where you'll get to work with kids. While the annual salary is low — $21,687 per year, according to ZipRecruiter — bear in mind that it's seasonal work, freeing up your time for other pursuits.
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AnnaMarie Houlis is a feminist, a freelance journalist and an adventure aficionado with an affinity for impulsive solo travel. She spends her days writing about women’s empowerment from around the world. You can follow her work on her blog, HerReport.org, and follow her journeys on Instagram @her_report, Twitter @herreportand Facebook.
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