Meaning of "retired from" recognised profession

My wife has just received confirmation that her citizenship application has been approved.

Looking at the requirements, we need a UK national working on (or retired from) a recognised profession.

What is the meaning of "retired from" in this context? It is like is now a pensioner or that they did the role previously.

Ideal candidate is a close friend who was a journalist but has now been working for several years as an editor.

FYI, the referee of professional standing that was used for the citizenship application was not a UK citizen.

Thanks

"retired from" normally means the person is now a pensioner. Otherwise person has "left" for another position.
HMPO asks for British passport details of referee so it may be best to find a person who is British.

Hmmm. That's unfortunate. And that's precisely the problem. The person we used as a reference for the citizenship application is not a UK citizen so is not eligible to be the identity checker for the passport application. Sigh... these definitions are so awkward. We know lots of UK professionals but because of these strict definitions not many actually qualify