Why two careers (or three, or four) may be better than one
Work is one of the biggest stressors that we will encounter in our adult lives. Many people love what they do for a career, but tight deadlines, long commutes, and unreasonable bosses can begin to wear away at even the most composed worker’s sanity. So the idea of taking on a second career, especially when it isn’t completely necessary, sounds a little outrageous, right? Well, not exactly. There are millions of Americans doing just that—tackling two (and sometimes even three) separate jobs at a time. Known simply as “slashes” or “slash careerists,” these workers are opting to spread their talents among several industries, and they are loving the results.
The notion of holding more than one job is not revolutionary. The U.S. Labor Department reports that 7.9 million Americans hold multiple positions, and many of them for good reason: to make ends meet. But the slash career movement is about something else entirely. The term “slashing” gained a lot of momentum earlier this year when Marci Alboher published her book One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success (How the “Slash Effect” Can Work for You).
Alboher believes that slashing is more about exploring your different identities and controlling the direction of your professional life than paying your bills. Even though having multiple sources of income is a plus for many slashes, they experiment with careers for variety and to avoid burnout as well. For those of you who are wondering if slashing means you’ll have to take on an 80-hour work week, stop worrying. Most slashes work two positions part time or squeeze their entrepreneurial ventures in when their primary job slows down.
Slash careerists do not fit a certain mold, and they can be found in any industry. While we are familiar with the more common combinations, such as an actor/director or a writer/teacher/speaker in a specific field, there are also professor/consultant and philanthropist/art dealer slashes, or the more unorthodox psychoanalyst/violin maker that Alboher features in her book.
Even if the careers you choose to experiment with are unrelated, they may create unexpected synergies. Alboher uses a financier who also publishes poetry as an example. When the National Poetry Foundation needed a leader with a passion for poetry who could also manage a wealthy nonprofit, this slash careerist fit the bill. Alboher herself is considered a lawyer-turned-journalist/speaker/writing coach, and her monthly column and blog for the New York Times explores the trend of custom blending careers.
In an interview with BusinessWeek a few months ago, Alboher explained that: “Slashes are people who pursue multiple careers or vocations simultaneously. They’ve taken the notion of moonlighting and turned it on its head. Whereas moonlighting was something you did shamefully, slashing has cachet. From lawyer/chefs to mom/screenwriters and celebrity icons like Bono, rock star/humanitarian, slashes are appearing at all strata of society.”
So if you are feeling torn between two fields (think a registered nurse vs. a pharmacy technician or a law enforcement officer vs. a financial analyst), why not take the unconventional route and choose both? All too often people spend their lives feeling unfulfilled by their careers, so why not pursue both a white-collar position and a blue-collar job, a steady stream of income and a life-long passion? Slashing is transitioning into a legitimate career strategy…so take advantage, and start living your life in the slash lane.