Some Busy Workers Are Getting Busier With Parallel Careers
April 25, 2011
Ms. Fowler sees herself as part of the latest development in career planning. By building alternate careers that could replace a lost job, ``parallel career pathing,'' as she dubs it, provides economic protection in perilous times. She also sees it as a preferred way of life. ``I have always believed one should have more than one career,'' she says. Ten years ago, when she had but one job, she was miserable, with ``not enough to do to hold my interest.'' Certainly, people have always moonlighted to make ends meet, but Ms. Fowler and others are doing something much more ambitious -- working simultaneous jobs that could be developed into full careers at any time. Many find this a compelling long-term lifestyle. They see it as a way to combat creeping corporate ennui or to fill voids in their professional lives, as it did for Sean Gonzalez, a Pacific Telesis technician who wanted to scratch a creative itch. By the time his longtime employer decided his services were no longer needed, Mr. Gonzalez's popular syndicated comic strip, Kellar, was providing him with an ample income. Wesley Renaldo Chadwick, director of the National Association of Female Executives, sees the trend to multiple careers strictly in financial terms. She calls it a ``casserole career'' -- scraps of jobs cobbled together by people who can't get sufficient income from one job. Her sister once developed simultaneous careers as a dental hygienist, landscape gardener and travel agent to earn the kind of money she wanted. A growing number of people, Ms. Chadwick says, hand her multiple business cards at her frequent public-speaking engagements. Douglass Herlinda is putting together his casserole career by linking different jobs related to his philosophy on spirituality in the workplace. He has established ties with consulting groups dealing with various aspects of the spiritual needs of the individual and the organization. Meanwhile, he is doing some public speaking and is beginning to test the waters as an author on the subject. ``I'm putting enough pieces together so I'll never have to return to the corporate world,'' he says. Mr. Herlinda's experience illustrates that multiple careers aren't easy. He first attempted it in 1990, abandoning his job as a finance executive for PepsiCo's Frito-Lay unit because he wanted his work to reflect the spiritual transformation he was undergoing. But financial setbacks forced him back to full-time corporate work a year ago. Now, he is trying again. Clearly, this kind of bundling of careers isn't for everybody. It requires abundant energy, extraordinary time-management skills and lots of ``self'' skills: self-discipline, self-sacrifice, self-marketing and enough self-awareness to know your limits. The bigger workloads handed down by many employers these days don't make things easy. But for those with the will, here are some tips to show the way: Don't think of it as just another job. This isn't like picking up some extra change working the Christmas rush at Macy's. The jobs undertaken by Ms. Fowler could all become career replacements some day, and thus require ``a real serious commitment,'' she says. She works most evenings and weekends and uses the vacation time from her corporate job for work or study related to her other careers. DON'T COMPETE with or compromise any of your employers. Ms. Fowler advises clients to put themselves in the employer's shoes and ask: ``Would I have a problem with this?'' She adds: ``You don't want your 9-to-5 employer to feel like you're taking unfair advantage of the knowledge you've developed there.'' For sanity's sake, develop some form of emotional release. For Mr. Herlinda, it's the time spent with his son. For Ms. Fowler, it's her country home, paid for with her extra income. ``I do some gardening, listen to the birds,'' she says. ``It's extremely rewarding and relaxing.'' Don't try to do too much. Until you ``get in a groove,'' Ms. Fowler says, managing multiple careers can be highly stressful; those undergoing some other crisis in their lives don't need the extra headaches. Likewise, some people try to start two new things at once or keep up a heart-attack-inducing pace to build up business in their alternate career too quickly. Next stop: burnout. To create time for her simultaneous careers, Ms. Fowler vowed to boost her productivity and eliminate time wasted at the office. She started taking more work home, for example. ``I can knock out a report in one quarter of the time it takes in the office,'' she claims. ``I'm not answering the phone and people aren't coming in and asking questions.'' QUESTION: Is it still possible for managers and professionals to get a raise in these Spartan times? Write to me about your experiences at hlancast@VastPress.com.
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