"Living a double life isn't easy. Colleagues ask to connect on social media. Meetings pile up for the same time slot. Bosses think your only job is the one they're asking you to do.
Two-gig veterans have honed their craft over months, or years, on the jobs. Here are their tips for keeping the stress low, the payoff high and the whole thing secret.
Set yourself up for success: You want a job that's remote, but it's better if not everyone at the company is working from home, a two-job worker advises. Your best bet is an older company that hasn't quite figured out remote work yet. "They're not going to have all the processes in place to actually keep track of what everyone is doing," he says. "You have more freedom."
Avoid startups: They expect too much work and might have more visibility into how you're spending your days.
Get your timing right: Don't start two jobs too close together; you don't want to be ramping up and learning the lay of the land at two companies simultaneously. One worker tried that. "The first three months it was a nightmare," he says. "Then it got easier over time." Tap PTO at your first company to have some breathing room in the early days of juggling two jobs.
Get your priorities straight: Think of one job -- the one that requires more of your attention -- as primary. If you can coast at your old company, give priority to face time at your new one. Be visible everywhere, even if it's just a facade. One worker makes sure her light on Microsoft Teams is always green. "I just want to look like I'm right there," she says. "A lot of it is perception." Appearing always on can buy you goodwill if you need to, say, drop from a meeting halfway through.
Dodge meetings: Hit that decline button. "Just because someone puts a meeting on your calendar in Outlook doesn't mean you have to take it," one worker says. "You're busy."
Master the ones you do take: Be proactive, setting the meetings you need to attend around your own schedule. Block off meetings for job 1 on calendar 2, labeling them "working sessions." And make sure that when you do join a meeting, everyone knows it. "Ask non-questions, restate what someone just said in different wording," one post on the Overemployed website recommends.
Have a story: You'll want excuses and explanations at the ready for tricky moments. Need to dodge a meeting? Say you need "head-down focus time to finish another deliverable," Overemployed recommends. Set low expectations. "With each milestone, you can explain how difficult it was to reach that milestone and drag out the timeline to the next set of milestones," the website advises. Learn the art of letting people down gently so you don't risk them escalating the issue to others.
Stay under the radar: Tap LinkedIn's privacy settings to shield your profile from search engines or hide your connections, so acquaintances are less likely to chat with each other about where you're currently working, the website advises. Need an excuse for not updating your profile? You're worried about hacking and trying not to share too much online. Beware of close encounters in tightknit industries. One worker took himself out of the running for a consulting job after realizing the gig was actually consulting for his current employer -- his department, specifically.
Resist overwork: Boss asking too much of you? You can always drop one job and find another, or just take a breather. One double-job veteran in Europe is currently on a summer break from his approach. "It's great," he says of working just one job, adding that he has been filling his daily four hours of empty time with videogames and personal coding projects. "I have so much free time."" [1]
1. EXCHANGE --- My Secret Life: Working Remotely -- At Two Jobs --- Three open laptops. Two Zoom meetings running at once. Color-coded browser windows to keep track of separate gigs. The money can be great, but it comes with a constant fear of getting caught.
Feintzeig, Rachel. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 14 Aug 2021: B.1.
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