Difficult Choices: Understanding Slash Career and Whether Combining Two Jobs is Worth It?”

We sometimes struggle with self-reliance and making the right choices during challenging times. An unconventional solution to this dilemma is a slash career. Let's explore what it takes to manage multiple jobs simultaneously and whether it's worthwhile.

What Is a Slash Career?

You might be familiar with the term "part-time job." In today's terminology, this is often called a slash career. A slash career involves juggling two or more jobs simultaneously. These jobs can be within the same field, such as a website editor and a journalist-columnist, or from entirely different fields, like an accountant and a graphic designer. Interestingly, the term "slash career" comes from using a slash to separate different professions in English, such as engineer/blogger, actor/director, or doctor/teacher.

American journalist Marci Alboher defines slash careerists as individuals who generate multiple income streams by combining several professions. In her book "One Person/Multiple Careers," she shares the unique story of Angela Williams, who successfully balanced her roles as a prosecutor and a Baptist minister. Williams humorously remarked that she spends her days punishing criminals to the fullest extent of the law and her evenings praying for them.

However, if you spend your free time knitting or painting, it doesn't qualify as a slash career. A vital aspect of a slash career is that all activities must generate income, making it hard to consider a hobby as a second job. However, suppose you earn money from selling knitted items, paintings, or monetizing your hobbies in any other way and continue to develop in this direction. In that case, you can confidently consider yourself a slash careerist!

Why is everyone talking about it? Why are slash careers gaining popularity?

While slash careers are often linked to creative professions, the rise of information technology and the advent of remote and project-based work have broadened the discussion to include a wide range of specializations. We live in the gig economy era, also known as the freelance economy. Small businesses, medium-sized enterprises, and large corporations increasingly prefer collaborating with independent contractors, freelancers, and self-employed professionals in this unique system.

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly contributed to the rise and popularity of slash careers. During this time, slash careers became the norm and necessary for comprehensive self-realization. Today, they are a deliberate choice for those pursuing their boldest plans and achieving goals across multiple fields.

The advantages of slash careers

The primary advantages of a slash career stem from the gig economy, which has opened up new opportunities for employers and freelancers. Let's examine each aspect step by step.

The main advantage for businesses working with freelancers is cost optimization. Employers save significantly by hiring independent professionals, as they only pay for the hours worked and are exempt from providing social benefits like sick leave, holiday pay, and insurance. Additionally, collaborating with freelancers helps reduce office rental and maintenance expenses. However, slash careerists can attract HR for various reasons. For instance, slashers often have a broader perspective and a diverse skill set that differentiates them from specialists in narrower fields. Their ability to juggle multiple, sometimes unexpected, projects demonstrates high self-control, time management, and planning skills. Career slashers can be particularly valuable in startups and innovative projects across any field. In this case, they pay attention to the courage and determination of specialists who are unafraid to combine several activities and successfully manage them.

If you're seriously contemplating a slash career, let's explore the key advantages in more detail:

• Freedom of choice

Typically, freelancers can select their employers and the most engaging projects. They can manage their workload schedule and choose their work environment. This flexibility allows them to perform their duties with maximum comfort.

• Financial stability

At first glance, a slash careerisr an unstable and risky way to earn money. However, if you lose one job, you'll still have other income-generating activities to rely on.

In today's fast-paced and often unstable economy, professionals with limited knowledge and skills in a single area may find themselves out of work. However, by diversifying your skills and activities, you can quickly pivot to another field, actively develop in it, increase your earnings, and maintain financial security while searching for new opportunities.

• Maximum application of a wide variety of skills

What is Leonardo da Vinci famous for? Some might say he was a great artist. In contrast, others might highlight his achievements as an engineer, inventor, architect, or musician. In short, da Vinci was a genius. Today, without diminishing his accomplishments, we might call him a slash careerist. He excelled in numerous creative and scientific fields, fully realizing his potential in each role. A slash career allows you to utilize various skills, abilities, and talents in the modern world. This approach will enable you to develop all your strengths while unexpectedly discovering new skills. The diversity inherent in a slash career allows you to combine seemingly incompatible fields and create innovative concepts at the intersection of various disciplines. This synthesis of ideas often leads to impressive results, offering fresh perspectives and fostering creative problem-solving.

• Developed interdisciplinary thinking

Specialists with experience in diverse fields have a better and more accurate understanding of how various events, phenomena, and facts are interconnected. Their broad perspective enables them to identify problems and causes that more narrowly focused experts may overlook. In addition, slash careerists are distinguished by their ability to more accurately predict and determine the consequences of making certain decisions.

• Enhanced leadership skills

Thanks to their diverse experience and interdisciplinary thinking, slash careerists are well-equipped to lead large-scale projects and manage multidisciplinary teams. Their comprehensive understanding of various specialists' work allows them to identify shortcomings, offer optimal solutions to problems, and navigate complex situations effectively.

• The flexibility to switch careers and explore new opportunities

For instance, if you're the head of the economics department in a large company but suddenly want to explore a career in design, there's no need to quit your current job and dive headfirst into creativity. Transitioning from one field to another can be daunting. A slash career allows you to maintain your existing role while gradually learning and experimenting with something new. Once you've honed the necessary skills, you can start selecting the most exciting design projects and progressively develop your new profession without overwhelming yourself. After building a portfolio and gaining confidence in your abilities, you can consider making a complete career transition. This process may take several years, and you'll balance two professions like a true career slasher.

• Quick learning and adaptability

It's fascinating that career slashers often master new skills quickly, picking them up on the fly. With each new skill they acquire, their confidence grows, their speed of thinking, and their ability to perceive and process information. This allows transferring skills and knowledge from one discipline to another. This ability enables the transfer of skills and knowledge across different disciplines. For instance, a strong foundation in mathematics enhances abstract thinking and spatial perception, which can benefit artistic fields. Similarly, acting training can positively impact a manager's career by improving their presentation skills, allowing them to showcase their company and products effectively, highlighting them in a favorable light, and embellishing even shortcomings.

However, a significant drawback of a slash career is the risk of burnout, which can be daunting for many. While it's true that no one is immune to burnout, if your multitasking skills aren't well-developed, juggling multiple activities can be challenging. This can lead to decreased productivity and a high risk of losing interest in your work. The quality of your work may decline significantly across all areas. Therefore, if you feel that your internal resources (strength, energy, time) are insufficient, it's better to focus on one thing. This way, you can perform quality work and experience satisfaction rather than constant stress and anxiety. Alternatively, you can turn another activity into a hobby. Over time, you'll learn to balance your main job and hobby; eventually, you might even be able to monetize your hobby.

How to avoid burnout while juggling multiple jobs

Managing the main drawbacks of a slash career and avoiding burnout is entirely possible. While there are no unique tips or life hacks specifically for handling long-term stress and exhaustion in a slash career, the methods for preventing burnout are universal:

• If you've already experienced burnout, reflect on your experience. Identify what helped you cope and what worsened the situation. Then, try to eliminate the factors that negatively influence you.

• Maintain a balance between all your activities. Remember to switch tasks and take short breaks after each phase, during which you should avoid doing or even thinking about work.

• Remember that everyone needs rest, even if you don't feel apparent fatigue. Each person's body is unique; for some, a change of activity might feel like rest, while for others, proper rest might mean simply lounging and watching their favorite TV series.

• Establish personal boundaries and keep work separate from your personal life.

• Actively practice time management and control your "time wasting." You can learn these skills through the course "Time Management for Work."

• Pay attention to your feelings and keep an emotion diary. This practice can help you track changes in your psycho-emotional state and identify early symptoms of burnout.

• Seek support and communicate more. It's important to express your emotions, talk about them, and discuss and examine their causes. Try to avoid one of the main symptoms of burnout: isolation.

Practicing mindfulness is the key to building a successful slash career and preventing burnout. This means maintaining a conscious attitude towards life, controlling your internal emotional state, and objectively perceiving your environment. Mindfulness helps you stay motivated, work productively, and avoid long-term stress by keeping you in touch with reality and your emotions, including the negative ones.

What should you choose: two careers in related fields or completely unrelated fields

There isn't a one-size-fits-all solution or system for building a slash career that will suit everyone. It all depends on an individual's goals and needs. Typically, slashers choose multiple jobs in different fields, driven not by the need to earn more but by the desire to pursue their passions. This is how we get combinations like programmer/dancer, lawyer/designer, or doctor/writer.

Simultaneously, pursuing a slash career in closely related fields enables you to significantly enhance your skills and expand your horizons, benefiting both roles. For instance, a designer's skills can be effectively applied to a stylist's work. Ultimately, it's difficult to determine whether careers in related or different fields are better. The choice is yours to make.

Likewise, deciding on your work structure is important if you're considering a slash career. Many slashers work for companies while also offering consultations in another field. Another common approach is part-time freelance work. Finding clients and customers who can provide engaging projects is crucial in this scenario. Therefore, slashers often need to take on roles such as social media managers, PR specialists, and marketers to promote their services and build a personal brand.

Therefore, before embarking on a new profession and building a slash career, reflect on what truly matters to you and where your passions lie. Honestly assess your core values and current goals and consider whether an additional job will help you achieve them. It's also crucial to understand both your circumstances and the broader job market. Anticipate potential challenges and develop strategies to overcome them. Your ideal slash career might involve monetizing an existing hobby, or perhaps it's worth exploring new opportunities, for example, in the course "Professions of the Future: Work in Today's Market." The key is to overcome your fears and take action. Trust me, building a slash career is entirely achievable and not as difficult as it may seem if you follow our advice and seek professional support!