Goals

This is a continuation of my article from yesterday about why Generation Y’ers need second-jobs. As promised, here are ten options that make great second-jobs:

1. Expert Columnist – Blogging to demonstrate “expert” credentials is sooo 2007, but blogging IS a good way to test your writing skills and improve your understanding of a topic, which can lead to an article or column in a media publication. Start small, build a community around your blog, and use that momentum to land a stretch job writing about a topic that relates to your career.
2. Foreign Language Tutor – The best way to put all those college foreign language credits to use is to practice the basics on a regular basis, and having a foreign language on your resume makes you a hot commodity in just about any market.
3. Small-Business Owner – These days, anyone can start a business for under $1000 on the internet. If you have an innovative idea, the internet is a good place to test the profitability of it. Minimize your risk and get a learning experience no matter what.
4. Student – Getting extra certifications can go a long way in your career if your job isn’t helping you develop the skills you need for a new position, and they are usually easier and faster than getting a graduate degree. While a CFA or PMI certification might not get you a promotion or raise within your current company, job-hoppers benefit because they know certifications help them narrow the gaps, especially for career changers or ladder-climbers who want to skip a few rungs.
5. Fitness Trainer/Instructor – If you are a health enthusiast, it’s not too difficult to take your exercise hobby to a new level. You can get certified as a Yoga or Pilates instructor for the same cost of a professional certification, and (bonus) get paid to work out regularly.
6. Contract Worker – The recession is going to cause a surge of contract jobs in every industry, and taking a contract job is a great way to expand into new projects you wouldn’t get in your current position. Companies also use contract positions to test potential employees before offering a permanent position, so it’s a great option for layoff casualties.
7. Consulting – Like contract work, part-time consulting, especially in using tools for productivity, networking, and social media marketing, will become a must as businesses try to cut costs. Generation Y is poised to use their techno-savvy skills to teach small business owners grassroots marketing and time-saving tricks.
8. Librarian Assistant – I like this option because even if you spent all your time organizing books or manning a desk and never did any research, you are still likely to increase your recreational reading. Bring books home with you and learn something that can help you in your career.
9. Teaching/Research Assistant – professors in secondary education are always looking for people to help them grade assignments and deal with general administrative duties. Plus, professors are smart and curious and live to push people to think harder. Use a teaching assistant position to gain a valuable reference or add a cool research project to your resume.
10. Online Marketing/PR – With the propagation of social media tools, many members of Generation Y have become stellar marketers and PR reps without even realizing it. There are opportunities in every industry for part-time work promoting products or services online.
11. BONUS! The Washington Post wrote an article about second-jobs and there are a ton of ideas not on this list, especially if you are looking specifically for paid part-time work.

One last thing I should point out: it’s a lot easier to get many of these part-time jobs if you use blogging and social media to get noticed. So even though blogging won’t make you an expert overnight, it can still help you promote yourself!

Some of the worst career advice I’ve heard about the recession is that Generation Y should lay low and just be thankful we have jobs. Why do older generations think we should be putting our career goals on hold just because the economy sucks? Now is just as good a time as any for Generation Y to focus not just on maintain a job, but on high-flying career advancement. For that, you need a good second-job.

What is a second-job? It’s the part-time job you either take or make in addition to your full-time day job. And even though it’s a lot of extra work, smart young professionals know a second-job is essential for survival in a recession. Here’s why:

Recessions are a time for back-up plans, and growth periods are a time for advancing quickly.

It once baffled me that anyone worried about job security, because, in my mind, job security from a company doesn’t exist no matter how the economy looks. But then I realized people who worry about job security have all their eggs in one basket, whether out of laziness or exhaustion or ignorance, and that’s a mistake no one in Generation Y can afford to make.

There is never a good time to get caught without a second-job. In recessions, you use your second-job for extra income, building your savings, and homemade unemployment insurance. Then, when the economy is doing well again, you use your already-established second-job to throw your career into overdrive by further building the skills you need to take on new positions every year or two.

But first you have to embrace the second-job, and realize it gives you freedom over your career in both good times and bad.

High-performing Generation Y’ers land stretch jobs by job-hopping, but need second-jobs to bridge the gaps.

As Rebecca Thorman points out, managing your career doesn’t stop just because we’re in a recession. In order to keep yourself challenged and increase your salary quickly, you have to take on stretch jobs; and the easiest way to land a stretch job is to job-hop your way to new experiences (even if you’re just job-hopping within your company).

But it’s hard to convince someone to hire you for a stretch job (especially in a recession), because the whole point of a stretch job is you don’t have all the skills desired and plan to do some learning on the company’s nickel. So use your second-job to narrow those learning gaps and convince the hiring manager you can do the job. You can bolster your candidacy odds by taking a second-job with interesting work that can be packaged into transferable skills.

The internet has made the second-job so low-cost, hiring managers expect you to have one (or two).

Yesterday, I told my husband (who is earning a doctorate in optometry) that he should be blogging about proper eye care for Boomers. Boomers will soon be a hugely important demographic for health care professionals, and Boomers are interested in online self-treatment when possible.

He rolled his eyes and replied, “Monica, blogging is your thing. I’m just not into it.”

He gave me a few more excuses for why he doesn’t need a professional blog, but I can’t remember them because I tuned out. The bottom line is there’s no excuse for not having a second-job, because the most competitive young professionals in the workforce will. Thanks to the internet and the proliferation of web and phone applications for every need imaginable, the high entry-barriers to many industries are crashing down. You can usually start your second-job for next to nothing, and people who go three steps further will outshine the rest of the applicant pool.

Now that you know you need a second-job, it’s time to go shopping. Tomorrow I’ll be posting ten jobs that would make great second-jobs for Generation Y professionals. Please visit again tomorrow, or subscribe to this blog for free so you don’t miss a thing.