Overemployment: Aussie woman reveals how shes working two jobs at the same time

Thursday is *Jessica’s busiest day of the week; she’s answering calls, checking emails, multi-tasking and delegating, all while working two jobs simultaneously.

Jessica, a local Sydney woman in her early thirties, has two admin roles at separate companies, one in the field she ultimately wants to get into.

She works four days a week in job one, and two (sometimes three) days a week in job two, with one shared day at both.

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It sounds complicated, but Jessica makes balancing two jobs look pretty easy. She stays vigilant and busy and isn’t even worried about getting caught.

Remember the phenomenon Lean In that swept through the early 2000s? It was a book by the original tech girl boss Sheryl Sandberg; she was the chief operating officer at Facebook, now known as Meta.

The concept told women they could have it all if they asserted themselves. Well, Jessica’s leant so far in, she might fall over.

She’s grabbed her career by two firm hands, and despite the bold move, she’s not up at night crippled with anxiety over being discovered by either job as a dirty two-timer.

It helps that she didn’t end up in this situation through a bunch of comical errors like the lead in a romantic comedy from the early 2000s. She chose it.

“My second job is related to a field that I’m passionate about pursuing, and is a way to build experience in that field. It was advertised as a casual/part-time position, and I suppose I overpromised the job,” she told news.com.au.

When she landed the gig, instead of confessing, she figured she’d see if she could make it work.

Lean in, right?

“I got the job and figured I’d see how it works and stop when it didn’t any longer.”

Since then, Jessica has continued to hustle in both jobs due mounting financial pressure of the cost of living crisis, and she’s not alone in her pursuit of extra cash.

According to HR software company Employment Hero’s 2022 Remote Work Report, 51 per cent of workers in Australia have a second income stream, and some of them are earning their extra income simultaneously.

In fact, there’s a word for people working two jobs like Jessica, it’s called “overemployement”.

The trend took off during the pandemic where people could suddenly work privately from their homes and has been accelerated by the cost of living crisis.

There’s a even group on Reddit called Overemployed with over 200,000 members who share advice, hacks and job-search advice for people looking to hold down two jobs at the same time.

AMP Capital’s chief economist, Shane Oliver said the overemployement trend just reflects our current times.

“Partly it is because working has become more flexible in many industries and that opened up various avenues, secondly, cost of living pressures generally and thirdly higher mortgages.”

Mr Oliver was reluctant to say which group has it worse, but he does explain that Millennials like Jessica are in a tight spot.

“If you take a typical 35-year-old who has newly entered into the property market, that group would be feeling lots of pressure at present.”

Are you an ‘overemployed’ Aussie? Continue the conversation: mary.madigan@news.com.au

The pressure is causing Aussies to look for unique ways to make cash.

So how does overemployment practically work?

It requires some planning and organisation, but Jessica has it down to a fine art.

“I ‘work from home’ on the day that I do my other job on-site. I schedule meetings for job one during my lunch break for job two, and respond to emails and requests from my phone for job one,” she said.

Jessica said she’s more dedicated to her second job on Thursdays because she’s there in person, and makes it up to her other job outside work hours.

“I put the required amount of hours in for both jobs. I just work more flexibly than either would like, I’m sure.”

The young worker admits she’s not worried about getting caught. Sure, there’s a chance her second job could catch her on her phone too much, but they aren’t immediately going to assume the reason she’s scrolling on her phone constantly is because she’s got a secret second job.

In fact, Jessica feels confident in keeping both jobs away from each other. They are different industries, and there’s no common thread where things could overlap.

However, she does confess it’s not easy to work two jobs at the same time.

“It takes a lot of planning and work. Ensuring meetings and events aren’t scheduled on the same days. Blocking out my calendar so I appear busy and running really quick through the train station so no one from job number one happens to see me,” she explains.

She’s also found some helpful tactics to pull it all of seamlessly, and the joys of technology have become a helpful crutch.

“Virtual backgrounds have become my best friend as has ‘oh my god, I don’t know why my camera isn’t working today’ to shield things.”

The pay-off quite literally is worth it.

“I take home an extra 25 per cent on top of my salary from job one by doing this dual work.”

Considering we are in a cost-of-living crisis, 25 per cent does make a huge difference, and while Jessica’s methods are unorthodox, seeking a second income during a cost of living crisis is just part of a broader trend.

A recent Finder survey revealed that 1 in 4, equivalent to 4.8 million people, are forced to take on additional employment, work longer hours, or come out of retirement to make ends meet.

In fact, Jessica’s actually being very smart.

According to money expert at Finder, Mariam Gabaji, now is the time to secure a second income.

“Budgets have taken a massive hit over the past 12 months, with many Australians having to work multiple jobs just to cover their bills,” Ms Gabaji told news.com.au.

“Taking on a second job can make a huge difference to how much money you have left over at the end of each month.

As the cost of living continues to skyrocket, sacrificing spare time for extra cash can be a wise move.”

For Jessica, she doesn’t feel bad or like she’s taken advantage of either employer, she’s simply making a system work for her.

“I feel like it is written into my contract and so many people’s that sometimes the business requires you to work outside your normal hours for their benefit. So why can’t I take some of that power back? They pay for that time, and I give it to both, just not in the standard way,” she said.

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Plus, she’s not prepared to be blindly loyal to a company.

“I’ve worked so hard to give everything to a company and be loyal, only to get screwed over hard. So, I look out for me now.”

*Name has been changed for privacy

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