Second/extra jobs - Updates posts 31 + 32

[debthaven]

I have three "second jobs" besides my main job. They are seasonal, they only happen in May/June/July when my semester is (sort of) over. They are more or less time-consuming. They are a few days here and there. Unfortunately, they are often Saturdays. 

BUT, I also still have obligations to my main job during those months, even if the school year is officially over. I teach some Personnel classes (staff and faculty) which don't operate on the student calendar, I have 100+ finals to mark (they are essays, so VERY time consuming), I do the orals for prospective incoming students (on the main campus, so out of town), and I go to the end-of-year language meeting (on the main campus, so out of town). This means I have 2-3 out of town trips during that period. I also have to attend the Juries of the years I teach (the Juries decide if the students pass into the next year, or not), and I have to proctor certain "official" ESL exams, but those are on my campus, not out of town. 

I have decided to give up ONE of my three "second jobs" next year. It is ALWAYS on a Saturday, plus, I REALLY don't like the way it is run. I offered it to 3/5 of my colleagues for next year (the 3 who also take on extra work), not ONE of them has taken me up on it. It is VERY well-paid PER TEACHING HOUR, but it requires a TON of prep. So in reality, for 5 hours of very well-paid teaching, I work another 5 hours "behind the scenes". 

Unlike the other two "second" jobs, this job only happens one day per year. (It's supposed to be 2 days per year, but it's been 1 day for the past two years.) My two other second jobs are also seasonal, but they require MUCH less prep, and I do them for more than one day. 

Other point: I started all these "second jobs" my first year at my main job, because I didn't have enough hours. Now I have as many hours as I can handle, and more. I get offered more hours every. single. year. This is the first year I told the school yes I'll take on yet more hours, but not everything you're offering me. But I'm flexible, so I'll take on whatever suits you best. 

For those of you who have other jobs besides your main job, how important are they to you? What is your criteria for keeping them or letting them go? How do you decide? 

[debthaven]

I know that southernsusana and Giramama both had a lot of "extra jobs", so I'd be very interested in hearing from them. :-)

[Deleted]

I gave up one of my "extra jobs" and one because it is temporarily unavailable.

I gave up Saturday School because the schedule became erratic. You would plan for a whole month to keep that Saturday free, and the Administration would decide that there weren't enough students to make it financially worthwhile to have it that week.  Your week didn't get postponed; you lost the opportunity to work that month. I got tired of it being canceled.

My other extra job was online teaching. They ran out of money this year. There is a huge demand for these courses, but the legislature didn't fund them enough. This became how schools handled night school, summer school, plus electives like AP and Foreign Language courses. They cut it down to the bare minimum (mostly second year language courses so kids could get their credits for college). I think it will resume this year. I would love to do this again.

I'm grateful for most extra work, but it has to be fair to both the system and me.  I don't think the Saturday School system was fair.  It used to be.  I would have some Saturday Schools with five students and some with thirty students.  It is unfair to ask me to reserve a block of time for over a month and then cancel it.

I have had other extra jobs.  This semester I am teaching a homebound student.  I did it simply because she was already my student.  I would have to prepare the lessons, etc.  I simply became the person who went to her house to teach those lessons.  I'm glad I did.  She really struggled (special education student), which I might have missed if I hadn't worked with her one-on-one.  But I didn't make much money. 

I'd give it up, too, Debt.  The prep cuts the amount they are paying you in half.  At least with my homebound student, the prep was something I had to do regardless.

[debthaven]

Thanks Susana! I had decided to give it up, then DH started with "oh, but that's such a great hourly rate!" He set up all my templates, so he should know how much prep is involved. (These are "mock orals" for students trying to get into my school. But the place I do this for refuses to do it as it should be done, and obviously I can't use the news articles we use for the Real Thing, so I have to find others that have come out after our deadline. Finding the articles is very time-consuming, and laying them out is too, for me.) I had already made my decision, but after DH's remark today I started second-guessing myself. 

Kudos for you for doing that, you must be making a huge difference in her life.   

[steph08]

I have a second job - it is two Sundays/month, about 5 hours at a time.

I sort of fell into the job and it doesn't require a lot of thought, plus it pays well, so I keep doing it.

I never minded it before but now with a kiddo who is 10 months old, it does bother me sometimes. But I do consider it good bonding time for her and DH, since I spend the most time with her even if we are both home.

So I keep on keeping on. The money goes straight into our vacation fund.

[debthaven]

Thank you for your comments SS and Steph! That's great Steph that the money goes into your vacation fund! And yes, it must be really nice for your kiddo and your DH to have that time together.

That's another issue for me ... DS3 (the last one left at home lol) is in 11th grade now and it absolutely kills me to leave him any more than I have to. He's a great, easy-going kid who has friends and a social life of his own, but who is also very happy to spend time with us. I hadn't thought about that before but yes that's an issue. Next year will be his last year at home, so I'm definitely "taking stock" and reevaluating things. He'll also be doing his Baccalaureat next year, and I want to be available to him. 

I'm sorry it's really late here so I need to go to bed now. 

[msventoux]

I haven't had a second job in years, but did so for several years.  At first the second job was to get a house down payment.  Once I bought the house I decided to keep the job for a while to build up my reserves.  I liked the group of people I worked with, I didn't have to deal with customers and the work was pretty mindless.  The pay was decent and it made sense to get paid to hang out with people I liked.

Eventually I got tired of only having major holidays off (4-5 days a year?) and realized I needed to focus my attention on finishing my education and ramping up my career.  The job was perfectly fine and helped me meet my financial goals quicker, but it would have been a mistake to stay there any longer.

[Shooby]

My approach to my career was to be more entrepreneurial. I was a full time employee until I had my second child. Then, I went part time and I would also pick up some extra jobs. And, then when I started my S Corp, I had to also work other jobs to survive till I got things up and running. At one point, I had 4 jobs going.
I think second jobs are great if you want to do them or need the money, etc. But, is it really worth the extra time, energy and lack of time with your family that it might cause? You certainly need to weigh those things.

[Deleted]

My 'extra' job is evaluating for homeschooling families. I don't really do it for the money though. My evaluator charges me 35$ per kid. I change my friends 5-10$. I used to charge more and spend a lot of May/June running around and completing evals. Now I set up 2 days where people come to me and I pack them in. Other than that, only if it fits my schedule. I realized I really didn't want to spend all that time doing evals. But I still wanted to be able to do it for friends, so this works better.

[resolution]

I don't work a second job. My full time job has plenty of overtime available that pays better than any side job that I could work, and it counts toward my base salary for my pension calculation when I retire. So if I need extra money it makes more sense for me to work overtime.

DH has two side jobs and he really struggles with whether or not to accept jobs from them. His first side job is with his old buddies from college, setting up and running stages and sound equipment for concerts and festivals. He has a lot of fun working this job, but it is poorly organized so most jobs are very short notice and interfere with weekend plans. He will turn them down if he has already made plans.

His second side job is from his former employer; they are paying him double of his old salary to draft architectural millwork and lay out cut lists. The hours depend on the specific project because if he signs up for a project he is in for the duration. The last one was a home remodel and he has spent about 40 hours on it over the past month. He struggles with this one because it is the best money he has ever made, but we really don't need the money. Up until now he has always just gone for the extra money because he thought he should, but he is starting to realize that having time to relax is also important and he is struggling to balance the two. This side job would happily give him full time work if he accepted every job from them.

[TheHaitian]

We both don't work a second job currently.

I did back in my early career to make some extra money, it was only some evenings and weekends.

My wife never worked a second job.

But *crazy* we are contemplating getting our real estate license together and maybe do that part time on the side :eek::eek::eek:

[Jake 48]

I average about 12 hours a month at my second job, teaching  for an EMT school, the money is ok, it keeps my skills fine tuned, so its worth it.

[debthaven]

Carl I think that IS crazy! lol

Thanks everybody for your responses! :-) Like many of you have mentioned, the issue is weekends, and plans or time with family. Oped, that sounds like a very good solution. 

I have decided not to do this job again next year, but to keep doing the other two. One of the other two is only on weekdays, and the other is mostly on weekdays (until this year it was only weekdays, I don't know yet whether this year is a fluke). Thinking about it, what bothers me is working on Saturdays when DH and DS3 are home, especially I also go away for work 2-3 times during this period.  

[TheHaitian]

May 10, 2015 9:19:45 GMT -5 debthaven said:

Carl I think that IS crazy! lol

I know

We will see if we follow through with it! Lol!

[giramomma]

If I had a day job that paid more, or DH ever had a job where he'd break even with daycare costs, we'd work one job each. My day job is not lucrative. Pay is not related to output of work. I've been there 11 years, and received raises 4 of those 11 years. A good year, now, is if income and benefits are not cut.

As for choosing second jobs, generally, I don't turn work down. But, my situation is different. I will have little summer income from my night job stuff. Clients come and go. It's feast or famine. My business is also word of mouth. Though I live in a bigger city, it's a very small community. I don't want word of mouth to be that I'm full if I'm not.

I teach because it is also worth it..financially, and I really need to be involved with my instrument for my emotional well-being..I also did pick up a little side job doing some editing. I'm not making a ton of money with it. But, I can do it when I have a few moments and it's paying for the kids' extras this summer.  I'll give up a little free time so that I don't have to dip into savings so DD1 and I can have a mommy-daughter trip together.

In your situation, I would be choosy and not take work if you don't need to.

I'm in a different situation. A spouse that will likely never find full time employment (unless we move and he starts over). I have a 3 year old, two more children that will need braces, and house that needs work/updating. When the peanut is in HS, I should be able to cut back. Working 55-65 hour weeks when I'm in my late 50's has no appeal to me. That's why I'm doing it now.

[debthaven]

All very good points Gira ... but remember, as of late April, I'm on a reduced teaching schedule, because my college students are done with classes for the year. And our house needs updating too. 

That's why I've always been happy to pick up extra jobs here and there. My conclusion after this thread is that I still am, as long as they are during the week. Or even Sat morning. But not Sat afternoon/evening.   The job I'm giving up finishes at 7 pm on Saturday evening, so I leave about 7.15 pm. That messes up both Sat afternoon AND Sat evening, either once or twice in May. 

[mrnewengland]

I used to pick up a lot of second jobs on Craigslist. Usually moving people (I have a truck & trailer) or general labor and stuff like that.

I recently started driving for Uber and so far I really like it.

[Deleted]

May 10, 2015 8:26:29 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

We both don't work a second job currently.

I did back in my early career to make some extra money, it was only some evenings and weekends.

My wife never worked a second job.

But *crazy* we are contemplating getting our real estate license together and maybe do that part time on the side :eek::eek::eek:

You know, I think that could be a really awesome back up career for both of you!!  

[debthaven]

MrNewEngland, Uber is big here too. Are you well-covered in terms of insurance? That would worry me (but I'm a worrier lol).

I'm very glad I started this thread, it has really helped me evaluate and prioritize things! 

Here's more info about the two other side jobs:

This is my 4th year. Every January I have to fill out a form with my availabilities for May and June. I send it back the same day. I never offer to work Saturdays. This year, for the first time, they absolutely didn't respect my dates. Except for ONE weekday, they offered me only Saturdays, and days I was out of town for my main job. DESPITE GIVING THEM THAT INFO IN JAN, THE SAME DAY THEY REQUESTED IT!!!

Since I don't want to lose my accreditation, I had to accept two Saturdays. Apparently there were a TON of complaints this year (not just from me lol). I was told by our trainer that the scheduling was spectacularly badly organized this year, because the organization is growing and the woman who has always done it can't cope. (Full disclosure, I have since cancelled one of the two Sat afternoons, because my DS1, the humanitarian aid worker, will be here for 36h and I haven't seen him since Nov.) First cancellation on my part in 4 years, but seeing DS1 comes first. 

The trainer also told me they recently hired someone who is taking over the scheduling as of September. Because of that, and because I can't afford to give up all three side jobs, I'm going to wait and see what happens next year. Also, this would be a great retirement job if we stay here (we don't know) so for now I'm willing to put up with working a couple of Saturdays a year for them, especially if I stop doing the other Saturday job. Last point, I live very close to all their schools, so I can probably pick up more hours with them (last-minute cancellations). And since it's my fourth year, I have more certifications than a large part of their staff. IOW, I've invested a fair amount on time on them over these past 4 years.  

The third job I heard about through a colleague very late last school year. I was too late to be added to their regular scheduling, but I replaced somebody who had to cancel. It went well and the Head of Department promised to put me on his regular list for this year. He did. That job is Mon - Fri. 

Thanks again! 

[cronewitch]

I don't work a second job or a first job. Once I quit a job to move to another job about 15 minutes away. I was working 6AM but the new job started at 8AM the old job wanted me to come to work before my new job and work until I had to go to the new one. I turned it down because my new job had a huge learning curve and I wanted to give it all my brain power. I went from 28K on my new job to 65K over 6 years so that extra 15 an hour for an hour or two a day wouldn't have been worth it.

[debthaven]

I think you definitely made the right decision Crone LOL! I hope you're enjoying being unemployed. 

[debthaven]

My contact person at the job I've decided to give up is currently on vacation. So I had decided not to email her until she gets back.

But, although it wasn't very nice of me, I wanted to get it off my plate. So I wrote to her to give her a recap of the day (as I usually do) and added that I couldn't do it in the future. I told her I had offered it to certain colleagues but hadn't had a response from them yet, and offered to help her find somebody else if she wanted me to. She has 11.5 months to find somebody else, and everybody is replaceable. 

So please excuse me, but WHEEEEEE!!!!!!!!! The joy that I felt hitting "send" is proof that I definitely made the right decision!

[travelnut11]

I've done part-time contract work (I'm a computer programmer) for one company off and on for the last 8 years.  Its been really great as it's lucrative and the work is a fair bit different than my regular job so I find it a bit more intellectually stimulating and I always learn something new.  The first time I did it it ended up paying for my 6 month trip through South America and this most recent time it contributed a significant portion of the down payment on the house my husband and I just bought.  Still, working a full-time 40 hour job and another 20 hours part-time gets difficult and I usually hit my limit at 6 months of this schedule.  Now that I have the Mini-nut I'm probably done for the foreseeable future although even as my boss was sending me a baby gift he was talking about my "next assignment" so evidently he thinks I'm still up for it. 

[cael]

My "second" job is a contract job I can basically do whenever I want (provided they need the help) at whatever rate I want. It's pretty sweet... but I just don't have the free time right now with school. I like keeping the professional connection up with that city and it's good to have on my resume, and a great backup cash source if things got really tight, but I haven't worked for them in a year or so with all the stuff I've had going on. I may see about doing some work for them in August, but we'll see how burnt out I am after my summer class, then new class starts up in September obviously.

The money isn't great unless I work 8-10 hours plus (I'm paid per inspection, not per hour, so a half hour place gets me the same cash as a 2 hour place) so it's useful extra cash, but not big bucks.

[TheOtherMe]

I am officially retired, but I work two other jobs.  I work for a CPA firm during tax season.  Additionally, I am a church secretary about 20 hours per month.  That is a contract job and I pretty much set my own schedule.  Some of the software is only on my computer, so I do it from home.  The church is in the process of getting a new pastor and he told me to expect to work more hours.  If he gets to be too controlling or demanding of my time, I will quit the job as it doesn't pay enough.  

Being a federal retiree, neither one of these jobs helps me with social security because I don't make enough for them to count as full time work.  

We have already been through the contract vs employee with one of the church council members.  Several other members totally got that they don't want to have to pay employment taxes on me and I don't want them totally controlling my time.  The first Pastor I worked for said as long as the bulletins are there on Sunday, he was happy.

[Ryan]

Probably 10-11 years ago, I was at the point where I considered getting a 2nd job for a few nights per week.  I actually got some advice from WCP on the old YM boards that was, to paraphrase, that a little bit of extra income wouldn't really change anything.  After I heard that and realized it was true, I pretty much ditched the idea of working part-time someplace else.

I eventually started my own e-commerce site that has been going for 10 years (this Nov).  This is probably the smartest thing I've ever done because it gives the upside that you can't get as an employee i.e. you can scale a business to the point where you're making much more than the hours you are putting in.  I'm at the point now where I put in 10% of the time I spend working at my day job and make 5x as much.

[973beachbum]

I just finished a year at my second job.  When I applied I thought it would just be for the summer and no more than 15 hours a week.  Man was I wrong.

I can basically work as many hours as I want at my full time job but I don't get paid any overtime.  Once upon a time we got end of year profit sharing bonuses to make up for that.  Now I'm lucky if I get $50 bucks.  So now no one works overtime unless the job absolutely requires it and even then it is almost always the hourly employees not the salaried.   So when DD started to get her acceptances to colleges and magical scholarships didn't appear I thought about getting a second job to help pay for some of it.  She did get some scholarships and aid from the college she is attending but that still left $23000 a year to pay. After her SL's and very PT job that is a pretty big nut to come up with every year for four years!  We do have savings but that "pot" is for basically everything and I just didn't want to use it to pay for her college.

When I applied my thought was I saw the people who got summer jobs there and if they could do it I could do it.  It never occurred to me what fun it would be working with them.   I get a little more than min wage.  Most weeks they schedule me for about 20 hours.  I did give them some days I can't work every week.  Yet this week I was scheduled for Wednesday even though I have it listed that I can't work Wednesdays.   If they had asked me and said they were really having trouble scheduling and had no one who could work Wednesday and could I do it I probably would have said yes and the front end manager knows that.  But them just scheduling it and not asking pisses me off!

I also get pushed to do work that definitely isn't in my pay grade.  Sometimes i will help them out but most of the time I feel like no way will I take the abuse that comes from all sides by being the CSR or PIC. 

[debthaven]

Beachbum, for some reason I thought you had gone back to work with this job, I never realized it was your second job! Wow, kudos to you!  

I have a colleague who may be interested in taking over the job I gave up. If not, I'm sure they'll find somebody else. 

I was at the main campus for my main job earlier this week, and I agreed to take on more hours (I won't know exactly how many till Sept). 

So again, no regrets! I still plan on keeping the other two seasonal side jobs. 

[debthaven]

Cael, I think it's perfectly understandable that it's too hard to do extra hours, AND go back to school! I would agree, it has to be one or the other.

TheOtherMe, if the new Pastor asks you for more hours and/or more responsibilities, you could always ask for a raise (if you want to, of course!) I have always had the impression that you liked this job because it's not too demanding but it gives you some extra income. If it becomes more demanding, but pays more, you could either give it up, or decide to give up or reduce your hours at the tax job. Or maybe even decide to do both! Dunno, but I think it's definitely worth asking for more money before you make a decision.

As others have said, the hard part is finding a balance that works. And I'm also realizing more and more that you often need to "reset" that balance, for whatever reason (your main job, family issues, going back to school, etc.)

[murphath]

I've had a couple extra gigs over the years but they were all pre/post child rearing. That was an extra job all on its own!

I retired a few years back from my main job but kept the one p/t job which involves 4 Saturdays per year. The pay is good but the job is boring: proctoring certification exams. Watching people taking exams and making sure they don't cheat is not much fun. I have my husband as the second proctor so that helps.  Still, I'm not sure I want to keep doing it much longer.

I also work p/t for Weight Watchers as a receptionist. Certainly not for the $$$--they pay squat--but just to keep me in the game. Lost my weight with them 30 years ago and figured I could offer the members some insight.  But WW head office is truly incompetent and dysfunctional so it is extremely frustrating to work there. Think this will be my last year with them, too.

Then I'll be truly retired!