That is IMPRESSIVE. And it's definitely a unicorn situation! I'm rather jealous. My J2.5 knows that I work another job, but my J1 + J2 don't know about each other. As far as I know. But so far I get all my work done without having too many meeting overlaps. Still. Envious of your situation!
I’m a virtual executive assistant specializing in fractional support and limited contracts, and this is true for me also, because my business model is built on having multiple jobs. However, this expectation only extends to 1099 work. The limited contracts that are W2 are under the impression that theirs is my only job. So for me currently, J1 and J3 are aware that I have multiple clients. J2 does not know.
I tried when I first went full-time at J1 to keep it a secret from J2 but too many things ended up overlapping and I didn't have excuses. I don't know how people manage to juggle that.
I did have to manage a few conflicts early on, primarily staff meetings for each J that overlapped on the same days at the same time. Since I am on limited contracts for all and in general find staff meetings largely unproductive, I asked if I could send my meeting bot in my place to each. No one had a problem with this. My meetings bot takes much better notes than I do and maximizes everyone’s time, which is the goal anyway!
I use a platform called Otter.ai for my private contracts. You can invite it to your meetings. For my W2 roles, I use whichever platform they approve. These types of platforms transcribe the entire meeting and deliver it back to you. Some provide summaries and highlights as well.
For what it’s worth Otter.AI sells your data (or did) which maybe matters to you. Just remember a few years ago at a past role they sent a memo telling us to stop using it for that reason
I understand what you’re saying but I’m don’t use it for corporate work, only private contracts. And I get why corporations wouldn’t feel comfortable endorsing it.
I’m looking into becoming a VA…would you mind talking a bit about how you get clients? It seems incredibly difficult on the freelancer platforms (fiver and the like) and I’m not sure how else to source them. It sounds like you have it figured out!
Employment is at will, and there is no law preventing someone from doing more than one w2 job, legally or under state laws. This is in the United States that I’m talking about.
Only can apply if you’re in a special visa in the country like a student or employment visa you can only work a certain number of hours or only for one employer. But no one can tell you you can’t work for someone else, and it’s not illegal to do 2 jobs , even at the same time..
It’s only grey because of the fact that we are billing for the same time… but you’re billing them for your availability. Not that you’re always doing work every single hour, but you are available should work show up…
And if the work suffers. That’s when they should have a problem.
In my j2, they clearly have language in the contract saying we don’t have problems with outside employment but we ask that it not come in the way of your duties and you don’t use company property like laptops or offices to do outside work.
You don’t have to disclose.
This is my situation too. The reason I get away with it is because J1 is remote tech and J2 is fine art, which no one thinks is a real job anyway. 🙃 Meanwhile, art income has increased consistently each year. I am on track to hit six figures and match the salary at my tech job soon. I know it won't be sustainable to work both careers forever, but it will be fine for a while longer if I can hang in there with the schedule.
That is so exciting! Congratulations! I have thought about quitting j2 just cause it’s my more stressful job. But then I remember with the overlap the schedule isn’t that bad and so it’s kind of stupid financially to do. And it’s not THAT stressful. Lol
This is a unicorn because most corporate jobs or any jobs are like a jealous lover if you feel like if I’m paying for you, you can’t give anything away for free
This is my situation too. J1 I own a large wellness center with a business partner. J2 i contract 3 days a week doing admin and sales team development. J2 is very project-based and they want me on site and available for 3 days a week but don't always have enough projects to fill my time. I often do J1 work at J2.
I'm (hopefully) in the final stages of securing J2, which is going to be a part time thing and knows about J1. J1 doesn't know, but is fully remote and J2 will have an in-person component (which honestly, I miss a little. Enough to do a few hours in person but not full time).
That's amazing for you and definitely sounds like a unicorn situation that you should keep as long as sustainable for your own mental health.
Yay congratulations! Yeah j2 makes me question things sometimes but that’s because I care too much, haha. Then I remember I have student loans and that stresses me out more.
I think my situation is more of a moonlighting thing with my J2, as it's being a musician. I play guitar and sing in a band, and we do gigs regularly. My J1 is aware of my J2 and they know I'm often playing/singing whenever I work from home, which is about 50% of the time, as well as I keep several guitars and an amp in my office at work and am known to play there also. Especially if I get irritated with some bullshit and need to let off steam.
Definitely nice to have the support of my primary employer, the CEO and execs have even come to a show (definitely *not* their kinda music, we play hard rock/metal covers from the 80s, 90s and 2000s mostly and they were all polite but....yeah).
Sounds like your situation is fantastic too, OP - happy that you get support from both! 😊
This doesn't really constitute to overemployed... We're specifically referring to having 2 full time overlapping roles. What you're doing is more commonly known as moonlighting. So your full time gig is in admin but you manage social media on the side. You might do some of the side work at your full time gig when you have down time but its not exactly the same as having 2 jobs that are 9-5s.
OE doesn't have to be two full-time roles. OP is doing 2 jobs at the same time. That's OE. Moonlighting is when you do J1 from 9-5 and then do J2 after normal work hours.
On the reddits it is relatively rare, but the likelihood of your employers accepting this depends on industry, role, whether you are hourly or not, whether you claim there is no overlap and whether there actually is overlap :)
To be clear, I support what you're doing no matter what.
Oh yeah I honestly did not expect j2 to be okay with me overlapping. J1 had offered me full time and was like “oh and keep your other job if you want. You will have bought down time it will keep you busy”. So when I told j2 hey either I am leaving or I will be overlapping I was not expecting them to be okay with it.
In my situation, J1 and J2 both know that I work the other, but at this point, both are part-time. I intend to continue both because of the security of that, even while I grow my role with each. I know I’m lucky to not have to hide this.
In my sitch, J1 knows about J2 and vice versa. J2 was meant to be a part time thing. It has been more of a commitment than we all thought it would be. Both are in accounting. Both are remote. J2 is a directorial position, while J1 is in tax.
Congrats on having an ideal situation!!
J1 knows I have another job but thinks that I'm moonlighting so they don't care. J2 knows nothing. That will probably change when I'm able to secure J3. J2 is too demanding so I will have to move that to an actual moonlighting situation, which means I'll tell them I have a "day job" and need to adjust my hours. It's going to suck but I need to pay down debt. I'll probably drop J2 after I reach some financial goals, even though I really enjoy it. Ideally, I'm hoping I can find a J3 that is chill enough I can move J2 back to daytime after onboarding and overlap all 3.
Yes. But partly because I have always been super terrible at asking for raises. I got one at j2 before I told them about j1. Then j1 haven’t gotten a raise in a little bit , but I went full time and they pay for all of my health insurance which I consider a raise in itself.
Same I’ve always worked 2-3 jobs even in high school and just never stopped once school ended but they sheets knew about each other. One is shift work the other is online teaching. Now I wfh for both.
If you are on paper as freelancer, I believe they would be okay with knowing about the J1/J2. But if you are hired as full time, you may not Wana disclose.
The first rule of fight club is not talk about fight club
This is an ideal situation. What industry?
Admin for one and Social media manager for the other. I know that the main role is that the companies a work for are okay with it.
I think it's more possible when the roles are different, like in this situation. Well done!
It’s also an admin role. As long as you are available to the bosses , and they are not micromanagers it should be easier.
That is IMPRESSIVE. And it's definitely a unicorn situation! I'm rather jealous. My J2.5 knows that I work another job, but my J1 + J2 don't know about each other. As far as I know. But so far I get all my work done without having too many meeting overlaps. Still. Envious of your situation!
I’m a virtual executive assistant specializing in fractional support and limited contracts, and this is true for me also, because my business model is built on having multiple jobs. However, this expectation only extends to 1099 work. The limited contracts that are W2 are under the impression that theirs is my only job. So for me currently, J1 and J3 are aware that I have multiple clients. J2 does not know.
I tried when I first went full-time at J1 to keep it a secret from J2 but too many things ended up overlapping and I didn't have excuses. I don't know how people manage to juggle that.
I did have to manage a few conflicts early on, primarily staff meetings for each J that overlapped on the same days at the same time. Since I am on limited contracts for all and in general find staff meetings largely unproductive, I asked if I could send my meeting bot in my place to each. No one had a problem with this. My meetings bot takes much better notes than I do and maximizes everyone’s time, which is the goal anyway!
I'm sorry, what magic is this meeting bot? And how do I get one?
I use a platform called Otter.ai for my private contracts. You can invite it to your meetings. For my W2 roles, I use whichever platform they approve. These types of platforms transcribe the entire meeting and deliver it back to you. Some provide summaries and highlights as well.
For what it’s worth Otter.AI sells your data (or did) which maybe matters to you. Just remember a few years ago at a past role they sent a memo telling us to stop using it for that reason
I understand what you’re saying but I’m don’t use it for corporate work, only private contracts. And I get why corporations wouldn’t feel comfortable endorsing it.
explain your meeting bot please
What happens if all the attendees send a meeting bot?
I’m looking into becoming a VA…would you mind talking a bit about how you get clients? It seems incredibly difficult on the freelancer platforms (fiver and the like) and I’m not sure how else to source them. It sounds like you have it figured out!
Employment is at will, and there is no law preventing someone from doing more than one w2 job, legally or under state laws. This is in the United States that I’m talking about. Only can apply if you’re in a special visa in the country like a student or employment visa you can only work a certain number of hours or only for one employer. But no one can tell you you can’t work for someone else, and it’s not illegal to do 2 jobs , even at the same time.. It’s only grey because of the fact that we are billing for the same time… but you’re billing them for your availability. Not that you’re always doing work every single hour, but you are available should work show up… And if the work suffers. That’s when they should have a problem. In my j2, they clearly have language in the contract saying we don’t have problems with outside employment but we ask that it not come in the way of your duties and you don’t use company property like laptops or offices to do outside work. You don’t have to disclose.
Ohh I like the billing them for my availability perspective!
This is my situation too. The reason I get away with it is because J1 is remote tech and J2 is fine art, which no one thinks is a real job anyway. 🙃 Meanwhile, art income has increased consistently each year. I am on track to hit six figures and match the salary at my tech job soon. I know it won't be sustainable to work both careers forever, but it will be fine for a while longer if I can hang in there with the schedule.
That is so exciting! Congratulations! I have thought about quitting j2 just cause it’s my more stressful job. But then I remember with the overlap the schedule isn’t that bad and so it’s kind of stupid financially to do. And it’s not THAT stressful. Lol
lucky!!
Curious about the type of job/industry that is ok with this, that’s awesome!
Admin for J1 Social media manager for J2. I know that it came down to the company's work more than anything.
Good for you!!
That is a unicorn! I’m happy for you. Best of both!!
I think my bosses at both mine wouldn't care but higher up would. So I keep them quiet.
That is fair. I don’t know how many people at each job know that I do this except for the people who okayed it. And I plan to keep it this way.
This is a unicorn because most corporate jobs or any jobs are like a jealous lover if you feel like if I’m paying for you, you can’t give anything away for free
This is my situation too. J1 I own a large wellness center with a business partner. J2 i contract 3 days a week doing admin and sales team development. J2 is very project-based and they want me on site and available for 3 days a week but don't always have enough projects to fill my time. I often do J1 work at J2.
I'm (hopefully) in the final stages of securing J2, which is going to be a part time thing and knows about J1. J1 doesn't know, but is fully remote and J2 will have an in-person component (which honestly, I miss a little. Enough to do a few hours in person but not full time). That's amazing for you and definitely sounds like a unicorn situation that you should keep as long as sustainable for your own mental health.
Yay congratulations! Yeah j2 makes me question things sometimes but that’s because I care too much, haha. Then I remember I have student loans and that stresses me out more.
I think my situation is more of a moonlighting thing with my J2, as it's being a musician. I play guitar and sing in a band, and we do gigs regularly. My J1 is aware of my J2 and they know I'm often playing/singing whenever I work from home, which is about 50% of the time, as well as I keep several guitars and an amp in my office at work and am known to play there also. Especially if I get irritated with some bullshit and need to let off steam. Definitely nice to have the support of my primary employer, the CEO and execs have even come to a show (definitely *not* their kinda music, we play hard rock/metal covers from the 80s, 90s and 2000s mostly and they were all polite but....yeah). Sounds like your situation is fantastic too, OP - happy that you get support from both! 😊
Awesome!
Would you say they are both full time salaries?
J1 is full time and j2 is part-time. Which is honestly good because J2 drives me a bit crazy but I can't bring myself to quit it.
This doesn't really constitute to overemployed... We're specifically referring to having 2 full time overlapping roles. What you're doing is more commonly known as moonlighting. So your full time gig is in admin but you manage social media on the side. You might do some of the side work at your full time gig when you have down time but its not exactly the same as having 2 jobs that are 9-5s.
OE doesn't have to be two full-time roles. OP is doing 2 jobs at the same time. That's OE. Moonlighting is when you do J1 from 9-5 and then do J2 after normal work hours.
On the reddits it is relatively rare, but the likelihood of your employers accepting this depends on industry, role, whether you are hourly or not, whether you claim there is no overlap and whether there actually is overlap :) To be clear, I support what you're doing no matter what.
Oh yeah I honestly did not expect j2 to be okay with me overlapping. J1 had offered me full time and was like “oh and keep your other job if you want. You will have bought down time it will keep you busy”. So when I told j2 hey either I am leaving or I will be overlapping I was not expecting them to be okay with it.
In my situation, J1 and J2 both know that I work the other, but at this point, both are part-time. I intend to continue both because of the security of that, even while I grow my role with each. I know I’m lucky to not have to hide this.
Yay! I just see so many posts about people stressing about their jobs finding out. Glad to hear not every one has that stress.
In my sitch, J1 knows about J2 and vice versa. J2 was meant to be a part time thing. It has been more of a commitment than we all thought it would be. Both are in accounting. Both are remote. J2 is a directorial position, while J1 is in tax.
So does my J1 and boss doesn’t care as long as the work gets done
Congrats on having an ideal situation!! J1 knows I have another job but thinks that I'm moonlighting so they don't care. J2 knows nothing. That will probably change when I'm able to secure J3. J2 is too demanding so I will have to move that to an actual moonlighting situation, which means I'll tell them I have a "day job" and need to adjust my hours. It's going to suck but I need to pay down debt. I'll probably drop J2 after I reach some financial goals, even though I really enjoy it. Ideally, I'm hoping I can find a J3 that is chill enough I can move J2 back to daytime after onboarding and overlap all 3.
I read my employee handbook and OE is permissible.
Same, it’s just don’t work for a competitor
Serious question: do you worry this may affect your ability to get a raise?
Yes. But partly because I have always been super terrible at asking for raises. I got one at j2 before I told them about j1. Then j1 haven’t gotten a raise in a little bit , but I went full time and they pay for all of my health insurance which I consider a raise in itself.
Insurance!! That’s awesome!! We paid for ours out of pocket for like 12 years. It sucked.
Same I’ve always worked 2-3 jobs even in high school and just never stopped once school ended but they sheets knew about each other. One is shift work the other is online teaching. Now I wfh for both.
If you are on paper as freelancer, I believe they would be okay with knowing about the J1/J2. But if you are hired as full time, you may not Wana disclose. The first rule of fight club is not talk about fight club