Forget A Job For Life: Here’s How Irish Women Are Doubling Their Income

Sarah spends her spare time building her lifestyle blog into a viable business. Claire’s regularly to be seen sipping cold, hours-old brew in a hipster coffee shop as she stays put scoring free wifi – she’s getting herself out there as a freelance journalist in between paying shifts as a fashion retailer. And Aiveen’s into buying and selling vintage on eBay, a part time gig that’s taking up an increasing amount of her time before and after her office 9-5.

Each of them has what they call a solid earner to pay the bills – things like their rent, electricity and food – but for them, the side hustle isn’t so much about the cash as it is about building something into the future. Oh, okay, and having a couple of hundred extra a month to pay the bills, especially that ever-increasing rent.

The idea of a career is dissolving. Careers are becoming anachronistic.

In the UK, Coople, a website for freelance staff hiring, has discovered that 16 percent of British women have more than one job, compared to 12 percent of men. And when we polled STELLAR readers on Twitter, we found that 24 percent of you have more than one job, and three percent of you have more than three. With almost a quarter of the Millennial female population of Ireland defining itself as a slashie – multi-skilled, multi-talented workers – what’s the appeal?

It can be a way out of a boring job for some. Coople says almost a third (29 percent) of its survey respondents say there’s an upskilling benefit to having more than one job. It makes sense: learning new tricks on the side gives you way more options in any prospective job hunt. For 64 percent, it’s all about the extra cashola, an obvious motivator, and for 15 percent, a second job is purely a hobby. Another 23 percent like the fact they’re double-jobbing because it offers variety and allows them to experience new environments.

For Millennials, who’ve grown up in a career culture where interning is rife and job security, is, well, non-existent, being a one-stop-employment-shop makes a lot of sense. Forget jobs for life, ninety one percent of Millennials expect to stay in theirs for less than three years, according to a survey from Future Workplace. Dr Mike Rafferty, of the University of Sydney Business School, says that, “the idea of a career is dissolving. Careers are becoming anachronistic. These days we talk about a portfolio of jobs and lifetime learning.”

Looks like we’ve all got another skill to learn: juggling.

This article first appeared in STELLAR’s January/February issue. Our March issue is on shelves now! 

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