Archived Working two jobs?

[Starry]

Who here works 2 (or multiple, even) jobs, or has done so in the past? Whether both are part time, one full/one part, or both full-time?

I ask, because I need to save up some serious money. For graduate school, a future travel plan, and just to have some actual money in my account.

I've applied to, at least, 30 different places the past month and am now playing the waiting game. Assuming I get hired at another place:

1.) How difficult was it do manage working at two places?

2.) How does one prevent from becoming burned out?

3.) Is it possible to actually have any semblance of a social life when working multiple jobs?

For some context, some of the other places I've applied to include other retail places, hotels, restaurants, and healthcare facilities.

 

[FlowingandWaving]

1. Not difficult if that's what you want. I always told my second job my hours at Target because I was at Targer first. But then again, at Target I have a set schedule being on Flow.
2. If you have hours between going to the second job...go home and catch a nap...or nap in your car. Granted, there are days you just want to throw in the towel but so long as you can handle 16hr days you should be fine.
3. Social life?????? What is that...

 

[Signkitty]

1) Had a set schedule at Target so it was easy to know what hours I coukd work.

2) I was out of the house working from 7am till midnight some days. The fact that I did not have a car did not help. On days I had to work both jobs I went to Target worked eight hours, then changed clothes got on the bus and worked at the restaurant for five or six hours then had to get home with a bus that would only stop an hour walk away from my house at that time of night. It was not fun but I managed. When I got a car it was a bit better.

3) I hate people so lack of social life did not bother me.

 

[Vulpix]

My main 40 hour a week job has a set schedule which makes it easy to schedule Target around that. I only work 15 hours a week at Target so I have time to spend with my family. Some days I leave the house at 7 am and get home around 11 pm, you just get used to it after a while. If I start feeling burnt out I cut my Target hours back for a week or two.

 

[buliSBI]

Who here works 2 (or multiple, even) jobs, or has done so in the past? Whether both are part time, one full/one part, or both full-time?

I ask, because I need to save up some serious money. For graduate school, a future travel plan, and just to have some actual money in my account.

I've applied to, at least, 30 different places the past month and am now playing the waiting game. Assuming I get hired at another place:

1.) How difficult was it do manage working at two places?

2.) How does one prevent from becoming burned out?

3.) Is it possible to actually have any semblance of a social life when working multiple jobs?

For some context, some of the other places I've applied to include other retail places, hotels, restaurants, and healthcare facilities.

I worked at a TV station and Target. TV Station from 3am to 10am-1pm Tues-Sat. And Target on the weekends from Sat 12pm- close and Sun open-close. Sad thing is that I was paid more per hour at Target than in TV.

1. Since I was working in TV, my Target was very accommodating as long I worked Cart Attendant or cashier shifts. I scheduled Target around my station schedule. I would find second employment that was purely shift work or set in stone.

2. Give yourself at least one full day off for some relaxation and ability to run errands.

3. Just depends on your schedule.

 

[commiecorvus]

I've done the two jobs thing on a number of occasions.
Working for Spot I actually had three or four gigs going but they were all side action that only came up occasionally or that I could do on my own schedule i.e. freelance writing.

But the hardest one was almost two years of working during the day as student coordinator for a political campaign and at night as a restaurant manager.
Most of my sleep was on the bus between the two jobs.
The bus driver knew me well enough to tell my fellow passengers to wake me up at my stop.
Good thing I was young but that was when I got addicted to coffee.

Have to agree with @buliSBI make sure you have at least one day to yourself or you will go nuts.
I would volunteer days I wasn't supposed to work to leaflet and go door to door.
Needless to say it didn't make my wife very happy.
Don't plan on any kind of life outside of your jobs.

 

[PugMuffin]

I worked part time at Taco Bell as a shift manager while I was also working at Target full time. I didn't find it too difficult to balance the two. I just worked my second job around my Target hours. Also, I was also going to school full-time for Computer Engineering at the same time and still managed to have a social life.

 

[SFSFun]

I have two part time jobs and work about 55-75 hours between them each week

1) I started on Flow, so the set schedule made it very easy...Now that I work random Ship From Store shifts all over the place, it is harder but still manageable since my other job only does the schedule 1 week in advance (I get my Target schedule and then take it to my boss at my other job and let them know when I can work).

2) I have one day a week I am unavailable at Target, and if I need a day to relax, ask for it off from my other job. But the month leading up to back-to-school, as well as Black Friday and Christmas...you will definitely burn out. That is pretty much unavoidable unless your second job does not get busier at those times and you work most of your hours there.

3) No.

 

[Starry]

Thanks for the responses, everyone.

I'm pretty much going to stay with Target until I get a "real" job (whatever that means), and would ideally take on a second job for only a few months. Assuming any place actually calls me back. I may attempt to hold two jobs during 4th quarter, but I do have an idea of how stressful that will be.

 

[Kartman]

There are no "real jobs."

Just jobs...

 

[commiecorvus]

There are no "real jobs."

Just jobs...

I liked Chris Rock's comments about jobs versus careers.
That's jobs were what you do to survive and careers are what you do to live.

When you are doing what you love, are happy getting up in the morning, look forward to going to work, can pay your bills on time and feel appreciated, then you have a career (real job).

 

[Megaparsec]

When I landed a paid internship at an agency, it was a typical 40 hours a week, 9-5 job. At the time, I was being scheduled 6-Midnight on Sat, Sun, Mon and Tues. Since it was an internship, I didn't know if I was going to be kept on after 3 months, so I held both jobs and worked about 70 hours a week once you factor in transportation.

Probably the hardest part about it was, when I'd get home from my internship on Wednesdays, open up my computer and the last page I looked at was on my browser and it would take me a minute to think before realizing "Ohhhhh yeah, I was looking at that page 3 days ago!"

It was kind of a tiring experience, and I did go 28 days without a day off once.

When I did get hired on at my internship, Target let me cut back to one day a week. My GF works on Saturday or Sunday depending on the season, so I submit an availability change when her season shifts and switch if I'm working Sat or Sun.

So, in conclusion, it's definitely doable. And the money is pretty nice.

 

[Retail Girl]

So I have two jobs right now. My first job is Target, with no set schedule. My second job is really flexible, with varying hours, work from home much of the time, etc. It's only 10 hours a week, and I know weeks ahead of time if I will have meetings, so I ask off for the time that I need to.

Some weeks are super stressful, other weeks are not. Not having the same schedule ever for the two jobs is both kind of nice and kind of a pain. It means that I go through stressful periods where everything bunches up and times where I have free time to relax.

Know your limits. As an introvert, I know if I don't get time to myself, I will be nearly impossible to deal with. Know what you need to do to unwind, and don't be afraid to schedule that in.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

I have 2 jobs. I used my 2nd job to help pay bills & build up my 401k.

 

[mrknownothing]

I work two jobs. My non-Target job gives me more hours than Target and a fairly regular schedule.

1.) How difficult was it do manage working at two places?

When I was in school, it was difficult. After I dropped out (which I do NOT recommend doing, by the way), it was more manageable except the month I spent working 40 hours overnight. Now it just depends on whether or not I have any clean red shirts.

2.) How does one prevent from becoming burned out?

Alcohol. Or if you're underage, find some other way to decompress. And don't let the little things eat at you. Don't worry about work things away from the workplace unless your job requires it (other than posting here, which we'll let slide).

3.) Is it possible to actually have any semblance of a social life when working multiple jobs?

Like @Signkitty, I dislike people, so it's not really a big deal to me. But if classes are in session and/or you're working a lot of hours, it's better to cut back on "extracurricular activities."

 

[oath2order]

I realized how much I hated going into an actual building for class, so I extended my availability at work so I can now open to close. Used to be like ONLY 3PM to close because morning classes.

Online classes are so much better. I can study on my 30 and I have full availability for hours. OH and the best part is my days off are actually fucking days off instead of "go to school and have half the day off" I can sleep in. It's so nice.