Post Great Recession America has come to fully embrace the idea of the side hustle. But many of us grew up with an aunt who was both a great teacher and sold the best pies in the neighborhood or even had a cousin who was full-time pre-law student and was booked solid doing hair in her dorm room. The side hustle is often both a creative outlet and the best option for building wealth when wages are stagnant and cost of living continues to rise.
Now more than ever, even employees with very competitive and rigorous occupations have side hustles. In my case, I have maintained a rigorous career in Commercial Banking, Risk and Finance for years while managing two blogs and occasionally consulting on social media strategy and branding. My Zumba instructor, who is also a mom and MBA student working on a fitness start-up, complained that she was rejected for two competitive internships in Data Analytics because she had too much going on and they doubted she could be focused at work. I asked her what she had listed on her resume and she replied with: basically everything. That is a big mistake.
Those of us who were raised by women who could accomplish more in a day than most people could in a week, know that: yes we can have more than one “job” and perform them well. It is about prioritizing and planning. I execute maybe three blog posts on a Saturday and stage and shoot all my original photos in one afternoon. I plan a week of meals and do all my grocery shopping on Sunday afternoon. I plan out all the conferences I want to attend that year and organize all my PTO to align with said plan, with a little room for personal sick days or school events (because I have kids who will undoubtedly require my PTO hours). I am able to do this because I am intentional with my time and decisions. But MANY of my colleagues are not and can not fathom how I am able to execute well on multiple fronts. Keep in mind, most of them aren’t aware of my multiple skill sets and side hustles until much later. When you apply for a new job, you have to consider the bias and worldviews of others and cherry-pick what and if you share about your side hustle during the discovery phase of your job search.
This a good guide on when to share your side hustle:
Your resume is your marketing document and every role you apply for, unless the job description and organization are extremely similar, should be unique to the job posting.
Please note: if your side hustle is directly related to or a competitor of your day job you will likely have to disclose, discuss and secure permission from your employer to continue, this is especially true for sensitive roles in Securities, Investment Bank, etc..
What did you say?