THERE is perhaps no better time to hold two jobs than in the current economic climate. But finding and keeping a second job is not an easy task.

Two young women – one of them 26 years old and the other 23 years old – this past week spoke to Career & Education, on condition of anonymity, outlining the pros and cons of the feat.

Debt-ridden, the 26-year-old last August decided she’d had enough and began to make inquiries about a second job.

“The bills were driving me crazy,” said the young woman who works in the financial services sector. “There was the credit card bill that was $148,000; it was maxed out. And then there was the US$1,000 credit card that was also maxed out. And then there were the car payments and just daily life.”

She soon landed a position with a local telecommunications firm in its call centre.

“I called the HR department for the company and asked them if they had any part-time opportunities. The representative I spoke with said they were looking and that I should fax in my résumé,” noted the young woman who holds a degree in psychology. “I did and they called, I think, the same day for an interview the next day. I did a test and got called some weeks after to say training begins in two weeks time and that I was to make myself available.”

The eight months since then have been equally satisfying and challenging.

“It mad, believe me. You leave work (your day job) at 4:30 pm, log in (at the other) at 5:00 pm and you are there until 10:00 pm or 11:00 pm – with only a 30-minute break in between all of that. It can be mind-blowing,” said the 26-year-old, laughing.

She was, however, quick to add that there are advantages – once you have adjusted.

“Apart from the fact that you’re slaving, there is some advantage to the whole thing,” said the woman who now works, on average, 27 hours at her second job each week. “You have an opportunity to make friends and it is genuine friendships that you make; that is a social network being built. And you have the opportunity to cut debt.”

The 23-year-old said she has encountered several challenges, some of them not unlike that of the older woman. The first challenge – once you’ve found the second job, that is – is that employers [as in her own case] are often not supportive of them holding a second job.

“I was encountering financial difficulties and as such decided to get a second job. I asked my boss for time, but she said ‘no’,” said the woman, who is a civil servant and tutors at a university. “I was trying to juggle some flexi-time, but she said it would have to be after work.”

Despite not getting the schedule she wanted, she went ahead, given her financial need.

“You want some amount of financial security. You don’t want to know that you’re just working to pay bills. You want to know that you have money saved for a rainy day – like for your health or some other unexpected thing that you need money for,” she noted.

The holder of a master’s degree in the social sciences, the 23-year-old soon learned that wasn’t the only challenge to doing a second job – even one which sees her working only three additional hours each week.

For one thing, she said that there is hardly any time to spend with friends.

“When I have my friends who want to hang out, I just don’t have the time; you don’t have the time to do anything. Everything has to be on a schedule and if you run late on something then another has to be cut,” she told Career & Education.

The 26-year-old agreed, but said there were ways around that.

“The beauty about my social life is that my friends don’t have any time either. So we get together on the phone and chat a little bit, and there is the occasional meeting at some weird hours of the night,” she said.

Both women agree that even as you earn more, additional resources have to be committed to ensuring one effectively performs the second job.

“The more you work, the more bills you have. As you begin to do different things, you have different priorities. (For example), I have had to get the Internet at home to be able of communicate with different people, such as my students, about different things,” said the younger woman.

There is also the challenge of making time to ensure you are prepared to perform the second job efficiently.

“Based on the course, you have to do some amount of preparation and normally the tutorial comes in the form of a case study,” she said of the demands of tutoring. “Each tutorial is based on a different case study so although the students are preparing for themselves, you have to ensure that you are prepared.”

The result, at the end of the day, she said, is mental fatigue.

“When it is your mental capacity you are using in both jobs, although you’re not doing the physical activity, it does not mean you are not tired. And in fact, it makes you want to sleep more,” said the 23-year-old.

The situation is made more difficult when one has to rely on public transportation, she said.

“With the two jobs, you have to be racing to different places at set times. You are probably more tired than the person who has a car. You have to get a taxi to now sit in traffic,” she said.

Still, she does not regret taking up a second job. And her advice to others?

“If you have a family or so, I wouldn’t encourage it because you don’t have enough time for yourself. And it doesn’t allow for family time, which is not good. You come home and you are tired and just want to sleep. It is not something I want to carry on forever. So you would probably want to get a better-paying day job,” she said.

She is expected to collect a minimum of $60,000 for three hours of work at the end of the semester and rakes in about $75,000 from her day job.

The older woman said it’s up to the individual to do their own evaluation to determine if a second job is the right option.

She admits that there are days when she feels like quitting her second job, but always reconsiders.

“Yes (you think of leaving it), but then you check the credit card bill and realise you are not at that place yet and so you hang in there,” she said.

The 26-year-old added that even after her bills are cleared, she plans on continuing at the job, which pays her more than $200 an hour.

“I will continue because I like to see money,” she told Career & Education. “After the bills are out of the way, then it’s about affording other things. There is the house to be bought and the car to be paid off.”