Workers Serious About 2nd Jobs
By Jane Han
Staff Reporter
A 34-year-old professional woman, who asked to be identified only as Chung, has been a magazine reporter by day and translator by night for the past three years. The two jobs were enough to allow her to lead a fashionable single life. But Chung recently let go of her comfortable, work-at-home evening job to be an assistant to a cranky merchandiser.
Oddly, what prompted her to make the decision was a rumor of company-wide layoffs and pay freezes at the small-sized publication for which she works.
``I started feeling iffy about my future,'' said the writer of five years, who is fluent in English. ``But I didn't have a strong enough `Plan B,' and being a full-time translator wasn't in my heart either.''
Chung said she decided to seek a ``back-up, full-time job'' that she could fall back on in the event that her day job was placed in jeopardy.
``I work for a women's magazine now, so it wasn't tough finding part-time work at a fashion label,'' said Chung, who plans to learn the inner workings of the business and seek a career transition someday.
The new second job pays less with double the stress, but she says ``it's all worth it to prepare for the future.''
Chung may appear a unique challenge-seeker, but career experts say that an increasing number of workers are doing the same ― all in the name of ``planning ahead.''
Kim Ji-ae of Career, an online employment portal, said second jobs were once widely considered a tool to simply help make ends meet, but the perception is starting to change.
``Odd jobs and minor duties are still popular to bring in more cash. However, we can see more job seekers looking beyond money,'' said Kim, adding that the worsening threat of layoffs is fanning the trend.
Massive layoffs are taking place in the financial industry, but the knife is soon expected to cut through other sectors, particularly the manufacturing industry due to plummeting demand for goods.
``Workers, especially the younger ones, want a safe alternative that they could quickly hop over to in order to minimize the impact of getting laid off,'' said Hyun Young-eun of Job Korea, another online recruiter.
She said the new trend for second jobs calls for more special skills.
One rank-and-file worker at Hyundai Motor, who asked not to be named, agrees, saying that many of his white-collar co-workers have been, in recent times, learning auto repair skills, with some even getting real hands-on experience at garages.
``They're planning to move overseas and start up an auto body shop,'' he said, adding that ``current job security'' is becoming more and more meaningless.