Is the Full-Time Job Becoming a Novelty? -by Ryan Holota

Since leaving my employer last June, I have often wondered if it was time for the traditional full-time job to end.

For large corporations, the 40-hour week makes sense. The employer gets a monopoly on your time and skills, and you become dependant on the paycheck. Because your entire income derives from one source, the company can force you to work overtime or shuffle you around in the corporation with little regard for extra hours or changing roles.

Guess who’s driving that bus?

But what if, instead of looking for one full time job, you worked two or three or more part time jobs? Could that make you a more valuable employee to all of them? At the very least, it is likely that you would develop a wider set of skills. For example, I am a business owner, working for myself as a copywriter four days a week. However, one day a week I work as a sales rep for a large corporation. Not only does my sales role give me a reason to go out into the world and interact with people face to face (instead of over the telephone and the internet), it also keeps my sales skills sharp and forces me to learn new tactics to convert prospects into customers. Working outside of my own company makes me a better copywriter.

Is there a second job that could make you more more effective?

Any sales job will expose you to new sales strategies and different types of customer interactions. Sales tactics are a part of every thing that people do, from pitching ideas to getting kids to bed on time. Everyone can improve their skills in those areas.

Marketing professionals who create work for retail companies can use nearly any job as a learning experience. Even working the floor at Target can give you an insight into the eyes of the public that you never had before, if only to better understand the buyer in a new way.

Working part-time for a start-up or charitable organization can expose you to grassroots and low-cost marketing methods, and even help you develop new ideas to promote products for less money.

But don’t fool yourself into thinking that working as a line chef somewhere will convince a new client or employer to hire you. First, you must leverage those experiences into something else. Create an e-book or pitch magazine articles on “How Being a WalMart Greeter Can Help You Advertise More Effectively,” or create a manifesto on improving customer service at the retail level. Do something unique and interesting with the experiences that you have.

Don’t forget to work for the most important boss – you. In most communities you can operate a business under your own name without any fees, and even communities that require home based businesses to register or buy a license often have exemptions for businesses that produce less than a certain dollar amount in revenue.

There is no reason not to be actively prospecting for clients in this economy. There is still work that needs to be done, but clients can’t always afford an entire agency. You could even reach out to friends and other unemployed former co-workers to form partnerships and handle complete campaigns.

If you choose to go back to the traditional work world, then look at the experiences these temporary jobs have given you and find a way to grow from them. However, you may just fall in love with the flexibility and freedom that being your own boss can give you.

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Ryan Holota is a Freelance Copywriter and Daddy blogger. You can find him at ArHolota.com and JustCallMeDad.com.