Game for a side hustle?

Two-pronged approach: A secondary career allows one to explore one’s passion while maintaining one’s core career. – Photo: 123rf.com

IT is generally accepted that one of the key goals of a good university education is to prepare graduates for employment.

It should therefore not come as a surprise that students, and indeed their parents, are attracted to degrees that are professionally accredited, leading to well-defined career paths with the prospect of high employability. Examples of such professions include accountancy, surveying, pharmacy and of course, medicine.

The alignment of university education and professional needs is certainly to be encouraged, as it ensures that the university ecosystem produces the right talent to power a well-prepared workforce.

However, even with a job offer in hand, the careers of today’s generation of graduates are less stable, secure and predictable than their parents’.

Dynamic and rapid changes in the global economy, punctuated with the inevitable ups and downs, mean that the graduates of today can’t expect any guarantee of a job for life.

The crippling effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on Malaysia’s economy, along with the subsequent wave of retrenchments, is a stark reminder of this reality.

On the one hand, job security can no longer be taken for granted; on the other, today’s open, global and highly accessible economy offers many opportunities for people to explore alternative jobs, including a plethora of online businesses and ventures which are part of a growing digital economy.

A recent report entitled The Side Hustle Economy from Henley Business School in the United Kingdom revealed that one in four UK adults have a secondary job or small business in addition to their main careers.

Furthermore, it is estimated that side hustling generates an enormous £72bil (RM419bil) annually, or 3.6% of the UK’s gross domestic product.

It is clear that side hustles, or secondary careers, have become a structural norm, whether by choice or necessity, and not just a short-lived fad.

It would come as no surprise if the appetite for side hustling in Malaysia is just as voracious, bearing in mind that entrepreneurship forms the backbone of our economy, with small medium enterprises forming 98% of our firms.

While the days of having a single nine-to-five job will still exist, we are now in an era where multiple careers are not only possible but meaningful, worthwhile and fulfilling.

I’m certainly not advocating that young people give up their day jobs to be influencers on TikTok – far from it! On the contrary, I would strongly advocate that young people pursue a tertiary education that will help them build professional careers.

This is what I refer to as their core careers, which will provide them with the stability and income that they will almost certainly need, particularly in the early stage of their careers.

At the same time, I would also encourage young adults to explore secondary careers that are aligned with their personal interests or passions.

This could include starting a small business, blogging or vlogging, creating a YouTube channel, developing online courses or taking up creative writing.

With platforms such as Amazon Marketplace and Etsy, it has never been easier to set up an online business with ready access to millions of prospective customers.

Such secondary careers require an investment in time and effort, rather than financial capital.

In fact, a secondary career may even complement one’s core career. For example, there are now more than a few dentists with YouTube or TikTok channels sharing tips on oral hygiene.

Indeed, there are many benefits of building a secondary career.

First, it allows one to explore one’s passion while maintaining one’s core career. This can provide a sense of fulfilment, particularly where one’s core career may not turn out to be as exciting as one might have hoped.

Second, a secondary career allows one to develop new skills, including hands-on experience of managing a project or business that may be useful in furthering one’s core career.

Third, a secondary career can help build career resilience, reducing the inherent risk of relying on one’s job as the sole source of income.

A successful secondary career can supplement the regular earnings from one’s core career, with the possibility that, if highly successful, it may eventually transition into becoming one’s core career.

However, a word of caution – secondary careers are not for the faint-hearted, and expectations must be realistic and kept in check.

Like any entrepreneurial venture, it may take months or even years before a secondary career gains significant traction.

Persistence is the key. To ensure one remains committed over the long term, it is important that a secondary career genuinely reflects one’s area of interest and passion, rather than just a quick scheme to earn some extra money.

In fact, the journey one takes in developing a secondary career should just be as exciting as the career itself.

Prof Wing Lam is the provost and chief executive officer at University of Reading Malaysia, an international branch campus of University of Reading, United Kingdom (UK). He has held a variety of academic positions in Malaysia, Singapore and the UK. Prof Wing completed his PhD in computer science at King’s College London in 1994. He has published over 80 peer-reviewed articles and journals. His current areas of research interest include technology and innovation. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.