Multiple careers can be concurrent or sequential. Concurrent means we are opting for multiple careers simultaneously. An individual enjoying concurrent multiple career can do one job for few months and other job for the rest of the year; or he can do one job in day time and other one during night. This type of career diversity is opted mainly for two reasons. One is to fulfill economic needs and to enjoy a better standard of living and the other is to have satisfaction of work.
Sequential means changing your career over a period of time. An individual opting for this type of career diversity can work for 10-15 years on a job and then switch to an entirely new one or related career. As life-expectancy increases, as retirement benefits decrease, and as educational opportunities expand, workers may find them forced to fulfill the goals of one career and then adopt another one. This can be viewed as giving meaning to a later life.
Many people are nowadays opting for career diversity. So much of work can be done flexibly, portably, and virtually. This has made people to do many jobs in the same work week or work day. Everyone wants to be financially stable and be economically secured. However, to be secure and stable financially we must take necessary steps to create it. Having multiple income streams is the best way to create it. People are living and working longer, so they need to opt for multiple careers to enjoy financial freedom for a longer period.
We are now craving fulfillment and meaning in our careers, so it has become necessary to combine work security with work passion. Sometimes it may so happen that we are satisfied financially with a job but not satisfied passionately. In that case we need to go for jobs in which we will be able to satisfy our passion. Thus multiple careers can result in the full satisfaction of an individual.
Opting for multiple careers may be stressful, but if we choose jobs intelligently just to satisfy our needs we can relieve the stress. For example, if an individual is working as an IT professional and at the same time he has a passion for art, he can opt for art as a side career just to satisfy himself. Thus, by proper understanding we can make career diversity profitable for us. Many people think that opting for multiple careers has made them better at their original profession. We are now entering an age where hybrids will rule the work place, as it creates more work opportunities for us.