I Got Caught Working 2 Fulltime Remote Jobs

I doubled my income while doing this and everything was going great. I thought that I had pulled it off, but in the end I got caught working 2 fulltime remote jobs.

You won’t believe how this happened, so let me take you back to the beginning of how this whole thing got started.

How I Learned About Overemployment

I’ve been working a full-time job for about a year for a prominent company in the field of technical recruiting.

Most of my job responsibilities revolved around finding and hiring skilled software engineers to help develop programs for the company.

After working in the field for a while, I noticed anytime that I was trying to get ahead in my career either, one of two things would have to happen.

One, I’d either have to sell my soul to the company and spent every waking hour busting my butt to become a top performer in the hopes of getting a raise.

Two, I would have to take time out of my already busy schedule to interview for another company and attempt to get a higher paying offer.

As I was coming to the realization of this vicious cycle, I actually had a colleague come to me and mention that they had just gotten a job offer for another company.

So the normal follow-up question that I asked was, “when are you leaving,” and he responded, “I’m not.”

At this point my brain started short-circuiting, but then he broke down and explained what he was going to try to do.

His plan was to keep the current job and take the new job offer and just not tell anybody about it.

Obviously I thought this was absolutely bizarre, I mean we could barely perform this one job that we were doing well much less taking on an entirely new workload.

But I’ll admit later on that night, I started to think about how much he was offered to start this new job, and if it was possible to work both it could be a game changer.

I mean essentially doubling or maybe even tripling your income for maybe just a temporary amount of time could really get you ahead.

How I Started Working 2 Fulltime Remote Jobs

Then, wouldn’t you know, the company that my colleague had just started working with actually had another opening for a technical recruiter, and they were looking to fill that position as quickly as possible.

So when he approached me and asked me if I was interested in putting my name in the hat, without hesitation, I said yes!

I’ve been in the recruiting industry for over a decade, so I have mastered the art of building a resume and interviewing to almost guarantee an offer for any position.

I had my first interview on a Monday, the second round on Wednesday, and by Friday they called to extend an offer that would essentially double my income if I kept my first job.

So I did it, a couple weeks later I started the new job at the new company and I was so nervous every single time that my phone rang or I got an email, I thought I had been snuffed out.

One week had gone by no problems, two weeks still no issues, an entire month had gone by and still had not heard anything from either company.

But just as I was starting to get comfortable the absolute worst possible thing happened.

Risks of Working 2 Fulltime Remote Jobs

Now at the time even though this was a complete remote position, there was an office located near where I reside.

There was an all hands meeting where it was strongly recommended that every employee attend in person.

Because this is one of the rare occasions that our entire team would be together, there’s a co-worker that walked over to the cubicle farm and wanted to take a picture because we had so many new employees.

She mentioned it was going to be sent into the company’s newsletter, so I didn’t think anything of it and I posed in the picture with the rest of my co-workers.

After that I got back to work and was just waiting for five o’clock to roll around so I could get back home.

But within an hour I had gotten an message from somebody at the original company with a screenshot of the photo that was just taken asking, “Is this you?”

I was shocked, I didn’t know what was going on…

Then I learned later that the co-worker that took the photo immediately posted it to LinkedIn, a professional network where I have many connections.

That photo had reached thousands of people, and before that workday was over I had at least a half dozen people from company number one reach out to me asking me about the photo.

It was over, I was done for…

My only hope was that I could keep my job at the new company because there was no doubt in my mind I was about to get fired.

I tried to get ahead of it by calling my manager and I told him that it was an old photo from a company that I worked for years ago and for some reason somebody reposted the picture.

I just knew that in the end he wasn’t gonna buy any of the bs that I was trying to sell, but at the end of the call he told me that he hadn’t seen the photo and to just not worry about it.

But worrying about it is exactly what I did for days weeks even months because I knew at any moment that a termination letter was going to becoming my way.

The Aftermath of Overemployment

Fast forward eight months, I was still working for both companies and I hadn’t heard anything from either one about it.

By this time I was absolutely exhausted and I had met some of my financial goals so I had to drop one of the jobs immediately and I decided to quit the original job.

I told them that I had to resign fairly quickly and I could only work through the end of the week.

I thought that I was in the clear because all of my leadership team was based in Washington whereas I’m located in Texas.

Just when I thought it was over, I got a meeting placed on my calendar for the next morning, then I learned that my director had instructed my manager to catch a flight that evening to come and meet with me.

From that point I was so nervous and stressed out because I didn’t know what to expect.

I just was not looking forward to having that meeting but I got up the next morning pulled myself together and drove over to the hotel where he was staying.

When I walked into the lobby he unexpectedly greeted me with a smile and we had a little bit of small talk.

Then we sat down and the first question he asked was, “Is your decision final?” So I hesitated for a bit, but I answered definitively yes.

Then he followed up with the question, “Are you leaving us to continue working for ****?” Which is the name of the company that I’ve been moonlighting with for the past 8 months.

I felt my heart drop…I didn’t know how to respond and I just hung my head in shame.

My manager told me a couple days after we had that call when I told him that it was an old photo, the picture actually hit his feed and he just so happened to have a friend that worked at that same company.

And he reached out to his connection and they confirmed that I was a current employee there.

So for the past 6 months my manager knew that I was working full-time for another company and still let me keep my job working for him.

He ended up telling me that I was always a good employee that performed well so it was a non-factor to him that I was working another job.

Then surprisingly, he mentioned that he had debts that have been with him for years that he would consider doing the same thing.

We talked for a bit more after that he wished me well we shook hands and then I took off.

Is it Worth it to Work 2 Fulltime Remote Jobs?

Looking back at that time there’s a lot of things that I learned from working 2 fulltime remote jobs.

One of the main takeaways is regardless of somebody’s title within a company, they’re people just like you and I.

They have the same struggles or challenges and likely some of the same goals and aspirations.

From a young age we’re molded to put authoritative figures on a pedestal.

In school you have your teacher, coach, assistant principal, or principal.

Then as you grow older and move into a career you might have a supervisor, manager, director, or VP.

And although everyone should be shown the same respect, I feel like we lose sight that these are people just like you and I.

Conclusion

Now even though working two jobs is completely stressful and in the end, I ended up getting caught, I don’t regret the experience at all.

It afforded me the opportunity to buy a home and then pay off that mortgage within 6 months, so with that, I can’t entirely advocate for everyone picking up a second job but I would totally encourage you to consider it depending on your situation.

If it’s something you wanted to look into, I have some advice.

Tips for working 2 fulltime remote jobs:

• You need a strong why or reason for doing this because that’s what’s going to drive and motivate you when the going gets tough.
• Be extremely organized and you need to protect your time by strategically blocking your calendar off for both companies
• Remember, it’s not a way of life and it’s not a way to build wealth. It’s a temporary season in life to get you ahead financially.

If you have any questions or comments about how I did it feel free to drop me a note below and I’ll be glad to share more details or visit our resource center.

FAQ

Q: What is overemployment?

A: Overemployment refers to having more than one full-time job, which can lead to excessive working hours and potential issues with balancing responsibilities between the two jobs.

Q: Is it worth it to work 2 fulltime remote jobs?

A: While it can be financially beneficial in the short-term, working two full-time remote jobs is not a sustainable lifestyle.

Additionally, it may not always align with company policies and can lead to potential legal consequences.

Q: What are some tips for successfully managing two fulltime remote jobs?

A: Some tips include having a strong motivation or reason for taking on two jobs, being organized and strategic with time management.

Q: Are there any potential risks involved in working two fulltime remote jobs?

A: Yes, there are potential risks such as overworking and burnout, legal consequences if it goes against company policies.