Let’s talk about one of the most overlooked aspects about overemployment: ethics. Over time, I learned that if I wanted overemployment to be sustainable, I had to do more than work hard. I had to work honestly with both myself and the people indirectly affected by my choices.
Note – I am not providing legal advice, nor am I qualified to give any, but here is how I’ve managed to navigate this often complex topic. It’s one where legal, professional, and personal boundaries blurred more easily than I expected.
1. Review Your Existing Job’s Contracts & Policies
Ethics starts with what you’ve already agreed to.
Most people gloss over employment contracts when they sign. I did, too. But once I considered adding a second role, I went back to my J1’s offer letter (and company policies) and looked closely—and was surprised by what I’d missed:
- Non-compete clauses
- Conflict of interest disclosures
- Moonlighting restrictions or consent requirements
- Proprietary work agreements
Even if your job isn’t demanding full exclusivity, many companies assume loyalty by default. Not reading the fine print doesn’t make you unethical—but ignoring it once you know better? That’s where it’s possible for an employer to part ways with you just on “bad faith” alone.
2. Look for Hidden Conflicts—Not Just Direct Ones
Ethical overemployment isn’t just about working in separate industries. It’s about understanding the ecosystem your employers operate in.
Here’s what I recommend checking before taking a second job:
- Is the second company a vendor, customer, or competitor of my primary employer?
- Do they operate in the same vertical (e.g., healthcare SaaS, logistics, fintech, automotive sales)?
- Would either company feel betrayed if they found out I was helping the other—even if I didn’t share any data or IP?
What I’ve learned:
You don’t need to steal trade secrets to create a serious ethical breach. Even the perception of split loyalty can do damage.
3. Choose the Role That Aligns With Distance and Discretion
In a perfect world, ethically, you should be able to explain both jobs if asked, confidently and cleanly.
So I recommend making these distinctions in a thought experiment before you sign on that second job:
- Can I draw a clear boundary between the two companies’ missions and markets?
- Do they require the same work hours or visibility? (More overlap = more risk)
- Would I feel okay explaining this to someone at either job without shame?
If the answer is not a resounding yes, then you may need to reconsider, even with yourself, how might you reposition answering these questions if asked.
4. Thought experiment – what if one or both companies found out tomorrow?
At the core of ethical overemployment is one simple but uncomfortable question:
If both companies found out about each other tomorrow, could I justify it without lying, hiding, or spinning?
Think about it this way. If you were an analyst by day and took a job as a freelance content creator (say, on a streaming platform) by night, I would hardly see any employer having an issue with this disclosure; in fact you may be encouraged to pursue your passions, if anything. However, if you were an analyst by day but a content creator for a tool that the analyst role uses, could you see yourself disclosing this, even casually to your employer, as openly as the first scenario? Likely not. These are two points on a spectrum of comfort with overemployment, and I encourage everyone to consider where is your breaking point – before which you would be comfortable with operating with overemployment. Find this point, and try to stick to it.
Final Thought: Ethics can help you remain internally Sustainable
Without an ethical foundation, it’s likely that your overemployment will be built on borrowed time.
It might be easy to find a second job in the same realm or expertise of what you’re already good at; however, chances are you will overlap in some way(s) with your current job’s world, and that causes ethical and even potentially legal issues. You don’t want to be blacklisted in your first job’s world because of an unethical case. At the end of the day, income comes and goes. But your name and your word sticks around a lot longer.
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