Achieve the best of both worlds

In a few months, Tara Narwani will complete her PhD in molecular biology at the University of Alberta. Like many of her peers, she'll pursue a postdoctoral position afterwards and likely become a university researcher.

But unlike most scientists, Narwani will pursue a secondary career stream at the same time. For the last few years, she has been developing herself as a science writer. She began by taking journalism classes at Ryerson University in Toronto and the U of A Faculty of Extension in Edmonton. In 2005, her career got a big boost when she earned an Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) Media Fellowship that gave her the opportunity to work as a radio journalist at CBC for a summer. Since then, she's balanced her work as a PhD student--which entails many hours of lab work and teaching--with freelance writing.

"In science, you often do very isolated work, so you don't interact with a lot of people, and you focus on singular questions," says Narwani. "My personality is such that I like to interact with people and discuss ideas, and going into journalism helps me fulfil those needs."

So, Narwani refuses to choose one over the other. While it's arguably harder this way, she's confident it can work because both are reasonably flexible. Writing can be done mainly in the evening and weekends, or before she starts work at the lab. While a post-doctoral position is a full-time job, the hours are generally flexible.

Down the road, she hopes to transform her freelance science journalism into a science communication business to help improve science literacy and help researchers share their work with the public.

While it's not terribly common to pursue two streams at once, it can be a great way for people with multiple interests to maintain career satisfaction, says Vancouver career coach Gregg Taylor. Diversifying can also add financial security "because you're not just relying on one sector, or one role, or one company to sustain you in your work."

He's found that people who choose more than one stream can be in very different situations. Some have found that while their career path worked for them for many years, they're no longer as engaged as they were.

But, unwilling to give up the security of their job and industry, they decide to pursue a second career to add some excitement. Others find themselves in stressful career situations that don't match their new family obligations and want to transition to a more flexible profession. Still others are phasing into retirement and looking for a new career to keep them occupied in their golden years.

There's also a large contingent of people who have decided to run entrepreneurial ventures while maintaining a career in another area.

Before you make the choice to pursue two separate streams, Taylor suggests you critically evaluate your life and what the different paths will provide.

"It's about being able to consider your health and energy level right now, your financial resources, because you may need to diminish your current main income source to provide time for the new career," he says. This should involve a discussion with your family as it could mean lifestyle changes.

Taking more than one road also means scheduling networking and professional development opportunities in different areas, which can eat up a lot of time, says Taylor. It also means scheduling your time carefully and avoiding saying "yes" to too much and becoming overtaxed. If you don't juggle things well, "the people you're working with, whether an employer or customer, will start to notice that and feel underserved or underattended."

Edmonton career counsellor Kathleen Johnston says managing two career routes simultaneously works best when people are working for an employer and running a business on the side, phasing into retirement, or trying to break into a new career field. "This can have the advantage of 'testing' several career options and, in some cases, choosing to work in more than one area of interest," she says.

Regardless of your particular situation, Johnston advises that ambitious careerists be completely honest with their employers about their plans. "Always be transparent and maintain the highest integrity about what you're doing."