One Person/Multiple Careers: The Original Guide to the Slash Career

When people ask "What Do You Do?" it's not often that we hear: "I'm a rapper/money manager; personal trainer/police officer; restaurant owner/yoga instructor; theatre director/computer programmer; lawyer/Baptist minister; psychotherapist/violin maker; or pilates instructor/art consultant/author." These are what author/speaker/coach and former lawyer Marci Alboher calls "slashes": people who pursue multiple careers or vocations simultaneously. In her book, One Person, Multiple Careers, Alboher's extensive research and interviews with those who have developed slash careers reveals valuable themes about how these careers evolved and advice for making them work. An entrepreneurial streak is common among slashes, as is a willingness to be flexible. Some develop a hobby into a career sideline while others have one career serve as an anchor to another riskier venture where the income potential is unknown. She notes that writing, teaching, speaking and consulting can easily be combined with many careers. One chapter is devoted to "parent slashes" who want to create a work life that fits around how they want to parent. Advice on how to anticipate conflicts among slashes as well as potential time management issues are also addressed. According to Alboher, one of the greatest benefits of the slash approach is the ability to take control of one's work life and identity. For both individuals and career coaches, One Person, Multiple Careers offers information about finding slash-friendly employers and a valuable appendix with samples of how to present oneself in resumes, narrative biographies, business cards, and web sites. The book is well organized, with key points highlighted in bold, special information identified in "slash tip" sections, and useful summaries at the end of each chapter. As career coaches, we can benefit from Alboher's offering of new language and practical information for helping clients create career satisfaction by expressing multiple skills and passions.

It sounds cliche to say this book has changed my life--and yet it has. It's given me such good perspective on the value of asking questions of one's self in terms of work/life happiness, and it provides such constructive and inspiring steps to help one achieve one's goals.

It's been awhile since I read a book that I wanted to recommend to career and business clients. This one makes the cut Other authors have attempted to describe what Alboher calls "slash careers," with considerably less success. What makes this book work is the emphasis on realism. Alboher offers numerous examples. We learn about teachers who become real estate agents and fashion models, lawyers who become artists and writers, and at least one banker who does hip-hop. Because so many stories can be overwhelming, I do not recommend attempting to read the book in a single sitting. Instead, read a little here and there and begin to take notes. The second part of Alboher's book attempts to be a "how-to," but continues to use stories as examples. I believe Alboher's guidelines are unusually realistic and thoughtful. She covers points that might escape the new slash careerist, such as legal and ethical conflicts of interest, inviting specialists to supplement her knowledge. For example, she asked a workplace specialist to create 10 guidelines for balancing parenting and career. A flextime specialist explains the need to focus on economic reasons for flextime, not just good intentions. And a coach presents an excellent "ask your friends" exercise that would help almost anyone exploring a new field. I particularly resonated to the section on boundaries between the two careers. In my own case, I still maintain a career consulting website. But I also offer copywriting and website marketing services, based on what I learned from this site. I find my clients don't have a problem, but marketing consultants often become critical and advise me to drop one or the other. Alboher answers the question, "How much to tell?" correctly: "It depends." Finally, at the end of the book, Alboher presents some examples of resumes, bios and other promotional material. It's important to view these pages as possibilities, not models. Alboher carefully points out that some people have totally different resumes for their careers, while others offer creative combos. Apart from being slash examples, the resumes could be viewed as models of resume-writing. The "Billy Shakes" bio is not to be missed. So what's not to like? Well, I couldn't help noting that most (though not all) of Alboher's examplary slashers were on the young side -- rarely over 40, let alone 50 or 60. My clients tend to be mid-career professionals and they'll gain a lot from this book. But they may have trouble seeing themselves in many of the stories. Second, nearly everyone in this book seemed to fall into a second career by accident and to achieve great success, apparently without effort. There's little sense of planning or decision-making. In contrast, Herminia Ibarra's Working Identity takes readers through struggles of ordinary career changers who conducted research and attempted to create a process. Alboher quotes briefly from Working Identity and I believe these books nicely complement one another.

I found One Person/Multiple Careers to be un-put-down-able. As a mom/Holistic Health Counselor I will use the book's concepts in both my counseling and my parenting. Exploring the slash experiences of so many fulfilled, exceptional and accomplished people is making me rethink how I am raising my three daughters. It had seemed to me for quite awhile, until I read the book in fact, that narrow and deep was the path to great success. It took me several careers, a fancy MBA and a long hiatus to start a family, to finally integrate my passions and my career. I love the idea that the web is a slashers best friend as I get ready to launch a bigger business while maintaining my existing two slashes. One Person/Multiple Careers clarifies that it can be done, how it can be done and that the most fulfilling, make-a-difference-in-the-world careers are slashes!

As the many fascinating mini-profiles in this book demonstrate, there are a lot of people out there who want a "slash" in their career -- either by making a transition from one career to another (I'm a lawyer/writer myself) or by adding another aspect to an established career (speaking, writing a book, teaching, etc.). ONE PERSON/MULTIPLE CAREERS shows how satisfying this model can be -- and far more useful, how to pursue this model effectively. This is the rare career book that a person wants to read in a single sitting -- it's that interesting.