Career Center Resources

Biomedical equipment technicians and clinical engineers work multiple jobs at twice the rate of all U.S. workers, according to data compiled by AAMI and the U.S. Department of Labor.

While labor statistics show that one in 19 Americans overall held multiple jobs last year, more than one in 10 medical technology professionals reported having multiple jobs in a 2003 employment survey commissioned by AAMI. Among BMETs and clinical engineers with secondary employment, popular jobs included military/reserves (13%), business owner (13%), biomed positions (13%), electrician (5%), and emergency medical technician/paramedic (5%). The median annual income from secondary employment was $8,500.

Until this year, U.S. labor statistics had demonstrated a seven-year decrease in multiple job holders—down from a peak of 6.2% of U.S. workers in 1996 to a low of 5.2% in 2003. That figure has increased to 5.4% in 2004, with experts predicting that the number of multiple-job holders will continue to increase in the coming year.

“Moonlighting is most certainly on the rise—and will be until the job picture really gets much better,” says career expert and business professor Dr. Randall Hansen. A rising number of workers hold multiple lower-wage, part-time jobs after losing their primary employment, according to Hansen. “Others have not lost their jobs,” he explains, “but they are moonlighting to help with the rising costs of housing and education—thus, they are working a second job to help achieve a goal.”

Though many BMETs interviewed cite the need for additional income as a prime motivating factor, other reasons include “job security,” “pleasure,” and developing a “twilight career.”

“I have a second job because it helps put food on the table plus a little extra,” says Andy Armenta, a senior biomed by day and a musician by night. Armenta’s income from playing trumpet in a number of Los Angeles bands, however, isn’t “a significant number”; just as important, he says, is his love for music.

Other BMETs interviewed maintained secondary jobs as a military reservist, furniture maker, caterer, building contractor, fitness trainer, college instructor, and consultant.

“One reason I like the biomed field is because it has the flexibility to allow people to do other things,” says Daene Boomsma of Rapid City Regional Hospital, who moonlights with the Army National Guard in addition to managing rental properties and serving as a general contractor on residential building jobs in South Dakota.

Biomedical Engineering Technologist Jeff Lorz of British Columbia began working as a part-time fitness trainer “with the intention of taking an extra vacation each year.” His secondary income became more important recently, after the provincial government cut BMET pay by 15%.

Jeff Ward of Buffalo, NY, holds down a full-time job as a physiological equipment specialist as well as a part-time biomed tech position—mainly for monetary reasons, but also for “professional development”: “Had I not taken on these part-time situations, I would not have learned how to write policies, attended Environment of Care meetings and reported statistics to that committee, and been directly involved in the JCAHO inspection process. I feel this has matured me, professionally, more than anything else I have done in my career.”

Hansen cautions that moonlighters can expect tighter scrutiny in the future, because many employers are “worried about the effect of the second job on the quality of the primary one.” He adds, “In talking with various employers, I can say that those who do not have a policy on outside or second jobs are certainly looking at establishing them.”

Veteran biomed Kevin Wenzel of Minot, ND, has no plans to curtail his secondary work. A guitarist for over 35 years, Wenzel offers a reflection shared by other BMETs: Rather than detracting from work in the medical technology field, moonlighting may enhance primary job performance. “I have found my two jobs work well together,” explains Wenzel, who believes his music gigs give him “a needed break from the sometimes hectic pace of biomed life.”

Source: AAMI News : Volume 39/Number 9, October 2004