Do you have a side hustle and wonder if it’s a distraction or a value-add to your career? Should you include it on your CV, mention it in interviews, and can it help you land your dream job in digital marketing? The answer is a resounding yes—if you can back it up.
Plenty of people have side hustles these days, and it’s a topic we’re delving deeper into with our upcoming podcast “Side Hustle to Serious Business.” We’ll chat with individuals who’ve transformed their side gigs into their main source of income. There are some great stories out there—people who accidentally stumbled into side hustles that became huge, to those who followed their passion for a particular product and brought it to the world. COVID-19 spurred many to start side hustles, but a common question remains: how can a side hustle help you land a new job?
At Digital Talent Lab we recruit heavily in the digital, marketing and transformation space, and we can definitely see how side hustles can add exceptional value to your CV—as long as it’s done right. Be ready to back it up with numbers and success rates. Whether it's an ongoing project or something you’ve done in the past, businesses are keen to hear about the lessons you’ve learned and the skills you’ve gained from running your own venture.
Relevance is Key
Like anything on your CV, your side hustle has to be relevant to the role you want. This applies to your interests, education, or side hustle—find a way to tie it back to the job and the company.
Side Note: If you include your interests on your CV, make them relevant. Enjoy football and cricket? Talk about how you developed an app to deliver live scores. Into wine making? Discuss how you identified supply chain gaps for an independent winemaker. As for education, no one cares if you did your HSC in 1992—it’ll just age you. Don’t waste precious CV space on irrelevant info.
Making Your Side Hustle Shine
As experts in digital and tech recruitment, we see many areas where your side hustle can bolster your CV. Regardless of the role, the answers lie in the job advert. Whether it's a technical role or a digital marketing role, your side hustle likely involves key requirements mentioned in the job description.
Pro Tip: Make a side-by-side comparison between your side hustle and the job description. Managing social media campaigns? Check. Developing an email list? Check. Writing high-quality code? Check. Building engaging product experiences? Check. See where we’re going with this?
Anais Nin once said, “Good things happen to those who hustle.” But what if your side hustle isn’t directly related to your day job? That’s okay too. It's about relevance. Developing recipes might not seem related to digital marketing, but how did you market your product? Writing a gaming blog might seem unrelated to a developer role, but how did you platform the blog and gain readers?
Easily Transferrable Skills
Here are some easily transferrable skills from your side hustle:
Social Media Management:
Did you build a community on Facebook and engage with them actively?
Created stories and posts on Instagram?
Leveraged TikTok trends to boost your business?
Developed a social media strategy, implemented campaigns, paid for social ads, and monitored performance?
Project Management:
Managed app development, website builds, or platform launches?
Developed strategies, implemented timelines, and ensured developments stayed on track?
Embraced an agile mindset, failing fast, and iterating quickly?
Engineering and Development:
Provided real-time examples of your work, detailing tools used, successes, and areas for improvement?
Applied your experience to potential roles, highlighting what you’d do differently?
The Soft Skills
Let's not forget the soft skills—the not-so-easy-to-translate bits of wisdom gained from a side hustle:
Ambition: You strive for more.
Tenacity: You kept going, even without colleagues or a steady salary.
Agile Mindset: You iterated on your projects until they were just right.
Idea Generation: You continuously seek ways to improve.
Versatility: You wore multiple hats—from finance to marketing to tech development.
Humble Confidence: You learned from setbacks but remained confident in your product or service.
Showcasing Your Side Hustle
When you highlight your side hustle experience on your CV, make sure it adds value to your job search. It’s critical to get it right; otherwise, it takes up space where more relevant information should be. Digital and tech recruitment can be broad, but clients often seek specific skill sets. Ensure your CV sections relate to these requirements.
Maya Angelou said, “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”
And a reminder from Start-Up Nation: “It doesn’t cost you anything to dream—time, money, or hard work. Hustle, on the other hand, costs all of that. This quote serves as a constant reminder to get out of bed when my alarm goes off at 4:30 a.m. and it’s time to get to work. No matter what time of day you work on your side hustle, you’re going to be tired. Deal with it. Hustle through the difficulties.”
Your Recruitment Fairy Godmother
At Digital Talent Lab, we help you navigate the digital recruitment landscape—whether finding your next role or building your dream career. We’ve reviewed hundreds of thousands of CVs and can help you identify key skills that make you stand out. We’ll ensure you’re prepared to showcase your side hustle and day-to-day experience in any interview. Think of us as your recruitment fairy godmother, but with less magic and more action.
Digital Talent Lab is Sydney's leading digital and marketing recruitment agency. We provide a range of recruitment services to clients, from sourcing and shortlisting to developing tailored recruitment solutions.
With a reputation for providing no nonsense recruitment advice, Digital Talent Lab has become the go-to agency for any digital and marketing professional looking for their next role in Sydney - from junior executives and specialists to senior level management and C-Suite.
Comments