The Working World
Recession Lexicon: Slashers
/n. A person with more than one profession, such as a banker-slash-entrepreneur, or an accountant-slash-yoga instructor.
This term (perhaps first coined by Marci Alboher in her book One Person/Multiple Careers — notice the slash) reflects a major shift in thinking about work: People no longer expect to have just one career. In the recession in particular, we see “slash career” as a product of a transition or reinvention (e.g. you plan to ditch the banker or accountant altogether); maybe you’re a professional polymath who is juggling different interests talents. Or maybe the downturn has forced you to cobble together multiple sources of income, as Tina Brown described with “gig economy.” The recession has accelerated the trend.
We use slasher to describe people like some of our Lemonade Makers, including James Young, who became a real estate broker-slash-digital-entrepreneur when his business slowed dramatically last year. And it’s quickly catching on.
Nota bene: Not to be confused with actress-slash-model.
Example: What do you do for a living? I’m a slasher in dance and medicine.
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2 comments for “Recession Lexicon: Slashers”
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I may have been the very first reporter/entrepreneur slasher… in 1991….
I’d amend this piece just in one way. For many people who pursue creative arts (writing, acting, music, dance, etc.), slashing is nothing new. It’s always been essential because it’s hard to make a living in these creative professions. Thus, a writer may teach writing at a university, a musician may have a day job in an office, and so forth.