If you are offered a second or a third job as a medical biller and coder, should you take it?

It can be tempting to say yes. After all, logging only a few hours in the evening could provide extra income. If a local urgent care center, chiropractor or other care provider has a backlog of insurance claims to process, the result can be a second income stream for you.

So if you are offered an additional job, should you take it?

Only you know whether you have the extra time to invest in a second or third job. But one other important consideration can come into play:

Did you sign a non-compete agreement with your current employer? A non-compete agreement could have been a separate document that your employer required you to sign – or it might have been a small clause buried in other paperwork you signed when you accepted  your current job. If you signed a non-compete, you agreed not to work for one of your employer’s competitors for a specified period of time after you left your current job.

To learn more about non-compete clauses, take a few minutes to read about them in About.com’s online library of articles about Human Resources.

How enforceable are non-compete clauses? At least one recent court case has raised that issue. In case your current employer decides to question your right to work for another organization, to be safe, you  might consider the issues before you start moonlighting..

So, to moonlight or not to moonlight? It’s a question to weigh carefully as you expand your earnings and build your career.