diff --git a/telegram/ext/jobqueue.py b/telegram/ext/jobqueue.py
index 5a04d4ea5..28c9a1a87 100644
--- a/telegram/ext/jobqueue.py
+++ b/telegram/ext/jobqueue.py
@@ -95,7 +95,8 @@ class JobQueue(object):
 
         """
         # get time at which to run:
-        time_spec = time_spec or job.interval
+        if time_spec is None:
+            time_spec = job.interval
         if time_spec is None:
             raise ValueError("no time specification given for scheduling non-repeating job")
         next_t = to_float_timestamp(time_spec, reference_timestamp=previous_t)
diff --git a/tests/test_jobqueue.py b/tests/test_jobqueue.py
index 4b5d8d108..664254f4b 100644
--- a/tests/test_jobqueue.py
+++ b/tests/test_jobqueue.py
@@ -119,6 +119,11 @@ class TestJobQueue(object):
         sleep(0.07)
         assert self.result == 1
 
+    def test_run_repeating_first_immediate(self, job_queue):
+        job_queue.run_repeating(self.job_run_once, 0.1, first=0)
+        sleep(0.05)
+        assert self.result == 1
+
     def test_run_repeating_first_timezone(self, job_queue, timezone):
         """Test correct scheduling of job when passing a timezone-aware datetime as ``first``"""
         first = (dtm.datetime.utcnow() + timezone.utcoffset(None)).replace(tzinfo=timezone)