slide 1:

What is your Opinion on Job Hopping Over the years work has changed drastically. Gone are the days when a job was viewed almost like a lifelong commitment with the company promising to protect and provide and the employee pledging to be faithful and loyal. Such unions usually lasted until death or retirement. But that was during a time when companies stayed in business for several decades or longer. These stable companies earned stable profits and paid stable wages. A variety of forces combined to change the workplace landscape. The internet - the great disruptor - removed territorial boundaries and created global competition. The recession added a powerful body blow. Younger employees entered the workplace with radically different views regarding the role of work and the importance of work-life balance. This environment gave rise to the increasingly common practice of job-hopping. Redefining Job Hopping While job-hopping used to be a negative term its traditional definition may no longer apply in the current economy. “Job hopping meant someone who had a tendency to move from company to company and it was not viewed positively since loyalty and longevity were values managers looked for.” But our current economy is flexible and talented workers have many options. “Companies are more open to part-time contract work and outsourced work which makes the traditional loyal employee extinct.” Such workplace changes also have altered our perception of job-hopping resulting in much less of a stigma than in the past On average we all spend much less time in a job than we used to - in fact the average job duration is now less than 5 years. That’s a drastic shift from the “30 years and gold watch” attitude of previous generations of workers. In addition to shifting demographics and the rise of a contingent workforce automation within industries has helped normalize the notion of moving from one job to another at a much quicker pace than in the past. One potential result: Job-hopping may eventually become the chic trendy thing to do. As the workforce becomes more and more fluid one can expect job-hopping to receive a new name some cool term that is given to those who choose to live their life experiencing and contributing too many companies instead of focusing on one or two. How Employers View Job-Hopping Workers have a much more positive view of job-hopping One factor that may shape an employer’s view of job-hopping is the reality that a worker who decides to leave represents a lost investment and that’s why companies prefer that employees stay put. It takes a lot of time effort and resources to find talented people to do great work and when an employer finds them they certainly don’t want them to just pass through.

slide 2:

But while a number of short-term jobs may not make applicants appealing to every employer some companies appreciate the drive of job hoppers to constantly grow and build their career or the desire of previous companies to hire them. Advantages of Job-Hopping So what are the benefits of job-hopping According to experts there are several including the opportunity to gain new skills and experiences which can help advance an employee’s career. Advantages include the ability to take on new responsibilities and thus learn new skills to add to the resume. And this is important because workers who remain in one job for an extended period of time without gaining new responsibilities can become complacent. Tenure is great but not at the expense of building a more diverse skill set. Moving quickly from job to job also serves to quicken the time it takes for career development – and subsequently career advancement. And the more you increase your exposure to new opportunities the more you can capitalize on those opportunities for growth skill building and advancement. Job-hopping provides other benefits as well. Breadth and depth of exposure to different workplaces and environments helps overcome the ‘we’ve always done it that way’ syndrome.” By adapting to various work environments the job-hopping employee is able to work well with an assortment of people and also bring new ideas to the table. The broader your portfolio of work experience is the more expertise you can bring to the table the more likely your compensation can go up too. In fact compensation is one of the major benefits of job-hopping. This practice can increase a worker’s salary or provide an opportunity to gain a more prominent position in the workforce. And let’s be honest who doesn’t want to increase their income And job-hopping can have a significant impact on lifetime earnings. Those workers who job-hop have the opportunity to experience significant increases in pay every time they change jobs. The Bottom Line As job-hopping continues to lose its stigma workers are more likely to roll the dice when weighing their employment options. Today there is a growing realization especially since the 2008 recession that individuals have the ability to chart their own path for career success - just because someone has left and started over again doesn’t mean they are not committed to professional excellence.