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Back in 2006 when I was 22 years old, I graduated from college with a BS in Accounting and started my first job in late 2006. Now, here I am at the age of 30 and already on my fourth job. I am currently job searching as we speak, but it's been a sh** show. I have a master's degree now and I'm over 2 months into my job search and only got 1 interview so far, and I withdrew my candidacy because I didn't want the job. Currently, I'm employed, but one of my recruiters told me that my career history is quite choppy and that many employers are going to pass on me because of that. Here is a timeline of my career history:
Job 1 - 1 year, 5 months - quit with no job lined up and relocated Unemployed for 2 months Job 2 - 1 year, 7 months - laid off Unemployed for 4 months Job 3 - 2 years, 7 months - quit with no job lined up Unemployed for 7 months and relocated Job 4 - 1 year, 4 months so far, and currently looking for a new job
Is that bad? Some of my recruiters say it's common, but at the same time warn me that potential employers might not think positively of it, and that I need to build stability and stay at my current job for up to 4 more years.
I now have a total of 6 years and 11 months of experience in my career and have always received average or above average evaluations.
You're looking in different places, which makes you nonlocal. That alone makes it tougher. You make a good income, and someone in say FL is unlikely to match your current CT salary. You're also very picky about where you live.
Just looking at the facts, I'd say there is no problem as long as you show some sort of competent progression.
You're looking in different places, which makes you nonlocal. That alone makes it tougher. You make a good income, and someone in say FL is unlikely to match your current CT salary. You're also very picky about where you live.
Just looking at the facts, I'd say there is no problem as long as you show some sort of competent progression.
Yes, being a nonlocal candidate makes it even harder indeed. I mean, all I can do is try. I've been looking since Aug 1 and applied to 27 jobs and am working with 5 recruiters, which only yielded one interview. I had the interview, but was turned off by the company. But I mean, I've been applying to jobs in many cities in the U.S. such as Hartford, New Haven, Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Grand Rapids, Detroit, Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Phoenix. That's a pretty good breadth, if you ask me, and many of those places are quite strong on jobs in my field, even. I am also somewhat selective in the jobs I apply to, because I don't want to just apply to whatever company wherever. The job has to be a good fit, and the industry, field, etc. There's no sense in applying for a job that doesn't appeal to me, you know? Plus, my field is rather specialized.
I'm thinking if nothing materializes over the next few weeks, I'm gonna quit my search and start searching for a better apartment in my area or something and just try to build more career stability and save more money. Sigh.
You are not job hopping--you are job quitting. You are not chasing more money, or titles, or whatever career progression people change jobs for, you are simply quitting without having anything lined up. To me, you are unreliable and unpredictable.
I agree with JfD. Job hopping is a bit more acceptable when each job is a promotion over the last. Just going aimlessly from job to job makes you look like you are unable or unwilling to hold a job.
If all those jobs are in the same for field then it probably won't matter. Instead of viewing it as job hopping it could be viewed as 5 years of experience.
Yes, being a nonlocal candidate makes it even harder indeed. I mean, all I can do is try. I've been looking since Aug 1 and applied to 27 jobs and am working with 5 recruiters, which only yielded one interview. I had the interview, but was turned off by the company. But I mean, I've been applying to jobs in many cities in the U.S. such as Hartford, New Haven, Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Grand Rapids, Detroit, Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Phoenix. That's a pretty good breadth, if you ask me, and many of those places are quite strong on jobs in my field, even. I am also somewhat selective in the jobs I apply to, because I don't want to just apply to whatever company wherever. The job has to be a good fit, and the industry, field, etc. There's no sense in applying for a job that doesn't appeal to me, you know? Plus, my field is rather specialized.
I'm thinking if nothing materializes over the next few weeks, I'm gonna quit my search and start searching for a better apartment in my area or something and just try to build more career stability and save more money. Sigh.
I haven't researched Cleveland and Buffalo in depth, but I have a hard time believing they'd be hot for anything. Detroit is its own story. I passed through GR a month ago, and it's a fairly small metro. The rest seem decent enough, but none would be on my short list, save maybe Pittsburgh.
You aren't desperate in the sense you have no job and must take whatever is offered. While the response rate is low, you've been applying to an average of a job about every two days. That's not much, and who knows what percentage of those jobs may have actually expired, been filled but not taken down, basically for internal candidates only (but required to post outside), etc.
You are not job hopping--you are job quitting. You are not chasing more money, or titles, or whatever career progression people change jobs for, you are simply quitting without having anything lined up. To me, you are unreliable and unpredictable.
You and I are on pretty much the exact same schedule.
I started as an intern with a company and started full time January 07 and just turned 30 this year.
1st job: Jan 07 - Mar 11
2nd job: Mar 11 - Feb 12 (though I stayed on as a consultant nights/weekends until september)
3rd job: Feb 12 - Present
I don't think that if I had changed jobs halfway through my first job it would have hurt me, but the difference is I wasn't quitting with no job lined up. My career history is completely solid(with an overlap of two jobs while consulting).
The fact that you voluntarily left most of those jobs without another offer lined up is part of your biggest problem because you have holes in your resume. Sure, once may have been fine, and one of those was a situation where you were laid off.
You don't always get to give your explanation in your resume(nor should you really). To me, if I just looked at your dates, I'd just assume you were fired from every job you had(or about to be fired but quit before they actually did so).
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