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No harm in looking, but be careful. With 3 jobs in 5 years, employers will label you a job hopper as soon as they see the resume, w/o investigating the reasons behind it. Fair-doesn't matter, if they circular file you. So with that in mind, you need your next job to last many years, most likely more than the first 3 put together. That means you must find a position that is excellent for you in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, AND 2017.
I read a newspaper article that said 1.5 years is the average amt of time spent in each job for younger generation of workers....
This is the new norm for folks in their 30s and under.
I reviewed resumes where folks changed jobs every 1-2 years for the past 10 years.
Older workers tend to stay put at a job much longer because they want stability and because this was the way to do it in prior generations.
Excellent point. Job hopping is the norm now and is not really frowned upon unless it's ridiculous. I have held three different jobs in a period of four years and have gotten four different interviews within a month and a half of job searching. You just have to use the job hopping aspect to your advantage.
The problem is there is no loyalty both from the employer and the employee. I see a shift happening. Generation Y does not like corporate culture. Generation Y (like most people) will only be retained in places that have a strong company culture and good benefits. Are we spoiled? Yeah we are. Sense of entitlement? Yeah. But we were not born this way either. The baby boomers who raised us and the generation after brought us up that way, so in this sense there is plenty of fault to pass around.
No harm in looking, but be careful. With 3 jobs in 5 years, employers will label you a job hopper as soon as they see the resume, w/o investigating the reasons behind it. Fair-doesn't matter, if they circular file you. So with that in mind, you need your next job to last many years, most likely more than the first 3 put together. That means you must find a position that is excellent for you in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, AND 2017.
This is not true. I said in my original post that I am constantly getting contacted by recruiters for new job openings, even AFTER they already see that I am on job #3 in year #5 of my career. I am only 27 years old and it is perfectly find to do some reasonable job hopping. It's actually a good thing, because it exposes you to different facets of the profession and work in general. It makes a professional more well rounded. I don't see much to gain by being brutally loyal to a company.
nep321, I am talking about getting hired, and not simply contacted. Its a higher bar, and often, one gets 2-3 finalists where stability is the sole differentiator, where the corp likes all 3, but must cut out 2.
But for positions where most applicants are under 30 most will have held 3-5 positions. I rarely know anyone under 30 who has not/isnt job hopping. Yes, being stable looks good but those people are and few as candidates. Because quite frankly who are not job hoppers are rarely applying/looking for a new job.
Its about balance, ChiKid, and while so far, it has not harmed the OP, if it continues , it will. So following up a few short stints with a longer one is prudent.
I agree that maybe when you are entering 30 years of age is when you should really start setting your roots. Younger than that I think its ok to job hop.
If you hate the place, start looking somewhere else. If that makes you a "job hopper," so be it.
Most employers are scum and will stab you in the back with one hand while smiling and shaking your hand with the other. Do what is best for YOU and don't worry about staying somewhere you hate because you think it might look bad on a resume if you leave. Being a slave to a piece of paper is a pretty pathetic way to live.
The problem is there is no loyalty both from the employer and the employee. I see a shift happening. Generation Y does not like corporate culture. Generation Y (like most people) will only be retained in places that have a strong company culture and good benefits. Are we spoiled? Yeah we are. Sense of entitlement? Yeah. But we were not born this way either. The baby boomers who raised us and the generation after brought us up that way, so in this sense there is plenty of fault to pass around.
It's more like we are growing up in the era where working somewhere for 20 years doesn't necessarily provide more stability, so we don't do it. There's usually some financial benefit to "job hopping" and with "employment at will" or "right to work" in most states, seniority doesn't provide nearly as much of an advantage as it used to.
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