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Job Hopping - A Good Idea?

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Thursday, 26th of August 2010

A quick whiz around Google on the subject of "job hopping" presents some rather contradicting articles, advice and opinions. One camp back the belief that job hopping not only has no positive benefits but also has detrimental effects on your career prospects. The opposition argue that the exercise of job hopping displays an eagerness to learn, a quick adaptive nature and independence, all of which employers love. So let's look at the arguments on either side, from the "pro-hoppers" and the "anti-hoppers".

Job Hoppers have Successful Careers

The anti camp claim that this is not true. Apparently, a lot of CEOs spent their entire careers at their company and that there is a positive correlation between the time spent at the company and the speed in which you get to the top of that company (and that includes non-chief executives as well . The pros rebuttal to this is that focussing on executive roles is looking at an older generation and that whilst this used to be the case, nowadays and especially post-recession, it is not. On top of this the pros argue that job hopping increases the variety of work you have been tasked with making you more applicable to higher, more well paid positions.

Employers are put off by Job Hoppers

One of the most important quandaries that arises out of this issue is whether a CV full of 18 month to three year positions puts an employer off of hiring you. The logic behind this is quite plain - they take one look at your CV and think "He/she will only be here for a little while and then they'll be off and we'll have to do this all over again!" However, statistics show that there are many more temporary positions in recent times that are generated to fit the peaks and troughs of business in the various industries. This makes shorter positions look less odd and in some cases more appealing because it shows a wide array of experience and a natural ability to fit in to new environments.

Job Hopping reduces Benefits

To a degree this is true, and even the pros do not contest this. Unfortunately for those who switch between jobs often, many employee rights, such as maternity pay and pension schemes, are not active until after a year of employment. So job hopping can sometimes appeal more to the employer than the employee.

However, in contest to this I would say that if you are to engage in quickly shifting between jobs and companies then this is something that should be done whilst you are young and trying to build your career. Later in life you can settle down when you have found a place you are comfortable with and have built up a skill set and then start enrolling in various employee benefits.

In summary, job hopping is something that is "a good idea" depending on the circumstances. If there are better positions with more valuable experience and/or better pay elsewhere then of course switching to that role would be a logical and sensible decision. However, if there are many promotional opportunities at your first or current workplace and you are enjoying your job (or at least where it will lead) then why would you want to leave?