

Your resume may not explicitly state “great people skills” or “highly adaptable to changing work environments,” but you most certainly do have those skills. If you’re job-hopping, you build new relationships with a new team every time you change and learn a whole new way of doing things. Communication and AdaptabilityĬompanies value soft skills like communication, networking, and general relationship management with colleagues. They also gain new skills that are often valuable to and sought out by employers. Job-hoppers gain more than another entry on their resume. People are changing jobs and careers more frequently, so the standards for what employers expect to see on a resume are shifting.” The Benefits and Pros of Job-Hopping In January 2020, workers aged 55 to 64 had a median tenure of 9.9 years, while workers aged 25 to 34 only had a median tenure of 2.8 years.īrie Reynolds, former Career Development Manager and Career Coach at FlexJobs, says, “Professionals don’t have to be quite as concerned with job-hopping as they once did. That said, the same survey also points out that older workers generally have more tenure than younger workers. By January 2020, that number had barely budged at 4.1 years. The BLS also notes that in 2018, the median number of years all workers had been with their current employer was 4.2 years. Interestingly, the rates have held steady for several years. Many of these jobs were not long-term jobs, with 75% of the positions lasting five or fewer years and 36% lasting less than one year. A 2019 study conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that baby boomers held an average of 12.3 jobs between the ages of 18 and 52. However, that doesn’t mean job-hopping is something only for the young. And, recent research says that Gen Z is likely to follow the same job-hopping path. They are willing to jettison established career paths in search of something more fulfilling or to try out an opportunity that looks more exciting. Millennials, in particular, are known for their job-hopping tendencies.

For example, a designer that moves into a copywriter position may be a more valuable employee because not only can they work with Photoshop or other design tools, but they understand the marketing elements of successful advertisements. Once they’ve mastered a job, they can’t imagine staying in the same position for a few more years (or even months), so they switch to something different to keep themselves engaged or challenged.Īnd, then there the job-hoppers who want to learn new skills. Still, other job-hoppers get bored easily and want more challenging roles. Job-hoppers may also switch because they discover they don’t like the work or aren’t a good cultural fit with the company. Some job-hoppers are dissatisfied with where a particular job leads in the future, so they hop to another job with a better career path. What Is Job-Hopping, and Why Do People Do It?Ī job-hopper stays at a job for approximately one to two years. Make sure you understand what job-hopping is and why you’re doing it before you start hopping around. While some employers will always have an unfavorable view of job-hopping, it’s increasingly common for people to move from job to job during their working years.Ĭhoosing to be a job-hopper can have its benefits, but there are drawbacks. These potential hires, employers reasoned, were somehow unfocused, unstable, or maybe difficult to work with. Employers frowned on job applicants whose resumes seemed to signal that they couldn’t stay put. Not long ago, moving too soon from one job to the next-or “job-hopping”-was a big no-no.
