Both employees and employers worry about job-hopping and job-hoppers. And there’s a good reason. High turnover rates for a company can be very damaging to the business or even team morale. However, from an employee’s perspective, there can be a lot to be gained by not staying in any one position too long. Sometimes, it’s undeniable that it’s the right time to move on. Job hopping doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing, but it’s worth thinking through. Here are a few ways to find out how hopping could affect your career.
Hopping May Show A Lack of Employer Loyalty
Employers are looking for the type of employee who is committed to the work and to the company. Experience is the best indicator of future performance, so you can be sure that prospective employers are looking to see how long you stayed committed to your past jobs. Employers spend a great deal of time and financial resources in recruiting and training new employees. So it makes sense that they would want to hire the type of workers who will want to work for the same company long enough for them to see a good return on that investment.
However, on the other side of the table, when it’s clear that an employer no longer can support a career path for their top talent, then it makes all the sense in the world for an employee to look elsewhere for growth. Staying too long in a dead-end job, for instance, can be a sign of complacency or laziness. When something is good enough for long enough, the fact is that it was never really good enough in the first place. So if you are in a situation where you are considering whether you should stay for the sake of staying, only you are the best judge. Is there still room to grow in your current situation? Does your company value the impact you deliver? If not, then, by all means, it’s time to move on.
How Hopping Effects Career Growth
Employers are also interested to see whether you provided the sort of skills and quality of work that resulted in promotions and increasing responsibilities within a position. Jumping from employer to employer for each move long your career path may fail to show an employer’s satisfaction and confidence in your abilities. Or it could be an indicator of a desire to tackle new challenges and learn new skills. If you need to build up skills and a depth of experiences quickly, whether because you are a recent graduate or looking to make a change within your career, hopping around a little to get those new experiences quickly can make you much more widely experienced than you were had you stayed in one position for the length of your career. Gone are the days when an employer hired talent fresh out of school, then ushered them through the corporate ladder until they reach their appropriate retirement age. Hopping around provides learning opportunities that are very difficult to come by otherwise. And each hop, ideally, is a hop-forward in your career that may otherwise take years to advance to the same levels.
Start Your Job Search with ESGI
If you find yourself ready to make the leap into a new, more challenging, more rewarding job opportunity, connect with the recruiting team at ESGI today. We’ll help you find the job you didn’t even know you were looking for.
