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Millenial Job Hopping

Deleted member 3183

User-requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,517
I've worked five jobs in eight years. Increased my salary nearly 250% since I first started.

I like where I'm at now though. Great environment with good people. I see myself settling in here for the long haul.
 
RoninChaos

RoninChaos

Member
Oct 26, 2017
8,342
I've noticed companies don't or won't hire you back if you leave. That seems to be a trend that's starting.
 
Nerdyone

Nerdyone

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
1,723
I'm in recruitment and this is perfectly normal. It's a challenge with hiring managers over 50 to understand how the world is, especially since I'm 42 and have moved jobs every two years or so
 

Deleted member 19996

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
1,897
Because jobs don't value or incentive loyalty. Stay at a job for 5 years and maybe get a 5% bump or switch jobs every couple of years and get 20-30% each time.
 
EJS

EJS

The Fallen
The Fallen
Oct 31, 2017
9,197
One question to consider, during your meetings where you might be asked about your long-term plans, try asking your company what their long-term plans for you are. That can be a deciding factor in staying or leaving.
 
SABO.

SABO.

Member
Nov 6, 2017
5,872
RoninChaos said:
I've noticed companies don't or won't hire you back if you leave. That seems to be a trend that's starting.
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Depends how you leave. I'm welcome back at my first company if an open position popped up and I wanted it.

A lot of people seem to take the "fuck you, I'm out" approach to leaving.
 
Spinluck

Spinluck

▲ Legend ▲
Avenger
Oct 26, 2017
28,528
Chicago
I spent 6 years of my life working retail.

Things I've learned on the job and about myself:

  • I will never devote that many years of my life working at one place again
  • If I were to put in that many years doing a job I rather it be self employment
  • Find a career and never settle... Avoid complacency and try to move up
  • These companies don't care about you
  • They don't actually care about how hard you work
  • Never sell yourself short and think you're stuck there
  • A retail job should never be your only source of income (honestly most jobs shouldn't)
  • Never be afraid to walk out/quit (things workout better if you listen to the above)
Ideally, I wouldn't wish retail hell on anyone. I know entrepreneurship isn't for everyone, I mean, someone has to work these jobs. But I think things would be better if employers actually gave a shit and the work wasn't so soul sucking. I've done warehouse work, sales, volunteer firefighter work, and worked for a catering company.

Retail was by far the worst.

My goal is to eventually get out of the 9-5 rat race.
 
OP
OP
MrMephistoX

MrMephistoX

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,754
RoninChaos said:
I've noticed companies don't or won't hire you back if you leave. That seems to be a trend that's starting.
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I think it's all in how you leave. I sent everyone I worked with a nice thank you note, backed up and organized all my files on box and put together a whole spreadsheet together with contact info for my boss. Although I wouldn't necessarily want to come back to this department I would come back in a heartbeat. I'm 33 and this is the first time I'm making over $100k so I'm getting it...3.5 years feels like forever ago. Next time I'm just doing two unless I love it.
 
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Aurongel

Aurongel

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
7,065
MrMephistoX said:
Just out of curiosity what do they consider to be "frequent" ?

I mean personally I feel like 2-3 years shouldn't raise any red flags. 1 year I can see it.

For me it was hard I'm moving to a non-entertainment company and I mean I can see why people stay at but that loyalty isn't rewarded long term: ongoing layoffs are happening on a weekly basis here but under the radar so they don't have to report it...shady.

It's a great company I'm going to and I get to keep doing marketing which I'm very good at and just learn a new industry and get manangement so can't hurt.
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I can only really speak for our organization, we're fairly insulated (by design) from the hiring methodologies that similar organizations use. I try to prioritize social skills and often focus on asking impossible whiteboard questions to see how the candidate communicates their confusion and works through the problem.

But to your question, we tend to look at any duration shorter than two years with some skepticism. I say skepticism and not suspicion, we'll then try and probe into what projects the candidate completed during that time and what their relative scope was. If the candidate struggles to cite anything meaningful from their 1-2 year tenure then we consider that a fairly significant knock against them. It's not a knock out punch in all cases but for candidates who are in a competitive process or lack social skills, it's a deal-breaker for me personally. I've never turned down a candidate solely based on that though. I'm a 25 year old millennial and understand that the industry is tough, sometimes we play the role of strong worker but get fucked over by corporate pressures and forces outside of our control. Usually I can get a good read on candidates that fall into that bucket, or at least it's something I strive to do.
 
lt519

lt519

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,064
Depends on the definition of "job hopping." I feel like if you are getting promotions within a company and new job titles than you're accomplishing what others are doing by bouncing around. I stayed with one company for 9 years and had 5 promotions. I saw a ceiling after the last one and 6 months later I switched companies for another promotion and better opportunity. I also saw they didn't care about me after they burnt me out. I feel like the new company cares about me a lot more, but mostly because they know they need to keep me happy to make their business successful, if I'm unsuccessful I full well know they'll stop "caring" about me.

For context, I started at $65.5k at and ended at $115k at the last job and the hop got me to $150k (old company countered with $125k) but that was kind of an extraordinary right time/right place situation to get that kind of bump.
 

Endymion

Member
Oct 27, 2017
753
RoninChaos said:
I've noticed companies don't or won't hire you back if you leave. That seems to be a trend that's starting.
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I had a friend who left the company we were working at at the time to go on a road trip and just do other stuff in general, then got rehired making way more money than he did during his previous stint. Job hopping can even work within the same company! :P
 
balohna

balohna

Member
Nov 1, 2017
4,189
My career history:

Job 1 - 4 years in a "contract" position with shit pay, kept getting renewed.
Job 2 - Slightly better pay for similar work, laid off after 4 months.
Back to Job 1 for another 2 years.
Job 3 - Better pay and more interesting work, after 10 months move to different department with pay raise (Job 4).
Job 4 - Dream job basically, but after 2 years get told they can't hire me full time anytime soon and the limit is almost up on contract renewals. Offer to let me stay as independent contractor, but I've already been looking and have an offer at this point.
Job 5 - On paper an upgrade I'm every way - better pay, benefits, closer to home. 1 year contract though, and it ends up being a shit show. Start applying elsewhere after like 2 months, only end up staying for 3 total.
Job 6 - Current job, no pay increase but stayed the same at a smaller company. Good company, but 1 year contract that's going to end. They offer me a 6 month extension, but...
Now I'm about to go back to Job 4 and in order to get me back they're offering me double what they used to pay me.

This spans over 10 years and I've never been hired as a permanent employee. But pay increases are nice. It's the way things are now for a lot of people. I don't plan to hop around again in the near future, but I don't regret the last year and a half. I've learned a lot and I guess my old company realized my value after I left.
 
Smokey

Smokey

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,176
RoninChaos said:
I've noticed companies don't or won't hire you back if you leave. That seems to be a trend that's starting.
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If you leave on good terms, the door should be open. During my exit interview, HR flatout asked if I'd be interested in coming back, and they said they'd be happy to welcome me back if I ever decide to make that decision. I've heard from others at my old company that that message is definitely not conveyed to everybody during the exit HR, for various reasons.
 
LordGorchnik

LordGorchnik

Member
Oct 30, 2017
3,305
Been at my current job the longest (7 years). Was born at the very beginning of the "millenial" boom in 1982. I've had six "professional" jobs before this one. Finally found a company that:
1) Doesn't give a shit about tenure and pays you based on your ability
2) Has executive leadership that actually cares about the company growth
3) Is in a $300B market that continues to expand year over year
4) Is a medium sized company (2500 employees) where you can easily make a name for yourself.

It is possible to find a good job and get promoted internally and stay on top of the pay curve it's just finding the right environment.
 
kickz

kickz

Member
Nov 3, 2017
11,395
Been at the current place for 2 years, meaning next year should be a job hop but I am waiting to see if I get a promotion first because I like this place. Super laid back dev environment with no crunch.

lt519 said:
Depends on the definition of "job hopping." I feel like if you are getting promotions within a company and new job titles than you're accomplishing what others are doing by bouncing around. I stayed with one company for 9 years and had 5 promotions. I saw a ceiling after the last one and 6 months later I switched companies for another promotion and better opportunity. I also saw they didn't care about me after they burnt me out. I feel like the new company cares about me a lot more, but mostly because they know they need to keep me happy to make their business successful, if I'm unsuccessful I full well know they'll stop "caring" about me.

For context, I started at $65.5k at and ended at $115k at the last job and the hop got me to $150k (old company countered with $125k) but that was kind of an extraordinary right time/right place situation to get that kind of bump.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I mean yes and no, you could probably achieve that end result in half the time with job hopping every 2 years
 

Deleted member 47843

User Requested Account Closure
Banned
Sep 16, 2018
2,501
Yeah there's not a whole lot of reason to stay with one company in a lot of places/industries. If you don't have a chance to get a regular raise, job hopping is the best way to move up.

It's not really applicable to me as I'm a professor and salaries (outside of the superstars) in my field are pretty equivalent from university to university once you factor in cost of living in the locations. It does apply to the superstars publishing a shit ton and bringing in millions in grants as there's a lot of competition over them. But even then their current place will usually match any better offers they get so there's not a lot of incentive to leave or hop around jobs. But I suppose there is incentive to fish for offers to get raises beyond the typical small yearly raises (or bigger ones with tenure and promotion to Associate Professor and then Professor).

That said, I've been happy with my salary and raise progress and my department has been very good to me so I do have some loyalty to hear. I'd certainly listen to other offers and want a match if a better one came my way to stay, but I haven't actively fished for offers. I'm just in a good place here with tenure, a good salary and benefits relatively low pressure/productivity expectations to anywhere that would pay me more (and thus I don't have the CV to get offers from those pressure cooker departments that only want superstars anyway).
 
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