Confessions of a Habitual Job Hopper

In my first five years of working in “the real world”, I held down five different jobs.  One of these was part-time and held in conjunction with my current day job.  However, when friends or co-workers would ask me about my job history, it would oftentimes seem that I was older than I really was — soley because of the fact that at the ripe old age of 25, I’d already amassed a whole resume page full of relevant job titles.

It was then that I realized I was what the adults called a “job hopper”.  With it’s adverse sound and generally negative connotation, I immediately jumped on defense — backing the countless responsibilities I’d been so lucky to nail down.  But the fact was — and still is — that I am indeed a job hopper.  And I’ve come to realize that there’s nothing wrong with that.

In fact, we’ve got a whole generation of job hoppers jumping into the work force.   While the recession may temporarily slow them down and dissuade them from making their usual career leaps, you can bet they’ll be back in full force once the economy builds up strength — moving from company to company looking for the next bigger and better thing.

Aside from the typical negative stereotypes of job hoppers, this isn’t necessarily a completely bad trend.  I say this knowing that I fit the description to a T.  So with a lack factual data about job hoppers (if there even is any), I will limit my ideas of the pros of “hopping” to my own experiences as a habitual job hopper.

Job Hopping Allows Companies to Keep New and Creative Ideas Flowing into the Workplace

Think about the first few months after starting a new job.  Maybe even up to the first year.  Most people generally have a good reservoir of creative ideas on how to more effectively manage projects, cut costs, be more creative — those ideas stem from many things, one being excitement over a new job and wanting to show your value to the company.  Job hoppers tend to crave that feeling and are able to capitalize off of it by producing fresh ideas often to a continually changing audience.  On the flip side, I think that employers can reap the benefits of the influx of innovative ideas coming in.  Even though the argument can be made that the person with the original idea may have left by the time the company is ready to implement said idea, fresh ideas are always good.  They can not only lead to better working conditions, but they can also motivate and invoke creativity in other employees.

Job Hopping Increases the Employee’s Ability to Shimmy up the Salary Ladder

Another good thing (for the hoppers, that is) is the ability to weasel up the salary ladder a lot quicker than someone working for the same company for 5 years.  When switching companies, one generally has far more leverage to negotiate a higher salary than their previous one.  On average, job seekers tend to nail down a 10-15% increase in pay when making a move to a new company.  Compare this to a typical raise of 5-8% when staying with the same company, and it’s not hard to see why frequently hopping the fence can be an attractive option.

Job Hoppers Build Networking Contacts at a Far Quicker Pace

Networking events are all good, but let’s be honest:  real contacts are made through day to day relationships.  Relationships with co-workers who’ve seen your abilities and your work ethic.  Job hopping can be tricky, as you certainly don’t want to burn bridges.  But if done right, constantly building and recycling your networks throughout different companies or even different industries, will build a huge pool of diversified contacts to turn to for future job prospects, career advice, or help when you decide to branch out with your own venture.

While it’s obvious that job hopping is clearly more beneficial to the employee over the employer, there are still benefits that can provide useful for both sides.  I’m a big believer in constant change, as nothing noteworthy has ever been born out of stagnation, and consistent turnover definitely delivers that change.

Even though it may seem audacious for a 25 year old to flaunt a two page resume, keep in mind that it certainly doesn’t mean those two pages aren’t warranted or that less energy was spent on their accomplishments — only that it was completed in a compacted manner.

*Salary increase statistics taken from CNN Money.