Is job hopping ruining your career?

According to new research conducted by Indeed, 98.1% of Brits are no longer in the same job they were in five years ago.

To be honest, this comes as no surprise to us. In fact, whenever we speak to somebody who has been in their job for longer than a few years, we gasp and exclaim.. ‘WOW… that’s virtually unheard of these days!’

Is this a bad thing?

The study found that out of the more than 1200 employees and jobseekers surveyed, just 23% think that short-lived jobs are harmful to their career. Additionally, 40% of under-35s said that short-term employment will actually boost their careers.

What you may be surprised to hear is that this view was shared by 64% of employers. These employers didn’t think job-hoppers impact their businesses negatively.

The idea is that staff who have a wealth of experience across various industries and disciplines can actually be a huge asset to a company. Additionally, such staff are thought to be more capable of handling change and variety. The alternative is staff who’ve become “institutionalised”. With no experience in other companies, they could struggle to adapt to a new way of working.

Find a happy medium

Personally, I think there’s such a thing as a happy medium. I can’t shy away from admitting that too much job-hopping on a CV immediately makes me fearful that the candidate won’t have any staying-power. I’m always aiming to place candidates that will remain with my client’s company for the entirety of their careers…

Maybe it’s time for me to acknowledge that this is no longer a viable concept. Could I get my head around the idea that placing a candidate that has an impact on a business, even if they’re only there for a couple of years, could be just as good?

Could you?

Yasmin