job hopping essay

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Should I stay, or should I go? An overview of job-hopping syndrome

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What is job-hopping?

The job-hopping generations, is job-hopping bad, when to job-hop — and when not to, how to job-hop successfully, how to explain job-hopping to prospective employers, is it time for your next job change.

Are you thinking about quitting your job ?

Maybe the culture isn’t the right fit, or your boss is a micromanager , which is affecting your mental health, or this was your plan all along — to quickly ditch your job in pursuit of a higher salary elsewhere.

No matter the reason, you’re not alone: 64% of American workers would rather job hop than ride it out at their current workplace. This might seem like a good idea, or you might be wondering if job hopping is a bad thing. So it’s important to weigh the pros and cons. 

Your current boss might not take kindly to you leaving after a few months, harming your chances of getting a reference. And if you job-hop more than once, prospective employers might see it on your resume and worry you’ll do the same to them.

But not all job-hopping is bad. Changing jobs can help you discover what you need as an employee, what kind of work you enjoy, and what challenges you to develop and sharpen your skills.

So what’s the right move for you? Here’s everything you need to know about the job-hopping syndrome.

“Job-hopping” refers to a pattern of leaving workplaces after a short amount of time — usually within one or two years. That could be to switch to a higher-paying position at another company, move somewhere with a better company culture, or find a job in another field. This isn’t inherently a bad thing. But whether or not it hurts your career will depend on a few things:

• Your industry: In some industries, like tech, job-hopping is a fairly common phenomenon. It’s an opportunity to quickly learn skills and join fast-growing companies. In recent years, though, more and more startups are looking for long-term workers who can help them scale up.
• Your career stage: If you’re in an early stage of your career, it’s normal to bounce around. You’re trying things out, gaining experience, and finding your place in the industry. However, more established professionals are expected to spend more time in a role.
• Your pattern: Job-hopping is an issue if it’s a pattern on your resume. If you’re coming off a string of three or more short-term jobs, a hiring manager might consider that a red flag and be hesitant to hire you.
• The type of work: Some jobs are meant to be short-term. If you’re a contractor it’s normal for you to be hired for a project and then move on shortly after. But if you’re a lawyer, you wouldn’t want to be bouncing between firms. 
• Your reasons for leaving : Bad luck happens. Company #1 went through mass layoffs, Company #2 had a toxic work environment , and Company #3 changed your job description mid-way through. Most prospective employers would understand such circumstances. But, as the job seeker, it’s your responsibility to explain your job history.

Job-hopping is growing more popular among younger generations . The average time millennials (1981 – 1996) spend at a job is two years and nine months.

On the other hand, Gen Xers (1965 – 1980) tend to stay at a job for an average of five years and two months. And Boomers (1946 – 1964) are the most committed of the generations: they spend eight years or more in a role.

Usually, younger people leave a job for better working conditions — meaning better pay, benefits, flexibility, and more fulfilling work.

Your personal circumstances will dictate whether changing jobs is the right move. But here are some pros and cons to consider:

Pros of job-hopping

• Sharpened adaptability skills. A new position means new experiences, responsibilities, and colleagues. If you can quickly thrive in a new environment you’re more valuable to potential employers .
• Improved communication. Finding new work means networking, interviewing, and communicating your skills and desires to prospective employers. These skills are useful in any job and make you a valuable asset to a team.
• Increased salary. Finding a new job is the most effective way to boost your salary. If you wait for a raise at your current company, you’ll likely receive up to a 4% pay increase. But when you switch jobs, that number can jump to 5.3%.
• Diversified skill set. Different jobs demand different skills. As you gain experience in various workplaces, you’ll develop a flexible toolbox within your industry.

Cons of job-hopping

• Lost benefits. Starting a new job means starting at square one in terms of benefits. You might need to accrue a certain number of hours before taking a paid vacation or receiving matched 401K contributions.
• Stigma. If employers think you’re a regular job-hopper, they may worry about your loyalty and whether you’ll leave them sooner rather than later.
• Job-hopping syndrome. If you don’t have a clear reason to leave, you risk falling into the same loop of dissatisfaction at your next job. It’s important to know what you want so that your next job brings you closer to your professional goals .

BetterUp can help you with your next career move. Our coaches will advise you on how to network, prepare for interviews, and challenge the way you think through each decision. With their help, you supercharge your career development.

Sometimes, job-hopping is acceptable and imperative for your health and well-being.

Here are some examples to consider:

• You want new skills but can’t get them in your current role. For example, if you’re a social media specialist but want to write longer blog content, you may seek opportunities more aligned with the writing you want to do.
• Your job is causing chronic stress . Picture this: you have a long task list, and it’s only getting longer. You ask your boss for a reprieve, but they can’t or won’t ease your burden. In this scenario, you can ask for stress leave or find a job with a healthier work environment.
• Opportunities for advancement are non-existent. If you work at a small non-profit under the management of a long-term director or CEO, it’s unlikely you’ll take over. It would make sense to look for advancement opportunities elsewhere.
• It’s not a good cultural fit. Work culture is difficult to determine during the interview process. After a few weeks, you might feel like you don’t quite fit in — like a square peg in a round hole. In these instances, you might look for a better fit elsewhere.

The above examples are good reasons to leave a workplace, but you have to be confident in your decision. Here are some tips to consider for your departure:

• Make a plan. Take some time for self-reflection. Create clear goals for how you want to configure your future career and life, and then make sure your new job can bring you closer to that.
• Follow a job-search methodology. Instead of just browsing LinkedIn job boards and applying to whatever’s available, visualize your dream job. Then make a plan to get there, and start looking at postings with clear intentions.
• Develop new skills. Make the most of your current position. Network with your colleagues. Take on new projects. And if you have a professional development budget, train both hard and soft skills. These will come in handy for your future job.
• Don’t quit just for the money. Make sure you’re considering the whole package before taking a new job. Look for benefits , vacation pay, retirement plans, and job stability . You can also ask about specific things that bother you about your current job. If you’re frustrated about the lack of work-life balance, make sure your new employer is more flexible.
• Don’t burn bridges. Even if you don’t like your boss, you never know when that connection will be useful. Try to maintain the relationship; your current employer can be a valuable reference for you in the future.
• Give your current role a chance. If you’ve been at your job for less than a year, it might be worth riding it out to see if things get better. But if you’re seriously struggling or suffering, it makes sense to leave quickly.

If your resume shows three jobs in three years, your interviewer will have some questions. How you answer will shape how they interpret your track record.

Hopefully, you had good reasons to leave. If you left due to a poor work environment, career change, or layoffs, you can feel more at ease in the hot seat. But if you left because you were bored or couldn’t get what you wanted, you might have a harder time presenting a story that makes you look good.

In either case, you need to own your work history. Talk about the positive experiences, what you learned from each position, and why you’re looking for a change. 

It also helps to show enthusiasm for your prospective job and industry. If you’re there for the right reasons, that shouldn’t be difficult. You picked your dream job, made a plan, and now you’re on the cusp of achieving your goal — that’s a lot to be enthusiastic about.

The Job-hopping syndrome isn’t inherently bad. But if you’re doing it for the wrong reasons, it makes progressing in your career harder.

If you’re considering leaving your current employment after less than a year, make sure you know why. Take your time before making a decision. Before leaving, make sure that a new job is truly what you need.

Only you know your list of deal-breakers. And if you don’t, now is the time to identify them. When you understand your boundaries and what you need from an employer, you’ll have an easier time finding a better job.

BetterUp can help you navigate your career path. Our coaches are here to give you career advice, quiz you on your plan, and guide you through the saturated job market.

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Elizabeth Perry, ACC

Elizabeth Perry is a Coach Community Manager at BetterUp. She uses strategic engagement strategies to cultivate a learning community across a global network of Coaches through in-person and virtual experiences, technology-enabled platforms, and strategic coaching industry partnerships. With over 3 years of coaching experience and a certification in transformative leadership and life coaching from Sofia University, Elizabeth leverages transpersonal psychology expertise to help coaches and clients gain awareness of their behavioral and thought patterns, discover their purpose and passions, and elevate their potential. She is a lifelong student of psychology, personal growth, and human potential as well as an ICF-certified ACC transpersonal life and leadership Coach.

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What Is Job Hopping? (Pros, Cons and Considerations)

The once-taboo practice has become more accepted in recent years.

Job hopping, which is the pattern of staying in jobs for only a short amount of time, was once seen as a sign of instability or disloyalty. In recent years, though, that perception has changed, as job hopping has become more accepted.

With the pandemic shaking up the labor market and shifting employees’ priorities, the once-frowned-upon practice has grown in popularity among workers who want to find a better career fit or earn more money in a world where stability and job security is no longer the norm.

What Is Job Hopping?

Job hopping is the pattern of moving from one job to the next in a brief amount of time, typically spending only a year or two at each company.

Recruiters don’t immediately blanch at the sight of job hopping on resumes anymore, either: “When I first started recruiting 20 years ago or so, you wanted to see long-tenure roles on resumes. That was seen as having loyalty to your employer,” Stephanie Petry, director of talent acquisition at  Jobber , told Built In. “Things have really, really shifted.”

That doesn’t mean workers will get away with serially switching jobs every couple months . They should be intentional and strategic with each career move, and they need to be prepared to explain those transitions when discussing their job history with future employers.

Related Reading 10 Good Reasons for Leaving a Job

Why Do Employees Job Hop?

Job hopping can be an easy way for workers to solve a variety of pain points in their existing role.  

1. Their Current Work Situation Is a Poor Fit

An employee might feel the urge to leave sooner than normal if the role wasn’t what they expected it to be, or if they are having difficulties with their boss, their team or the  company culture .

2. They Want More Opportunities for Advancement

Motivated employees might also feel inclined to bail within a year or so if they don’t see opportunities to expand their skill sets, or if they can’t identify a  path for advancement within the company.

3. They’re Able to Get a Higher Salary

Job hopping can allow employees to land a new job title or a pay raise that well exceeds the  salary increase they would’ve earned by staying with their existing company. 

Pros of Job Hopping

While job hopping is risky, it does have several selling points.  

1. More Money

The biggest factor driving job hopping in the last several years has been compensation, Petry said. The numbers back this up: A Bank of America study found that job changers  increased their salary by 20 percent during the pandemic and the resulting Great Resignation. That’s a 10 percent increase from pre-pandemic salary increases. The salary increases were even greater for in-demand tech jobs, according to Petry.

“A lot of people jumped ship for [compensation] during the pandemic,” Petry said. “That was something that was huge, because you were being offered a 30 to 50 percent increase to your base [salary]. That was appealing to a lot of people.”

2. Higher Title

Employees also leave when they feel like they don’t see a path for career growth. Before you leave for a higher title, though, Petry suggests talking to your manager or your HR representative to  see if there is something you can do to grow within the company.

“Make sure there’s nothing you can do within your current role or company that aligns with your motivations and ambition,” she said. “If you’ve turned over every stone and you’ve realized there isn’t, then maybe it’s time for you to go.”

3. New Work Environment

Job hopping also provides instant relief from a boss or coworker you don’t get along with, from a role that doesn’t match your interests or from a company that doesn’t align with your values. If you are job hopping with intention, you will hopefully get closer to the type of industry and culture that most aligns with your interests and priorities.

“If you’re doing that frequently, where you are getting into a role, getting an understanding of what works and what doesn’t work and then switching jobs to resolve some of the problems, you’re going to have fewer and fewer and fewer problems over time,” said Phoebe Gavin, a career coach and founder of  Better With Phoebe . 

Related Reading Is the Dream Job Real? The Great Resignation Poses New Questions, Challenges

Cons of Job Hopping 

Job hopping can mean rapid job mobility, but at the same time it comes with potential drawbacks.  

1. Possible Red Flag to Recruiters

Job hopping isn’t necessarily bad, but when it comes time for your next interview, it will likely require a little more explanation on your part.

Recruiters and hiring managers are usually reluctant to hire someone with a spotty track record; ideally, they want to hire someone who will stay with the company for a while.  Hiring and onboarding new employees is expensive and time consuming, and companies don’t want to repeat the process if you leave within a couple months.

New employees generally aren’t able to hit the ground running, either, as it takes time to learn new workflows, technology tools and business challenges that are unique to each company. If an employee leaves after just a couple months, they likely haven’t acquired the skills to create meaningful value and justify the time it took for them to adjust to that role. 

“If you’re only getting two years with someone, and it takes six months to ramp them up to be fully productive, then you only got a year and a half of productivity from that person,” Petry said.

That’s why, even though job hopping has become more popular, it still gives some company leaders pause.

Matthew Warzel, a former recruiter who founded career counseling firm  MJW Careers , said candidates should ideally shoot for three to five years with a company. If you feel like you need to expand your skills or professional experiences, Warzel said employees would be better off taking a course instead of burning bridges with an employer.

2. Limits Opportunities and Professional Growth

Job hopping has downsides for workers, too, not just companies. From the employee’s point of view, job hopping limits your ability to develop  mentor relationships and your exposure to long-term business challenges. If you’re constantly jumping every year, you are more likely to look for short-term resume-builders at each role, instead of sustainable solutions.

Related Reading 15 Tips for Quitting Your Job

How to Explain Job Hopping in an Interview

Many companies have become more open-minded about shorter tenures in the past few years, as the pandemic may have forced employees to lose their job, care for family members or reconsider their  work-life balance .

Even so, if you have short stints on your resume, Gavin said it’s important to proactively address those transitions in a coherent professional narrative on your cover letter and during the interview process.  

Describe How Your Job Changes Align With Long-Term Goals

When sharing your professional narrative, Gavin said to articulate how each job change aligns with your  long-term career goals and how this new job is a logical continuation of that journey. (A word of caution: It can be hard to weave a consistent narrative when those transitions are too frequent or disjointed.)

Highlight Your Ability to Adapt

Recruiters are starting to recognize that shorter tenures allow candidates to gain diverse experiences and skills, Gavin said. So if you’re a job hopper, you could highlight your ability to quickly adapt to new environments, new people and new ways of working. If you are interviewing with a company within the same industry, you might emphasize how your outside perspective could offer new solutions that might not be on the radar of incumbent employees.

Showcase Your Impact in Previous Roles

Companies are always looking for employees who can quickly make an impact, but if a candidate has particularly short tenures, Petry said a recruiter or hiring manager will want to guarantee that the candidate is able to learn the ropes quickly and have a meaningful impact in their (likely brief) time with the company. 

To show the impact you have had in previous roles, showcase specific, measurable accomplishments that demonstrate the results you delivered during your short tenure in previous roles. You will also want to provide references from previous supervisors who can vouch for your impact, as well as your ability to work collaboratively with a team.

Related Reading 22 Questions to Ask Before Accepting a Job

Things to Consider About Job Hopping

Job hopping is becoming more common .

The past few years have demonstrated that employees who don’t feel appreciated and nurtured in their existing roles are more likely to find another company that offers what they are looking for.

“Recruiters are increasingly recognizing that shorter tenures are not necessarily ‘job hopping’ in a negative sense, but a way for candidates to gain diverse experience and skills or a result of factors external to the candidate,” Gavin said.

“Recruiters are increasingly recognizing that shorter tenures are not necessarily ‘job hopping’ in a negative sense.”

Changing attitudes about job tenure may be partially explained by generational differences. A  CareerBuilder survey found that Gen Z employees spend an average of 2 years and 3 months at a company, and Millenials last just six months longer. Gen X, on the other hand, averages 5 years and 2 months at a job, whereas Baby Boomers will stay an average of 8 years and 3 months.

It makes sense, then, that Millenial and Gen Z recruiters and hiring managers may share some of their colleagues’ opinions on job tenure and may not be concerned about an employee staying with a company for less than three years.

Ultimately, Gavin said your career decisions should be based on your personal and professional priorities. She suggests her clients worry less about what a recruiter or hiring manager might think of their short job tenure and more about making the career move that helps them reach their  career goals .

“I ask them instead to worry about: What is tomorrow going to look like for you? Because that imaginary recruiter that you’re thinking about making this decision around, they are not thinking about you,” Gavin said.

Job Hopping Means Constant Change and Expectations

Job hopping isn’t for everyone. Some workers value the relationships, learning and development and on-the-job experience that often come with longer tenures. Others may simply want to avoid dealing with the headaches of filling out new tax forms, switching health insurance plans and opening new 401(k) plans every time they switch jobs.

Also, if you’re going to hop between jobs for a higher salary, your new employer might expect you to make a substantial impact in a short amount of time — a high bar not all workers can live up to.

Don’t Job Hop to Run Away

Above all, if you’re thinking about job hopping, you should make sure you are moving closer to your long-term career goals. Employees who are unhappy in one job sometimes take the first new opportunity that comes along, only to find themselves unhappy again.

When you focus entirely on the negative aspects of your job without thinking strategically about your next opportunity, you are in what Gavin calls a “running-away mindset.” When you are focused on what you are leaving, you are less likely to notice any hurdles you might encounter in the next job you are about to take, she said.

The opposite of a “running-away mindset” is a “running-toward mindset.” When you transition with a running-toward mindset, you are taking inventory about what you want out of your next role and crafting a plan to meet those needs.

“If you’re very intentional about what you want that role to be,” Gavin said, “you’re more likely to land somewhere where you don’t have to do another hop, where you are actually happy to stay there for multiple years.”

Frequently Asked Questions

What is job hopping.

Job hopping refers to the pattern of moving from one job to the next in a brief amount of time, typically spending only a year or two at each company.

Is job hopping bad?

Job hopping is not necessarily bad; it depends on the reasons. Employees may job hop to increase their salary or find a better cultural fit. But too much job hopping can limit professional development and scare recruiters.

What are the consequences of job hopping?

Recruiters and hiring managers might be reluctant to invest time and money into hiring, onboarding and training someone who has a habit of leaving jobs within a brief period of time.

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Job-Hopping

Dear HBR: answers your questions with the help of career coach Allison Rimm.

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Are you worried about being seen as a job-hopper? In this episode of HBR’s advice podcast, Dear HBR: , cohosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn answer your with the help of Allison Rimm , a career coach and the author of The Joy of Strategy: A Business Plan for Life . They talk through how to leave after a brief time on the job, explain a series of short stints on your résumé, or know when to stick it out.

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Listen to more episodes and find out how to subscribe on the Dear HBR: page . Email your questions about your workplace dilemmas to Dan and Alison at [email protected] .

From Alison and Dan’s reading list for this episode:

HBR: Managing Yourself: Job-Hopping to the Top and Other Career Fallacies by Monika Hamori — “The notion that you get ahead faster by switching companies is reinforced by career counselors, who advise people to keep a constant eye on outside opportunities. But the data show that footloose executives are not more upwardly mobile than their single-company colleagues.”

HBR: Setting the Record Straight on Switching Jobs by Amy Gallo — “In fact, people are most likely to leave their jobs after their first, second, or third work anniversaries. Millennials are especially prone to short stays at jobs. Sullivan’s research shows that 70% quit their jobs within two years. So the advice to stick it out at a job for the sake of your resume is just no longer valid.”

HBR: 10 Reasons to Stay in a Job for 10 Years by David K. Williams and Mary Michelle Scott — “It’s easy to quit over perceived unfairness or serious challenges. But it shows much stronger character to persevere, to find and enact solutions to problems, repair damage, and to take an active role in turning a situation around.”

HBR: Managing Yourself: Five Ways to Bungle a Job Change by Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams — “A hasty job change, made with insufficient information, is inherently compromised. When under time pressure, people tend to make certain predictable mistakes. They focus on readily available details like salary and job title instead of raising deeper questions, and they set their sights on the immediate future, either discounting or misreading the long term. Many also have an egocentric bias, thinking only of what affects them directly and ignoring the larger context.”

DAN MCGINN: Welcome to Dear HBR: from Harvard Business Review . I’m Dan McGinn.

ALISON BEARD: And I’m Alison Beard. Work can be frustrating. But it doesn’t have to be. We don’t need to let the conflicts get us down.

DAN MCGINN: That’s where Dear HBR: comes in. We take your questions, look at the research, talk to the experts and help you move forward. Today we’re talking about job hopping with Allison Rimm. She’s an independent consultant and career coach. Allison, thanks so much for coming on the show.

ALLISON RIMM: I’m delighted to be here. Thanks.

ALISON BEARD: So, Allison, is this worry about moving from one job to another very quickly a perennial problem or do you find it’s becoming more common?

ALLISON RIMM: Yeah, I think it’s such a generational thing. So, it’s much more common to come out of school expecting to work for two, three, maybe four organizations over the course of an entire career, and then you would retire, get the gold watch and all would be well. But the reality is that kids coming out of college now are entering a very different work environment.

ALISON BEARD: How often do clients come to you because they really want to leave a job that they just started?

ALLISON RIMM: It’s not unusual. Generally, it’s one of two things. They got to a job and it’s not what they thought or expected or hoped it would be, and then they’re like wanting to go. The other extreme that I see, people get in, young people out of school get in, they work for about four months and start to think that they’re doing such a great job that they deserve a promotion or a raise or something. And when they don’t get it right away they start looking for something else. And either of those circumstances, leaving where they are isn’t necessarily scary, but there are issues that both situations create.

ALISON BEARD: Dear HBR: I graduated from college a year and a half ago and got a paralegal job. The work was monotonous and the office was too small for me to develop professionally. So, I sought work elsewhere after ten months. I landed another paralegal position, but at a firm that promised an interesting assignment that I could spearhead. But shortly after I started, the project was terminated for budgetary reasons. Now, I work as a floater between departments, helping colleagues on an as needed basis. Ordinarily, I’d welcome the opportunity to become familiar with new material, but I’m often given tasks like stapling papers, or making copies. Other times there’s no work to do. I’ve asked for more responsibility. I was told I need to wait until something opens up. Several people have left the company since. Their assignments were given to others already in the department. I’ve been waiting patiently, but I feel as if I’m losing momentum and not utilizing my skills. So, I’ve been researching other jobs and industries. But since I’ve only been with my current firm for six months, I’m hesitant to apply. I understand hiring managers might see me as a job hopper. I’m just not sure that staying stagnant here is any better. Should I start interviewing for other positions so soon?

ALLISON RIMM: Well, I think there are a lot of layers to this particular question. The first question is what can you do there to take on more interesting tasks? Since you’re in a job already you might as well do everything possible to make your day to day life where you currently are as pleasant and productive as you can make it. Maybe if you play your cards right not only could you staple papers, but you could paper clip them too. [LAUGHTER] But seriously, look around. Are some people seeming kind of overloaded and they might appreciate some assistance and then you could get your hands on some more interesting tasks that would use your skills? And then on the question though, should she start interviewing elsewhere, why not ask? Then if she is fortunate enough to be invited for an interview, then that communication comes to play. She could explain very carefully that she came in all excited to do her job and through nobody’s fault of their own, it was a budgetary decision, her tasks or her project was eliminated, and she would like to put her skills to constructive good use in an organization that could make good use of them.

DAN MCGINN: So, it sounds like part of what you’re saying is the fact that she joined to do this project that got canceled, that gives her a great story, a great framing device, and kind of an excuse to move on rather quickly. Is that what you’re suggesting?

ALLISON RIMM: Well, she doesn’t have to say anything negative about her employer which is never a good idea. Because she’s got a very objective reason for not wanting to stay there. They eliminated her project and she’s tried to get assigned to others and that hasn’t happened yet.

ALISON BEARD: Yeah, I respected this letter writer because she seems very intent on learning and we’ve published research that talks about sort of all the reasons that you should leave a job and the very top is that you’re not growing and you’re not learning. So, I fully back her up on that. I do worry that she’s going to struggle with the framing because her letter to us seems very focused on what she wants to get out of the organization as opposed to what she can give to the organization. So, how would you encourage her to shift her mindset in that way?

ALLISON RIMM: I would ask her a series of questions. What is it that you really want to get out of your work experience? And then once you know what you want to get out of it then you need to think about what are you going to contribute to a place so that they’re going to want to actually pay you to do what it is that you want to do. You want to be able to get into the head of the person on the other side of the table with whom you’re trying to negotiate a win/win situation. So, you’ve got to figure out what that win/win is and then present it as such.

DAN MCGINN: Yeah, I wondered a little bit along the same lines as you Alison. I don’t know a lot about paralegal work, but I suspect that some of it is going to be monotonous and that’s kind of the rules of the game. And while copying and stapling are not a core function of paralegals, I think absolutely you need to expect to be doing a little bit of that. You and I copy and staple a little bit at our jobs every once and a while. So, I did see some of those same phrases that made me a little bit concerned, not whether these organizations are the right fit for this woman. But whether this career path may or may not be a good long-term fit.

ALLISON RIMM: It’s such an interesting point that you raise Dan because I didn’t actually read it that way, but I can absolutely see why you would have looked at it that way. I was kind of wondering if she a really ambitious person, or is she a little bit entitled in not wanting to do everything it takes to get a job done. It’s really hard to know.

ALISON BEARD: She does talk about looking at other jobs and industries which is probably a good sign. She’s realizing that this might not be the field for her. I do wonder whether when she’s going out to those other fields, whether that might be difficult to explain. I studied to do this one thing. I did it in two different jobs and now, I’m having a complete switch. Will that be explained away by her youth, or will she have to think carefully about her story?

ALLISON RIMM: Well, both. Again, you have to think about to whom you’re telling your story and how it might be received. If you go and you apply your skills one place and you need to grow and change, that’s going to be expected over time. But we’re still in that area of transition where that’s not so well understood maybe by some of the older generations.

DAN MCGINN: She’s been in her current job for six months. She held her previous job for 10 months. Is there some magic number when it comes to tenure at which any concerns about job hopping would go away?

ALLISON RIMM: Yeah, it’s really hard to know. I kind of find one size fits one in these situations. If she gets to job three and job four, I would certainly see the flags raised.

DAN MCGINN: There’s a case to be made, hang in there because that will give you more leeway if job number three doesn’t work out, you can jump a little faster. If she doesn’t do that, when she goes to job three, after very short stints at job one and job two, she really has to stay at job three and make it work for a while.

ALLISON RIMM: Yeah, absolutely Dan and that’s why I started out this conversation by saying she really ought to look at everything she can do to make a go of the job she has before she goes an jumps ships. There are two reasons for that. You’re there, but number two, you don’t know how long it’s going to take to find something else.

ALISON BEARD: What happens if she does start interviewing and gets an offer really quickly?

ALLISON RIMM: It’s possible if she likes this organization and they like her that she could go back and tell her supervisor that’s she got another offer and she’d really like to stay there if she could get a meaningful project and see what happens. I think staying longer would look better over the long haul, and it would probably be a really good skill developer for her to figure out how to navigate around a culture, in an organization, and find a way to make a good, meaningful contribution.

ALISON BEARD: And show her commitment by asking for a project, not a promotion.

ALLISON RIMM: Exactly.

DAN MCGINN: One last thing I wanted to ask about. She talks about being worried about losing momentum and stagnating. Do you see people too focused on this idea of momentum and that careers and jobs should have this sort of constant rate of acceleration? Alison and I watch each other’s careers unfold and things ebb and flow. It’s like driving on the Mass Pike [highway]. You’re going 80 [miles per hour] and then you’re going 20, and then you’re kind of not going anywhere.

ALISON BEARD: And especially early in your career doing monotonous tasks was sort of paying our dues, right?

MCGINN: Right. And if this organization didn’t think that there was a chance that they were going to find a project for her to work on, they probably would have laid her off. So, I wonder if she needs to give the organization a little bit of credit for recognizing that they’re going to find something, otherwise they would have cut her loose by that point.

ALLISON RIMM: Yeah, again I think it comes down to communication and if she’s concerned about that she could be talking to them very directly and understand that. And I think your take on that is absolutely legitimate for a lot of people. I looked at that and thought, so is she worried about the equity of her skill set, or is she worried about being bored and working really beneath her license and what she thinks she’s capable of. So, hard to know.

DAN MCGINN: All right, Alison. What are we saying?

ALISON BEARD: So, first we should think about what she can do to make herself feel more fulfilled in her current role. Can she volunteer, not for a new position, but for different tasks and assignments where she sees a need? We do think that she should start looking particularly in different fields and paralegal work might come with a bit of monotony, and start applying? When interviewing she should explain her story all the way through. She was promised a project that she was very excited about that was going to offer her a chance to make a meaningful contribution. Through no fault of her own it was canceled and now she’s looking for just that chance somewhere else. She should focus on what she can give to her new employer rather than what the employer can give her. Job hopping is expected in today’s economy. So, she probably won’t be dinged for that automatically once she gets through the door, but she should think very carefully about her next step because she doesn’t want a serious of three short stints on the resume.

DAN MCGINN: All right, second letter. Dear HBR: Let me first say that I take full responsibility for my choices which is why I’m writing this. When I finished my Master’s degree at age 50, I was hoping to use it in international business management. Now, I believe the odds of that happening in some meaningful way are slim at best. I took a job at one of the largest consulting companies on the planet. It was a very entry level position. I wanted to get my foot in the door and move up. The division was spun off after a year and the door to advancement seemed closed. So, I went to work for a small boutique software firm as their inside sales manager. It turns out I was their ninth sales rep in two years. Soon after I started they let all their outside sales reps go. A few months later they demoted me and brought in a VP of Sales with 10 years of experience. After four months I was able to secure a sales development rep job at another software company. I had hopes of moving up. However, after 10 months I saw the hot mess they were in and realized I had no shot of moving up due to the toxic political environment. So, I moved onto a job where they said they were looking for a sales rep who could stir the pot. After six months when they refused to implement my sales plan they let me go. I had to take a job as a list broker. I feel like a failure. And I’ve started to lose hope for anything meaningful in my work life. Where am I misjudging these career choices? How can I avoid hopping to a new job again?

ALLISON RIMM: So, I’m glad that this guy’s taking full responsibility for his situation. That actually shows a level of maturity. But his letter raises a few really important concerns. So, first of all, as somebody who wrote a book on this topic, it’s called The Joy of Strategy: A Business Plan for Life . This guy could really use a business plan for his life. What does he want out of his career? It’s very hard to read an email and understand what’s going on in his head, but he got a graduate degree in international business management. And after one stint at a consulting company, he’s off into the sales world. So, I’m not sure what’s driving his decision making about the substance of the job he’s taking in the first place, but also he’s showing a real lack of ability to read a culture and an environment before he takes the job. So, he really needs to learn how to do some better due diligence.

ALISON BEARD: Yeah, I absolutely agree. I think he needs to do more research. But how does he get accurate information about what a company’s going to be like before he’s in it?

ALLISON RIMM: Well, now that he’s had some experience, he can learn to add why is this job vacant? What’s the history with this position and how does it function, for example. And that, if they’re honest they’re going to tell him there’s been a parade of people and then he can ask follow-up questions as to why that was the case. He, then later in another job’s talking about a toxic political environment and he could spend some time meeting other potential co-workers. Some people I know actually ask if they can work for a week onsite just really kind of soak up the atmosphere before they commit to it. So, there are whole lots of different ways that he could get better information.

DAN MCGINN: I would break this down into two separate questions. Number one, there’s the retrospect of analysis of what went wrong, but then I think there’s a big question here of the branding. This guy is a job hopper and there’s nothing we can say that’s going to change that reality. It becomes how does he put the best spin on that? How does he minimize the damage that’s going to come with having that label very clearly attached to him?

ALLISON RIMM: Yeah, I think the good news in this story is that he’s been successful in getting job after job. So, that’s a good piece of data. But he might want to spend a little bit of time just doing an inventory of what are his skills and interests and what job possibilities would be a better alignment with that than these sales jobs?

DAN MCGINN: More so than most of the letters we get, I feel like this is somebody who would really benefit from some outside help. I don’t know where the line is between career coaching and therapy, but it might even actually cross that line at some point too, in terms of how he’s relating to people, in terms of emotional intelligence.

ALISON BEARD: Yeah, I do think that this man sort of is at risk for getting sucked into this sort of spiral of negativity and sticking with this job that he really hates now. I was thinking that one of the best ways for him to break out of that cycle of negativity would be to connect with people, former colleagues, his Master’s degree cohorts, to help him do that soul searching, but then also to give him contacts for the right kind of roles that he would want to get him job leads, to open doors for him.

ALLISON RIMM: Yeah, I think that’s a great idea. That’s interesting that you raise that because one of the biggest red flags for me was that at age 50, with a Master’s degree he took a very entry level job. So, I was wondering what that was all about. But sure, most graduate programs have some sort of career services office that can help him with networking. If he developed any relationships with any of his professors, he could go back and talk to them.

ALISON BEARD: So, could the fact that he’s had all of these short stints in sales jobs, some maybe within a calendar year, be an asset for him, in that he can completely omit them from his resume? Not list these employers as references and really just focus on the international business job that he first had and then maybe one of the more prestigious sales roles that he played.

ALLISON RIMM: That can be a very good strategy. He might want to consider rather than putting them on, so the year on to pick one job and then the year that he worked there and if people dig more deeply and ask him questions he’ll have to explain it honestly of course, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be shown on his resume.

DAN MCGINN: If he decides to leave some of these jobs off of his resumes, which ones would you make disappear?

ALLISON RIMM: Maybe the question is which one would he choose to leave on? And I would maybe counsel him to choose the job where he felt that he had the most successes that he could point to and where he had somebody, a colleague or somebody in that organization that would be willing to give him a positive reference.

DAN MCGINN: So, it’s not as simple as just drop the shortest ones. Do you need to think about it a little bit holistically?

ALLISON RIMM: If he’s going to leave a job on his resume, then he needs to be prepared to have an employer ask to speak to somebody there and it would behoove him to have somebody who could say something positive about his time there.

DAN MCGINN: Can a reference play any part in that, if basically his story for at least one or two of these places is, look: this place turned into a toxic mess. That’s a difficult thing to say because you’re not supposed to say negative things about an employer. But if there’s some reference out there who will not only say positive things about him but also say yeah, that place was a toxic mess, he’s right. He was smart to get out of there. Is that at all helpful in this case?

ALLISON RIMM: That’s a tricky one because it’s really, it’s hard when you’re talking to people you don’t know about a situation that involves other people that they don’t know, to win them over. And the people on the other side of that argument might say he’s a toxic fellow. We just don’t have enough background to answer that. But one positive thing he could do on his LinkedIn profile is to solicit a lot of people who will write positive recommendations for him, just about any kind of interaction they had with him in any setting. And that will only look positive.

ALISON BEARD: So, how does he explain leaving all these different jobs in a way that’s positive about the employer, positive about him? It seems like a difficult problem to me.

ALLISON RIMM: Well, I agree with that. I think that he could share if he wants to be really transparent about things. That he’s learned his lesson and he didn’t do enough due diligence. And now he’s asking much more detailed questions which the hiring employer will see him doing so that he can make a better choice about where to go next.

ALISON BEARD: Yeah. We published a great piece a while back by Boris Groysberg at HBS talking about doing this due diligence. He’d interviewed HR chiefs and executive search consultants about the mistakes that job hoppers make. And he focused on four areas that you need to do that research. A, looking at the job market realities for the industry, or function. Is this a place, a field I want to be in? The financial stability and market position of the company. The cultural fit which you’ve talked about and then also, will I really have the job that I’m promised? And I think sort of breaking it into that, those buckets in terms of the questions he’s asking would be really useful and then also, as you say, show the employer that he is a thinker and strategist and someone who is being more careful about decision making in the future.

ALLISON RIMM: That’s very well said and one thing that discerning employers often look for is they understand people make mistakes. So, the question is if you do that, how do you recover from that and what do you learn from it so you don’t repeat it in the future? And that’s his opportunity here.

ALISON BEARD: Great. So, Dan, what are we telling this man?

DAN MCGINN: Well, so the good news here is that clearly, he is very ambitious. Going back to graduate school at midlife takes commitment. And the good news is despite the really bumpy couple of years he’s had here, he continually finds people who want to employ him. Something that not a lot of people can say. So, he clearly has that going for him. On the other hand, as he recognizes he’s made some poor choices in terms of moving between these companies, we think he needs to think about why this happened. What is it about his due diligence process that is lacking? Why isn’t he asking better questions, recognizing red flags? Getting a better handle on the culture, getting a better handle on who his supervisor might be, whether they’re going to be receptive to his ideas or not. We also think there’s a branding question here going forward. How is he going to spin this? What’s he going to put on his resume? What’s he going to leave off of his resume? Some of these questions he might benefit from engaging with a professional to talk about them. Probably a career coach, maybe even a therapist. In terms of the nuts and bolts and logistics of finding his next job, we think going back to the university where he got his graduate degree, engaging with their career center would be a good idea. We think thinking about references and who might say something positive about some of his experiences here, either on his LinkedIn page or as a reference. We wish him good luck. We recognize that it’s a tough situation and the fact that he’s taking responsibility for it is a good thing. And now it’s time to learn from it.

ALISON BEARD: Onto the last question. Dear HBR: I’m a young professional working for a nonprofit publisher. Last year the organization began discovery for a major half million-dollar website project. I volunteered to lead it and did everything I could to rise to the occasion. I’ve been loving the work over the last six-plus months. But I’ve been hitting serious roadblocks in formalizing my promotion in title and salary. At our organization promotions and reviews only occur once a year. The review period itself can take months, even for a simple standard cost of living salary increase. My boss had originally assured me that we would secure an out of cycle promotion. Each promised timeline has been broken and is only being pushed off further. Despite my best efforts to advocate for myself, now it seems my best chance of formalizing the promotion is eight months from now. In the meantime, our CFO refuses to approve any overtime. I work plenty and that could have helped supplement my income before my new salaries in place. But he says it’s against policy. I fear I may no longer be able to afford to live where I do on my original entry-level salary. My work is demanding. I don’t have time to work a second job anymore. I’ve received nothing but sincere praise internally and externally for my work. But I feel that I’m being treated unfairly due to severe disorganization and poor communication at the highest level. That leads me to my question. Is it ethical for me to list my current role as project manager on my resume? That’s my functional role and the title I’ve been promised. And are the reasons for potentially leaving my job justifiable? Or, am I just impatient? Allison, what do you think?

ALLISON RIMM: Well, this one’s loaded as well. But the first thing to note is that she’s doing work that she loves. And she’s being recognized and praised for it. That is big. And she talks about this being an entry-level job, fresh out of school. So, she needs to recognize that there is a value to the investment that she’s making in working there.

ALISON BEARD: And that doesn’t happen at all, organizations for entry-level people.

ALLISON RIMM: Absolutely not. The fact that she got her hands on this really big project is a pretty big feather in her cap. On the flip side, I’d be very concerned about an organization that’s made all sorts of promises to her and has yet to come through with any of them. One way she could go about this is to go to her boss and say, I love my job. I’m really committed to this nonprofit organization. But I’m really having a hard time making ends meet. How can we make this financially viable with, for me, without breaking policy for the organization? Can we think outside of the box and make this something that I can stick with? Also, while we’re at it, is it OK with you if I use the title Project Manager even if it’s not formally approved so far because functionally I’m doing that. That costs the organization nothing. Can I use the title?

DAN MCGINN: The thing I ceased on is the same thing you did Allison. I’ve been loving my work. That’s a really good place to be and it makes the situation less acute. And she can maybe hang in there a little bit longer than she might otherwise. But I agree. Long-term promises are being broken. They have a very tight budget. They do not sound like they want to be particularly generous with her. So, I see short term this is something she can be pretty choosy about what her next job is because she’s learning a lot. She really likes the job. Long term, I wonder if this is the right organization for her. In terms of the functional question whether she can list herself as a project manager, even if she doesn’t use that title in the skill section of her resume, she can clearly emphasize as project management skills and when she gets into the face to face she can say look, I’m doing the project manager role. They just haven’t officially put it on my job thing yet because it’s stuck in the bureaucracy. And that’s the truth which is always the best thing to use.

ALISON BEARD: I feel like you all took the words right out of my mouth. I felt exactly the same way. She’s in a really good position. She’s learning. She’s taking responsibility. But she’s at a really bureaucratic organization and maybe that’s not the best fit for her going forward. So, I would encourage her to yes, keep working really hard, but also in the very little extra time that she does have, to start exploring other opportunities and find the perfect job out there in the world for her should this one not turn into the perfect job.

ALLISON RIMM: Well, I completely agree and I think there are a few reasons to look for a job. Number one, she loves the web building work. And that is a skill she could use in any number of organizations. She asks the question, is she just being impatient about getting this raise that she was promised and the title? And it’s hard to know whether they’ll really come through. But one way she might be able to find out is if she gets an offer someplace else, and goes back and says to them, hey I love my job here, but I can’t afford to work on this salary and you promised me this. So, can you give that to me now with back pay or whatever it is that she wants to feel fully appreciated and valued in her current organization? Or, then maybe she takes this new job if they’re not going to come through.

ALISON BEARD: Yeah, my take was that eight months didn’t sound that long, but she’s already been waiting a very long time. So, spend those months while you’re waiting to see if they do come through, finding another opportunity.

ALLISON RIMM: Yeah, if you’re living paycheck to paycheck, eight months could be a very long time.

ALISON BEARD: Right. That’s true.

MCGINN: We get a lot of letters in which there’s this good cop, bad cop dynamic. My boss promised X, Y, and Z, but then HR got involved. What can she do when she’s in this situation where her boss has promised and is trying, but has hit this bureaucratic roadblock? Is there any real recourse?

ALLISON RIMM: It’s really hard to know what’s actually going on in that situation. But if she can line up support with her boss and potentially her bosses’ boss, maybe they can build more of a case to get them to wave their policies in this one particular case. If she went and said, here’s my functional issue. I’m having a hard time paying my bills. How can we get me the pay and the title that I need to really make ends meet, even while we wait for this cycle to go through? It might give them some incentive to help her find some sort of creative solution to her situation.

ALISON BEARD: On the resume, I agree that there was no way she should put the title on if she didn’t really have it. But I do wonder again, how she can get past that sort of initial resume scam if she’s applying for project manager jobs, and she’s never been a project manager before, how can she get them to read the description that she lists beneath that title, whatever she said in her cover letter and get to the interview stage where she can talk about all the work she’s been doing.

ALLISON RIMM: Yeah, I think the cover letter is key. Hopefully, if you can write a very short, but powerful and compelling letter, maybe even one paragraph that might get them to look at the resume.

DAN MCGINN: The other nice thing about project management is there are certificates. It’s a certifiable kind of profession. So, even if her organization doesn’t give her that title, there’s a way that she can get some certifications that would give her credit for these skills, even if it’s not quite in her job title yet.

ALISON BEARD: Also, the fact that she’s getting the external praise, suggests to me that she has an opportunity to arrange for warm introductions at lots of different places that would get her past that initial resume scam.

ALLISON RIMM: Yeah, great point.

DAN MCGINN: So, Alison. What’s our advice?

ALISON BEARD: The good news is that she loves her job and she’s getting lots of praise which is terrific in an entry-level position. She might just want to view this as a continuation of her education, an opportunity to learn as much as possible. At the same time, we do think there are red flags because her employer has made promises that they haven’t kept. As a first step to figure out why that’s happening, she should have a frank conversation with her boss just about all the work that she’s doing, how excited she is about it, but then also how difficult it is for her financially, and asking upfront whether there are any workarounds that he or she could orchestrate such as a bonus, or even getting the project manager title before the official promotion and pay increase. At the same time, we think she should also explore other opportunities while she’s waiting. A nonprofit might not be the best fit for her if she wants quick promotions and high pay increases. When she’s putting herself out there, for new jobs, she should definitely emphasize her project manager role in her cover letter and her interviews, but until she has the title, she shouldn’t put it on her resume. One other thing she might do is consider professional certification so that she can get that project management credential. She can also leverage her network. All those people that are praising her externally to get warm introductions and help her find the next terrific opportunity.

DAN MCGINN: Allison, thanks so much for coming in.

ALLISON RIMM: It’s been my pleasure.

DAN MCGINN: That’s Allison Rimm. She’s an independent consultant and career coach. Thanks to the listeners who wrote us with their questions. Now we want to know your questions. Send us an email with your workplace challenge and how we can help. The email address is [email protected].

ALISON BEARD: On our next episode we answer your questions about.

DAN MCGINN: To get that episode automatically, please subscribe. I’m Dan McGinn.

ALISON BEARD: And I’m Alison Beard. Thanks for listening to Dear HBR :.

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Story • 13th Jul 2022 • 5 Min Read

The pros and cons of job-hopping

Talent Acquisition Employee Engagement Culture

The younger generation of workers, particularly the Millennials and Gen Z, are known for their knack for job-hopping.

A  2021 study  by IBM’s Institute of Business Value showed that out of the workers who switched jobs that year, 33% were Gen Z while 25% were Millennials.

The world of business usually frowns upon the idea of job-hopping, but the perception began changing when “The Great Resignation” happened.

At the height of the pandemic, millions of workers across the globe quit their jobs in search of better opportunities.

Job-hopping became more and more common as both applicants and employers slowly adjusted to the new normal of work and the challenges of employee engagement and talent acquisition and retention.

The period that followed “The Great Resignation” became a trial and error of sort as everybody tried to find the right balance in a post-pandemic world.

Read more:  The Great Reciprocation: Loyalty is a two-way street

But when is job-hopping beneficial, and when is it too much? Before you think of embarking on your own job-hopping journey, let us first examine its benefits and drawbacks.

Benefits of job-hopping

Adaptability.

Changing environments every so often may allow you to develop a sense of adaptability, which is a crucial soft skill when you are looking for a job.

Being adaptable can even make you an asset for roles that require communication with colleagues and clients around the world.

Job-hopping will definitely expand your professional network, but only if you leave the company on good terms.

If you decide to go job-hopping, make sure to notify everyone respectfully, explain your reasons, and ask for your support. Never burn bridges.

Salary upgrade

There are lots of studies that show that switching jobs result in higher salaries compared to staying put, which means job-hopping is an effective way to increase your pay faster.

If you believe your skills are worth more than they pay you are getting, maybe it is time to move on to another organization that can provide better compensation.

Career advancement

Moving to another organization is also an effective way to climb up the corporate ladder. Job-hopping allows you to look for higher-value roles that may not be available in your previous jobs.

In this scenario, changing jobs may be the better option instead of staying put for years, waiting for that elusive promotion.

Cultural fit

Job-hopping will not just allow you to adapt to different work environments and cultures. It will allow you to assess yourself and determine the right organization for you.

Knowing your strengths and weakness as you cycle through different work environments, you will be able to determine the company culture that will make you thrive.

The downside of job-hopping

Starting over again.

Starting over and over and over again is not easy. New people to talk to. New culture to adopt. New tasks to learn. All of these can be stressful.

The time you spend starting from scratch could have been valuable time spent on learning or upskilling to increase your value.

Loss of benefits

Every time you quit, you lose hard-earned benefits from your employer. While your next job is most likely to give you a new set of benefits, it may take time, given that you are starting from scratch again.

Paid leaves, for example, would not be available at once when you join another organization because you have to serve on probationary status before you get your full benefits.

Job uncertainty

Job-hopping sounds easy, but in reality, it can be tough, especially now when more people are resigning and looking for better opportunities like you.

If you are dead set on job-hopping, make sure you have enough resources to carry you through a long period because you’ll never know when you’ll get a job.

Questionable record 

The stigma against job-hoppers still exists. When a hiring manager looks at your CV, he might view the long list of previous jobs as a sign of impending attrition.

Many companies still place a high value on “loyalty”, and being a job-hopper wouldn’t help in these kinds of situations.

Depth of knowledge 

While it is true that you can gain different skills and knowledge when you move from one job to another, the time you spend on each role may not be enough to make you an expert.

Instead of fully realizing your potential in your previous role, there is a danger that you become a “jack of all trades and a master of none” in the industry, which keeps your value low.

Read more: How companies can hire and retain great talent

Is it time to go job-hopping?

Job-hopping, depending on how you do it, can be good or bad for your career. The key is to know whether your motivation and the situation are in the right place.

If you are moving from job to job more frequently because of bad relationships with your colleagues or managers, then maybe there’s something you need to fix first.

If you’ve been job-hopping with no clear goals in mind, then maybe you might want to stop and think about what you really want to do.

But if you feel like changing careers would help you level up in your chosen field and get a higher salary for your everyday needs, then maybe it’s the right thing to do.

In the end, the key to effective job-hopping is to do it with goals and objectives.

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The pros and cons of job hopping.

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Until recently, job hopping was considered career suicide.

Hiring managers were wary of resumes loaded with several short job stints; they’d think you were an unstable or disloyal employee.

But things have changed. As job longevity becomes a thing of the past, employers and recruiters are beginning to have a different outlook on job hopping.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average number of years that U.S. workers have been with their current employer is 4.6. Tenure of young employees (ages 20 to 34) is only half that (2.3 years).

“When the bulk of the workforce constituency was the Baby Boomers--stoic, long-term-oriented and collectivistic in nature--job hopping was highly frowned upon,” says  David Parnell , a legal consultant, communication coach and  author . “It was the norm to stay with an employer for 30 years, grab your pension and ride off quietly into the sunset. With the entrance of the dot.com bubble and Gen X (and eventually Gen Y) came a much more instant gratification, self-oriented nature to the workforce. Where a single move within a five year span may have labeled someone as a pariah, in some industries nowadays, a move per year isn’t unheard of.”

Ryan Kahn, a career coach, founder of The Hired Group , star of MTV ’s Hired , and author of Hired! The Guide for the Recent Grad , agrees. He says the perception of job hopping has changed over the past few years, “now becoming common to many.” In the past this would have been something that would deter employers—but because of its frequency today, “job hopping is replacing the concept of climbing the corporate ladder," he says.

So what exactly is job hopping, and why do people do it?

Frank Dadah , a principal account manager and general manager at WinterWyman , a recruitment firm that specializes in search and contract staffing in the Technology, Accounting and Finance, Human Resources, and Investments and Financial Services industries, says job hopping is moving from one company to the next for either a lateral move or promotion. “It is usually considered job hopping when you move from one company to the next every one to two years, have done it multiple times, and the reason for each move is due to something other than a layoff or company closing.”

As it turns out, job hopping can be extremely advantageous for certain types of people—if they do it for the right reasons, says Laurie Lopez , a partner and senior general manager in the IT Contracts division at WinterWyman. “For those in technology, for example, it allows them the opportunity to gain valuable technical knowledge in different environments and cultures. This can be more common for those specializing in development, mobile and Project Management. While job hopping has a negative connotation; this is more about a resource providing value to a company, and then realizing there is nothing more to learn in that environment. In order to keep their skills fresh, it is necessary for technologists to remain current in a highly competitive market. Job hopping is more common with employees that are less tenured, and feel confident in their skills to be able to move on without burning a bridge and can add value immediately in a new opportunity. With employers being more open to hiring job hoppers, we expect the trend to continue.”

The experts weighed in on the pros and cons of job hopping. Here’s what they said:

Diverse background. “[Job hoppers] probably can point to experience in a number of different industries and different size companies, and exposure to a variety of challenges,” says Tracy Cashman , a partner and general manager in the IT Search division at WinterWyman. “Someone who has a diverse background is often more attractive to a potential employer because they potentially bring new ideas and ways of doing things. Just make sure to keep some kind of record of what projects you accomplished where, and make sure one to two people at each company will serve as a reference.”

Access to more information and resources. “With the entrance of the Internet came a previously nonexistent pipeline of information that functioned as a massive catalyst for change in the employment market,” Parnell says. “The skill sets necessary to keep up with this change must be diverse, dynamic and ever-evolving. In most cases, the environment necessary to foster this growth can’t be found under a single roof. Working in several different environments provides access to different resources – both human and informational – that one couldn’t gain through a single employer.”

Exposure to different businesses and people. “Job hopping gives employees the opportunity to expand their experiences and shop around their talents,” adds Kahn. “By working at multiple companies you will get to see ways that others are conducting business, while expanding your network to a whole new pool of professionals.

You’ll have a large, resourceful network. “Social and professional networks are more active and influential than ever before,” Parnell says. “While networking used to be important, today it is vital in such a competitive market. Different employers provide access to different networks in which to plant roots and farm relationships; one day these may prove helpful or even career-saving.”

A chance to find the right fit. Job hopping gives you more opportunities to figure out what you like and don't, and what is important to you in a position and company, Cashman says. “That way, when you are finally ready to settle down for several years, you know what you are looking for.”

Exposure to different jobs. Job hopping gives an employee the opportunity to see what other job are out there, Kahn says. “This could lead to an upgrade of title, salary, benefits or even work environment."

An opportunity to show off some of your best attributes. Job hopping allows you to show employers that you are flexible, adaptable and a quick learner,” as well as someone who is not afraid of change or taking risks,” Cashman says. “For some industries and companies this will be a selling point.”

More money. “More often than not, an employer and their employee have a conflict of interests: the employer wants a lot of work for little pay, and the employee wants little work for a lot of pay,” Parnell explains. “While they often meet in the middle when initially negotiating salary--because the future employee has some leverage prior to an acceptance--the subsequent raises are usually lackluster. Jumping to a new position almost always results in more money than a simple raise will provide.”

Employers will be hesitant to invest in you. “When jumping from job to job you are showing future employers that there is a high likelihood that you will do the same to them,” Kahn says. “Also at most companies, putting in the years of work with them proves your loyalty helping to strengthen your job security. Loyalty goes a long way and from the employers perspective gives them dependability that they can count on.”

Parnell agrees. “It is usually quite expensive to recruit, court, hire and ramp up a new employee,” he says. “Should they leave in a short period of time, it can be quite costly to an employer. This fact alone makes a spotty employment history very suspicious and scary to a potential employer.”

Your job may be less secure. If your employer is forced to lay off employees, you might be the first to go (given your track record of leaving companies quickly), Cashman says.

Lack of satisfaction. “Like the professional version of parenthood, one of the greatest satisfactions in a career is to be a part of a product’s (or services) genesis and ultimate release,” Parnell says. “Where most products and services have a relatively long life-cycle, a job hopper will never experience such a satisfaction.”

You may damage relationships. More and more, employers are turning to professional reference checkers to verify information and otherwise double-check their potential investment in a new employee, Parnell says. “In an environment where relationships are more important than ever, gaining experience by job hopping seriously compromises one’s potential for developing deeper, more reliable contacts that can act as guarantors.”

They may question your judgment. The employer might wonder if you’re prone to making bad decisions. “One or two short stints might be acceptable if you went to a company that went bankrupt or were caught up in a layoff or just plain chose the wrong fit--but many of these might indicate you are someone who doesn't have good judgment,” Cashman says. “Bad judgment is definitely not on the list of desired employee traits.”

They’ll fear you’ll leave at the first sign of trouble. “The employer will wonder if you jump ship at the first sign of trouble, or if you always think the grass is greener someplace else,” Cashman says. “It's one thing to read the tea leaves and move on if it's clear your company is struggling, but a potential employer likely wants to see some history of loyalty and the ability to be part of the solution when the going gets tough.”

Lesson learned: There are many benefits and drawbacks to job hopping--but if you do it for the right reasons and maintain healthy relationships with past employers, the pros should outweigh the cons and you’ll be seen as a flexible, resourceful candidate.

“The most important thing is to be able to demonstrate that no matter where you worked or for how long, that you were someone who was critical to the success of a project or the company as a whole,” says Steve Kasmouski , president of the Search Divisions at WinterWyman. “Your resume should tell the reader why you were important to the success of some project or company and should show that you have grown over time gaining increased responsibility, scope and success.”

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Job Hopping vs. Staying at a Job Long-Term: What’s Better for Your Career?

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D oes job-hopping make you appear unreliable? Or does staying at the same job for years and years limit your opportunities?

The answers to these questions depend largely on who you ask. People over the age of 40 may very well argue for staying in the same job. People in younger generations may advocate for changing jobs more frequently. 

Studies have shown this to be true. 

A 2022 LinkedIn survey of more than 280,000 people found that 25% of Gen Z workers and 23% of Millennials surveyed said they plan to leave their job within six months. When asked the same question, only 18% of Gen Xers and a mere 12% of Baby Boomers said the same. 

There are a bunch of reasons that could explain this gap in perspective: different economic scenarios, changes in technology (hello, internet), differing attitudes about mental health and Capitalism, a global pandemic… just to name a few. 

Stats and trends unfortunately can’t help you decide if you should become a job hopper or a company lifer. That depends on your personality, the job you have, and the career you want. 

If you’re struggling to decide which is better for your career, here are four questions to ask yourself.

1. What are your career goals?

Let’s start with the hardest question first: What do you want your career path to be? 

This question isn’t easy to answer, especially if you’ve only recently graduated or are about to graduate from school, and you’re taking the first step on your career journey. 

It’s perfectly fine to change your career goals later in life—people do it all the time. You may even choose to return to school at some point. Or perhaps the job of your dreams doesn’t even exist yet. 

But you’ll have a much easier time choosing whether to stay at your job or move on and hop around if you have at least a general sketch of where you want to be five or ten years from now. 

Instead of focusing on a particular job title or work experience you want, think more generally: 

• Do you want to live in an urban, suburban, or rural environment? 
• What salary would you need to feel comfortable? 
• How do you feel about commuting to a job? 
• Do you prefer working with others or on your own? 
• Do you enjoy large office settings or more intimate small teams? 

Questions like these can help you envision your ideal life and reverse-engineer your career path to meet these goals. 

For example, if you know you’re interested in visual arts, and you like the idea of living in a bustling city and working in a large group, a job as a graphic designer might give you the career path you want. 

If you prefer, however, working outside with nature and enjoying your alone time, you might be looking at a career as a conservationist at a national park or a scientist working in a lab in Greenland. 

The type of job and lifestyle you want will greatly impact whether you should be job hopping or staying put. 

2. How happy are you at your current job?

Over the last few years, we’ve seen a big shift in how people value their mental health and work-life balance. 

In that same LinkedIn study mentioned earlier, members of Gen Z said the most common reason they’d change jobs was to find “better alignment with their interests or values.” This is opposed to Baby Boomers, who cited “better compensation or benefits” as their top reason.

If you routinely find yourself dreading coming into the office, or if you’re dealing with a toxic boss or workplace, it may not be worth staying at your job, even if you think it could lead to the career of your dreams. Putting your mental health on the backburner means you won’t ever reach that job because you’ll burn out far before you get there . 

However, just because you aren’t 100% happy with your job doesn’t mean it’s time to move on right away. You must consider whether the issues at work are something you can address or endure in order to advance within the same company you’re in now. 

On the flip side, just because you’re happy with your job now doesn’t mean you should stay there forever. Sometimes, you need to move on from a job to reach the next step in your career, even if it’s a great job. This brings us to the next question to ask… 

3. How much room for growth is there at your company?

No matter what your style of working is, it’s important to see your current job as a stepping stone to bring you closer to the working experience you want in life. 

If you plan to stay in the same job for more than a year or two, it’s important to have ample opportunities to advance your career from within the company. 

Here are some questions to ask: 

• Does your manager talk openly about opportunities for advancement? 
• Have you seen other people take steps forward at this company? 
• Is the company itself growing and advancing? 
• Does the job give you opportunities to learn new skills? 

Advancement doesn’t necessarily have to mean a promotion (though it often does). But you must be certain that you have the chance to learn and grow, or else it may be time to hop to a new job. 

If there are opportunities to grow at your current job, how do those opportunities align with other companies also in your industry? Take a look on LinkedIn and see what other companies are hiring, what job titles are available, and what salary rates are. 

Even if your company does give you the chance to grow, you may still be able to grow faster somewhere else. If not, you can stay at your current job knowing you’re in the best place for your long-term goals. 

4. How confident are you that you’ll find a new job?

There are some external factors to consider when trying to decide whether you should try out job hopping. 

Don’t make any decisions about leaving or staying at your job until you’ve thoroughly researched the current economy. A job shortage will make it significantly riskier to look for a new job. Other times, as we saw in 2021, it’s a worker’s market—when jobs are plentiful, and employers have to add more perks and benefits to fill roles. 

You’ll need to consider the job market for your particular industry, as well as the particular area where you live (unless your job is entirely remote). One good place to start researching is the US Bureau of Labour Statistics website , which regularly updates its job reports based on industry and location. 

You can also do a temperature check by looking at current job openings on LinkedIn or major job boards. See how many roles are available that would suit you and what benefits/pay rate they are offering. This will tell you whether it’s a good idea to jump ship and find a new job now or hold tight until the market improves. 

Thinking about job hopping? Here are a few tips

If you reflected on the questions above and have decided that job hopping is more your speed, here are a few tips to make the most of it and advance your career as you go: 

Beef up your interview skills 

One of the downsides of job hopping is that you’ll be in the hot seat a lot more often. (Unless you’re one of those people who enjoys going to job interviews.) 

So, if you’re planning on job hopping, now’s the time to start improving your interview skills. Here are a few articles that will help you out: 

Build consistency and credibility on the side

There’s an inherent risk that comes with job hopping. Future employers may see the short job lengths on your resume as a sign of inconsistency or unreliability. 

You can counter this by developing something long-term on the side. This could be a side hustle that supports your ultimate career goals or a community activity that aligns with the skills you need in your career. 

For example, perhaps you ultimately want to work as a social media manager, but you find yourself hopping jobs frequently for whatever reason. Consider starting a few social media channels in your free time about whatever interests you. Grow your following, get creative, and keep it consistent. Then, when a hiring manager is wondering about your ability to commit to a job, you have something to point to—something you’ve nurtured and grown yourself over a long period of time. 

Tailor your resume for every job you apply to

In most cases, listing a number of short-term jobs on your resume isn’t a good look. Instead of listing every job you’ve ever had on your CV, try creating a few different resumes depending on the jobs you’re applying for. 

You can keep many parts of the resume the same. You should choose the most relevant three or four jobs to list in the work experience portion and leave out less relevant jobs. Create a few different versions of your resume with different jobs and save them, so you don’t have to create a new resume every time you want to apply. 

If you want more tips for how to make an impressive resume and LinkedIn profile, check out these articles: 

Should you stay or should you go? The choice is yours

Which is better for your career, job hopping or staying at the same job long term? There’s no definitive answer to this question—it all depends on your personal circumstances and aspirations. 

Be thoughtful about your career path, take your happiness into account, and look at the big picture. By balancing these things together, you’ll be able to decide whether you should stay put or job hop.

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Job-hopping helped me land my dream job—here's how

Why job-hopping can be good for personal and professional growth.

I'm 21, and until recently, I'd worked five different jobs for an average of three months each. Feeling guilty every time I handed in my resignation letter, it seemed like I was the poster child of red flags in the eyes of hiring managers. In my head, they would mutter: "She's not a good investment because she's young and has no concept of loyalty."

After being hired for my sixth job, where I am now, I couldn't help asking my manager why he chose me. My resume was wonky and peppered with random positions and skills mostly unrelated to the company. 

Imagine my shock when he told me that my main selling point was job-hopping. 

Job-hopping might seem like a red flag, but it's evolving into a green light

Job-hopping might feel like a serious red flag if you're the job-hopper in question, but it's becoming fairly standard—and even common practice—among Gen Z'ers who leverage the high demand for employees to earn a better living and develop new skills.

My current manager explained that working at five different places with varying roles meant that I'd likely picked up skills and contacts from each experience—and the variety in my work showed that I was up for a challenge. 

So instead of feeling guilty about it, I started thinking about what I learned from each position. 

The pastry kitchen. This was my first job, and in addition to culinary arts, I learned teamwork and time management. A fruit tart would pass through the hands of at least five people before it was my turn to slice off the inedible bit of kiwi and then shape the fruit slices onto the base. And if I was even seconds late to a table, customers and my boss would be unhappy.

The school. After the pastry kitchen, I thought teaching English was my calling. I taught at three different schools in Taiwan, and I improved my communication skills, having to adapt to students, parents, and colleagues alike.

The entertainment company. I love theater, so I was excited to help with everything from scriptwriting to liaising with the actors and actresses. I learned all sorts of skills: video editing, translation, and how to deal with difficult people (see: actors and actresses).

The post office . Tired of hopping, I decided to try a more "neutral" job to figure out my career path. The main skill I picked up there was customer service.

The bar. I took up a bartending job in Taiwan, where I had my hands in all sorts of tasks, including running the social media accounts. I refined my interpersonal skills and got a behind-the-scenes look at what it means to run a business. 

Every day, I apply the transferable skills developed during my short stints at different jobs. And when doing outreach, I've had a long list of work-related contacts, which has helped create more opportunities for professional partnerships.

Without job-hopping, I wouldn't be sitting here writing this article. I've made it past the three-month point with Resume Genius, and I haven't felt the urge to up and leave. I have to admit, it's a refreshing change.

What to consider before job-hopping

While job-hopping has its benefits, I want to be clear that it's not the best idea for everyone, all the time. For starters, it takes some time to gauge if a company and position is the right fit for you. Most companies have an onboarding period for you to learn how to fulfill your role and get used to the pace and environment, and things like forming strong professional relationships and building trust with coworkers can take even longer. 

And of course, companies put a lot of resources into hiring and training, so if you leave a job, you'll need to have concrete reasons—or risk leaving on bad terms.

So although I clearly approve of job-hopping, I still spent a lot of time considering the pros and cons of quitting each time I did. Was I really making the best decision for myself? Here are some things you should consider before you hand in your resignation letter.

The job market. To create a safety net, do some research and make sure that there's demand on the job market for what you want to do. With The Great Resignation in full force, it can be tempting to assume that you'll be able to find a new job—but that's not always the case, depending on your niche.

Your mental health. Finding a place you feel happy is something you should hold onto. You might be feeling the itch for something new, but you need to dig deep and figure out if it's just an itch or if it's unhappiness. Don't jump the gun just because you get antsy; but don't stay forever just because you're comfortable.

Money. On the one hand, don't assume you'll be able to get the same salary at another company. On the other hand, it's possible you'll be able to leverage a higher salary at a new job while a massive jump in salary is unlikely at your current role. The only way to know for sure what's available is to do a few first-round interviews and ask about the salary and benefits for those roles.

Promotions. Building trust and demonstrating competence takes time. You're less likely to be promoted if you job-hop, which means you might just continue hopping laterally. That's not necessarily a bad thing ; it's just something to be aware of.

How to overcome job-hopping on a resume

While perceptions are changing, job-hopping is rightfully still a cause of concern to many hiring managers. There are two main things you can do to deal with the issue when you're applying for jobs:

Address it head when you write your cover letter . Employers will notice, so there's no reason to hide it—instead, embrace it, and explain why you left each job and what you gained from the experience. This will help showcase your adaptability and willingness to learn, and will present your job-hopping as a strength instead of a weakness.

On your resume, include the relevant and most transferable job skills you've gained from each job. Be specific, and focus on the skills that will be most relevant for the job you're applying to.

Job-hopping isn't the taboo it used to be. It's still important to think before you quit, but if you know you can grow mentally and financially in a different position and environment, don't be afraid to make the leap. I'd still be beheading kiwis (it's not as appealing as it sounds) if I didn't have the courage to search for a role that suited me better. 

Good luck to all of you, from an ex-job-hopper! I hope you find a job worth sticking around for.

This was a guest post from Chloe Chioy, Digital Marketing Coordinator and Resume Expert at Resume Genius. Resume Genius has been helping job seekers land interviews and jobs since 2009. They provide resume and cover letter templates, samples, and writing walkthroughs, as well as resume and cover letter builder software. Want to see your work on the Zapier blog? Read our guidelines , and get in touch.

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Chloe Chioy

Chloe is a Digital Marketing Coordinator and Resume Expert at Resume Genius. She has a BA in Journalism and a National Qualification in Journalism from the NCTJ. When she isn't creating educational content, you can find her on Summoner’s Rift.

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How to Explain Job Hopping in an Interview

​A resume filled with multiple jobs within a short amount of time will likely raise eyebrows and lead to questions. When handled well, explaining job hopping in an interview can be a way for the hiring manager to see the positive elements of your varied work experience while being assured that you don't plan to "jump ship."

Hiring and training new employees is expensive for employers, which is why companies may be hesitant to hire someone who, on paper, looks like a chronic job hopper. That being said, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in 2020 that the median employee tenure was 4.1 years. Chances are you're not the only applicant the interviewer has seen with some job hopping on their resume.

Your goal during the interview is to help the interviewer understand why you left those positions and to provide assurance that the position you're applying for is where you want to be. Here's how to do that.

Use the Cover Letter to Your Advantage

If you're nervous about not making it to the interview stage because there's some job hopping on your resume, mention it in your cover letter with a brief but honest explanation of why. For example, "During the pandemic, I took on several temporary projects." Or, "When my manager moved to a startup, he asked me to go with him. After working there for some time, I realized the startup environment wasn't the right fit for me."

End your cover letter by telling the hiring manager that if given the opportunity to interview for the position, you'd be happy to answer any questions about your employment history.

In the Interview, Be Strategically Transparent

There are many good reasons why someone would change jobs. During your interview, be transparent, but also try to explain your past employment in as positive a light as possible.

Maureen Farmer, who has coached thousands of clients for job interviews, advised, "It's important the job seeker is honest about the reasons for the changes, but many times when job seekers face this situation, they over-explain, which sounds defensive."

Don't bad-mouth your past employers, but be honest about why you weren't able to continue in those positions. Were the roles and responsibilities different than what you were told in the interview process? Did you quit to help care for a loved one navigating a medical crisis? Did you want the flexibility of a remote job? Keep it short and sweet but honest.

Once you're done answering, ask if the interviewer has any further questions about your work history. While it is important not to overshare, you also want to show your transparency and desire to address any questions.

Highlight Transferable Skills

Where possible, turn the conversation away from negative sentiments associated with job hopping such as "unreliable" or "disloyal." Focus instead on positive characteristics like "adaptable," "a quick learner" and "experienced."

Maria Flores worked in HR for six years before transitioning to her current role as COO. "I am more worried about individuals [who are] not open to the job-hopping experience, as it shows they are not willing to embrace new challenges, new workmates, new work environment and culture," she said. "Personally, I would rather have an enthusiastic applicant who is not afraid of taking risks by jumping from one work environment to another."

Share What Excites You About This Job

If you have some job hopping on your resume, it's not only important to clearly explain why those jobs didn't work out, you also have to assure the interviewer that you believe the position you're applying for will be a good long-term fit. Sit down with a pen and paper before going into the interview and write down what you want at your next job—it could be the flexibility to work remotely, professional development opportunities, or working for a company that is making a positive impact.

Research the company and position to make sure they align with your career goals. Sharing this with the interviewer will signal that you are serious about this being the right job for you, rather than just another in a long line of positions.

Remember, the Interviewer Is Human

"As a hiring manager, I've never viewed gaps in employment as a negative," said Bonny Albo [AC1]  . "I've been on the other side of the fence where a dream job didn't pan out. I prefer interviewing people with a varied background and the maturity to explain what works for them and what doesn't (both in past and future positions). For me, someone who can't clearly detail why they had a string of jobs sounds more alarm bells than someone who knows exactly what happened, why, and has done their due diligence not to let it happen again, where possible."

Don't overthink it. Regardless of what your resume looks like, your work history will most likely be discussed during the interview process. By bringing up your job-hopping history, the interviewer will get some insight into how you handle a potentially stressful topic, how you speak about past employers and what you want for the future.

Krista Brown is a freelance writer based in Portland, Ore.

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Success title

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Here's how much money I made at every point in my career at Netflix, IBM, and Grubhub

• Frank Niu is a former software engineer who gives finance, investing, and career advice on TikTok and his podcast.
• He says he was able to retire because he saved, invested and job-hopped his way to high salaries. 
• This is his story as-told-to reporter Jenna Gyimesi 

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Frank Niu, a retired software engineer. Insider has verified his income with documentation. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I spent around ten years working in the tech industry as a software engineer at companies like Netflix, Grubhub, and Credit Karma.

In 2020, I lost a close family member at the beginning of the pandemic. This made my wife and I reevaluate some key decisions in our lives, including if we wanted to risk sending our kids to daycare. I realized that I could stop working and stay home with my kids while maintaining a relatively comfortable lifestyle.

Through a combination of job-hopping, aggressively saving, investing, luck, and earning high salaries, I was able to retire comfortably at 30.

In an effort to be transparent about my previous high salaries — and to also illustrate the importance of job-hopping — here's how much money I made on a software engineering path.

How much money I made working in tech:

IBM, Software Engineer, $74,000 salary, $5,000 signing bonus: I started my career at IBM in 2014, right out of University. I left partly because it was a huge company with too much process, and partly because the praise I received for my work was not reflected in my salary and raises. I didn't feel like the money I was making was representative of my value to the company, so I left.

Dwolla, DevOps Engineer, $125,000 salary, $5,000 signing bonus, stock options: After IBM, I moved to San Francisco and joined a small startup called Dwolla. They had a great tech stack and had much less process. It was the opposite of IBM. Because of the increased expenses of living in San Francisco, my take home pay was similar despite the salary bump. I enjoyed working there, but the company was struggling. It was on the edge of bankruptcy and so I looked for something more stable.

Credit Karma, Senior Software Engineer, $138,000 salary, $100,000 stock package : I accepted a job at Credit Karma in 2016. I was only there for a year and a half when the cryptocurrency market started booming in 2017. I quit my job to start a crypto startup with my friends that eventually failed.

Grubhub, Site Reliability Engineer, $140,000 salary, $200,000 stock package, $7,500 sign on bonus: Things were getting serious with my girlfriend and we wanted to buy a house. We searched for a city with good job opportunities and a lower cost of living, so I went to Grubhub in Chicago. This was great timing because the stock went up like crazy soon after I joined. I got super lucky. My total compensation increased to more than $300,000 per year.

Netflix, Senior Site Reliability Engineer, $525,000 total compensation: Netflix is unique because they pay all cash compensation with an option to allocate money into their stock option program if you choose to. My wife also got a promotion and we both started earning the most money we've ever made. We saved and invested over 70% of our income during this time.

Focus on health and safety of family over earning money

After Netflix, I could have probably gotten an even higher-paying job, around $600,000 to $700,000, but I have two young kids, and COVID was raging across the world. A close family member had just passed away two years ago and this made us reevaluate if we wanted to risk sending our kids to daycare.

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I also started thinking more deeply about the point of trying to climb the corporate ladder — was there even a point? I would get paid more money, but I would be spending more and more hours at work. And when I wasn't at work, I would think about work.

We had enough money and assets, which was an extremely fortunate position to be in, and so I decided to retire.

If worse comes to worst, I'll get another job later down the road and start making money again. Software engineering skills are in high demand, and they'll continue to stay that way for the foreseeable future.

4 steps to earning more money in your career

1. Prepare for interviews. You can get a tech job if you prepare and have the right skillset. You don't have to go to the most prestigious schools. But you do have to know enough to get past the interviews.

Here are three resources I recommend looking into when trying to land a job at a big tech company.

• The Tech Interview Handbook : It's a master list of the technical questions and topics that you should know how to answer.
• Leetcode: A lot of tech companies have coding questions. Many companies take these questions directly from leetcode — Facebook is especially notorious for this.
• The System Design Primer: This teaches you how to design large-scale systems. For example, a question might be, "How would you design a URL shortener?". The primer has tons of resources on how to build systems at scale.

2. Leave your job every few years. People who leave their jobs every two years(or less) will typically out-earn their peers over their lifetime because the market rate for tech compensation rises faster than what you can get from promotions and raises inside of a company.

My rule of thumb is that if you don't get a promotion every two years you should leave.

3. Know what to expect from your job offer. I looked at Blind and a site called levels.fyi . These sites show you what to expect for different job titles like software engineer and data scientist at different companies. This will help you figure out if the offer you got is competitive. It can also show you the highest paying companies. It helped my wife and I figure out what we were actually worth.

4. Invest and save. We moved to Canada while I was still at Netflix. We kept our cost of living relatively low; we don't live a particularly lavish lifestyle. Excluding the value of our home, we have approximately $2 million worth of assets in real estate, stocks, and crypto.

We basically follow the 4% rule: we can take out 4% of our investments every year to live on because on average, our investments will grow roughly 5% a year. This gives us a margin of safety. So at $2 million, we're able to take out and live on $80,000 per year. The assumption is that our investments will grow more quickly than we can spend.

We're somewhat loose with our budget because $80,000 a year is plenty for our family of four in terms of food, entertainment, and bills.

Spending early retirement parenting, making TikTok advice videos

Though I'm grateful that I'm retired, I'm still tired. Anyone with kids knows that parenting is extremely hard work. However, the joy I get from being with my kids is unlike anything I've experienced before.

These days I make videos on Tiktok where I give advice on working in tech and making money. My account started off as a competition between me and my wife; she challenged me to get more followers than her. Now I have over 897,000 followers on the platform. I don't make any money from my account right now. I've turned down partnership and advertisement opportunities because I didn't believe in the product or companies, and I don't need the money right now. I also have a podcast called Frankly Speaking where I talk about my experiences on life, tech, finance, and everything else.

Your profession and the company you work for dictate earning potential more than anything else. Technology, and specifically software engineering, is one of the best paying careers right now. If you invest and save wisely, you can retire early like I did.

This story was originally published in June, 2022. 

If you have advice about retiring early, contact Jenna Gyimesi at [email protected] .

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HiSET Essay Sample Response

Below is a sample response to our HiSET Essay Practice Question . You should review this response after you have written your own practice essay. This HiSET essay example will give you a good idea of what a successful essay looks like. After the sample response, there is a commentary explaining why this would receive a passing score.

Changing workplaces will clearly build a multitude of skills and experiences that one could not get being loyal to a single company. As stated in “Job Hopping is the New Reality,” a resume with a “wide variety of job skills that an applicant brings to the table” is now viewed quite favorably and will help an individual gain a better job in the future. Different jobs can also help an employee find the company that is right for them. My brother is part of a college program that gets him a different internship every other semester, so that he can experience what each employer has to offer and what would best fit him after he graduates. Staying in one place for a lifetime limits future prospects and denies current opportunities to expand one’s horizons.

Staying loyal to a single company doesn’t guarantee someone a promotion or job satisfaction; credentials are much more important. A job can be laid off, outsourced, or given to another employee at any time. As the author of “Job Hopping is the New Reality” also writes, waiting for a promotion or better position to open at your current job can be “a fool’s errand”. My grandfather worked with the same company for his entire life, and he was never placed into managerial positions. Just because a person is loyal to their job doesn’t mean they are happy. If someone feels like they should stay in one place, they may get trapped in a miserable situation. Although companies value loyalty, being loyal isn’t a foolproof way to gain favor or climb the corporate ladder, let alone be happy.

According to “Loyal Workers are Successful Workers,” others may feel that shifting jobs limits a person because he or she would constantly move or have to make new friends. This is not a guaranteed reality. The ability to change jobs often keeps a person from being limited to a set future. They, of course, may have to move or meet new people, but if it’s for the sake of finding a career they enjoy, is it really a loss?

The modern worker does not confine him- or herself to a singular career. The modern worker shifts, changes, and grows for the sake of finding a job that they are great at, but that also makes them happy.

Essay Commentary

This sample response would receive a score of 5, which is a successful, though not perfect, score. We will first discuss what made this an effective response, and then we will point out how this sample response could be improved.

This essay earned a 5 out of 6 because of its:

• effective introduction and conclusion: While the introduction and conclusion in this sample are not incredibly long, they serve their purpose. In the introduction, the writer effectively presents the proposed topic and clearly takes a stance. In the conclusion, the writer re-states the purpose and concludes the argument in a way that makes the reader think (“for the sake of finding a job that they are great at, but that also makes them happy”).  
• Introduction: Clear thesis that argues that changing jobs is a positive.
• Idea 1: Building more diverse skills and experiences.
• Idea 2: Loyalty doesn’t pay off.
• Counter-Argument: The benefits of moving outweigh the drawbacks.
• Conclusion: When employees find the right job, everyone benefits.  
• command of English grammar (few spelling, punctuation mistakes, etc.) : While the structure and wording is repetitive at times, the writer doesn’t make any real mistakes in spelling, punctuation, or grammar. The sample essay displays a command, though not necessarily a mastery, of English grammar and mechanics.  
• proper and clear organization: The writer clearly had a plan, and followed a logical, effective structure. The sample response offers ideas that are supported with evidence from the passages and effectively covers the breadth of the topic.  
• clear central thesis with supporting points: The writer’s central thesis clearly takes a stance on the topic. By writing, “changing jobs is the best way to get experience in different workplaces and in life because it builds a variety of skills and keeps one from being tied down in a career he or she may not grow in,” the writer makes his or her opinion on the topic very clear. The supporting ideas all remain focused and in line with the original thesis, and the sample essay as a whole maintains a clear, focused, and supported stance.  
• acknowledgement of opposing/alternative points of view: In the second-to-last paragraph, the writer acknowledges an opposing idea, specifically that “others may feel that shifting jobs limits a person because he or she would constantly move or have to make new friends.” He or she then refutes this claim, assuring the audience that the benefits of meeting new people outweigh the drawbacks of having to move around.  

Overall, the sample essay presents a clear thesis, supports that thesis with strong ideas and supporting evidence, and refutes claims made by the opposing side in a focused, organized, and error-free response.

Areas that could be improved

This sample essay could have earned a 6 if the writer:

• used stronger transitions: The writer is excellent at presenting ideas and making his or her point, but stronger transitions would create an articulate flow that would make this sample essay stronger.  
• varied his or her sentence structure more: As we state above in the success, the writer doesn’t make any real spelling or grammatical mistakes in the sample essay; however, the writer also doesn’t vary their writing very much. The sample essay is functional and successful, but it won’t blow anyone away.  
• more effectively explored his or her evidence: While the writer has strong ideas and effective evidence, the analysis and elaboration can be a bit limited at times in the sample response. For example, in the second paragraph, the writer writes about his or her brother, who “is part of a college program that gets him a different internship every other semester, so that he can experience what each employer has to offer and what would best fit him after he graduates.” This is a great real-life example, but it would be stronger with an assurance that the writer’s brother has benefited from these internships (in other words, the writer could have been clear that the brother benefited from the programs intended purpose).  

When you are practicing your essay responses, keep in mind both what made this sample response strong and what held it back. If you can write a response that is clear, takes a stance, and is supported with evidence from the passages, you will be successful. If you can add to that strong transitions, varied sentence structure, and analysis that really drives your point home, you can score a perfect score.

Kendrick Lamar Gets Inspired (by Drake), and 9 More New Songs

Hear tracks by Miranda Lambert, Illuminati Hotties, Mabe Fratti and others.

By Jon Pareles and Lindsay Zoladz

Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new tracks. Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes) and at Apple Music here , and sign up for The Amplifier , a twice-weekly guide to new and old songs.

Kendrick Lamar, ‘ Euphoria ’

Beefs make rappers productive. Earlier this week, Kendrick Lamar dropped a new salvo in his recently rekindled feud with Drake : a six-minute, multipart rejoinder to Drake’s recent “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle.” It starts with Lamar rapping quickly but calmly over a smooth-jazz backdrop, taunting, “I make music that electrify ’em, you make music that pacify ’em.” But after he warns, “Don’t tell no lie about me/And I won’t tell truths about you,” the track changes to a tolling, droning trap dirge and Lamar’s delivery becomes biting, nasal and percussive. He switches from flow to flow with an accelerating barrage of attacks, professional and personal, from recording deals to parenting skills: “cringe-worthy” is a milder one. This track is unlikely to be the last round. Lamar posted a follow-up, “6:16 in LA,” on his Instagram Friday morning. JON PARELES

Miranda Lambert, ‘ Wranglers ’

The country queen Miranda Lambert commands an atmosphere of smoky guitar licks and smoldering defiance on her new song “Wranglers,” her first solo single since her 2022 album “Palomino.” Lambert spins a third-person yarn of heartbreak and revenge at something of an emotional remove during the verses, but there’s a welcome grit in her voice when she gets to the irreverent hook: “She set it all on fire, and if there’s one thing that she learned/Wranglers take forever to burn.” LINDSAY ZOLADZ

Illuminati Hotties, ‘ Can’t Be Still ’

Is multitasking a fear of facing yourself? Sarah Tudzin, who records as Illuminati Hotties , contemplates her own shattered attention span with “Can’t Be Still,” singing, “Oh when things are moving too slow/I, oh got places I wanna go.” With chunky, distorted guitar chords and little interludes of whistling — in harmony — she smiles through her nerves. PARELES

Ibibio Sound Machine, ‘ Pull the Rope ’

The London-based, Nigerian-rooted band Ibibio Sound Machine has evolved into a starkly efficient electro-funk band, delivering community-minded messages in English and the Nigerian language Ibibio. “Pull the Rope,” the title track of the band’s new album, deploys an octave-hopping bass line, videogame blips and eventually a horn section to propel a constructive chant: “Even though we’re eager to trigger/Let’s pull the rope, together we hope.” PARELES

Niki, ‘ Too Much of a Good Thing ’

Niki — the Indonesian singer and songwriter Nicole Zefanya, now based in Los Angeles — cheerfully saunters into an iffy new romance in “Too Much of a Good Thing.” Over a bluesy bass vamp and brushes on a snare drum, she notes, “Something tells me this is gonna hurt someday,” but that’s no deterrent. PARELES

Chris Smither, ‘ All About the Bones ’

The folk-blues stalwart Chris Smither has been contemplating mortality throughout his decades of songwriting; at 80, he’s more convincing than ever. “All About the Bones,” a modal blues with saxophone joining Smither’s foot-tapping and fingerpicked guitar, pays tribute to bone anatomy — “Some will make you stronger/Others make you tall” — along with the gruff reminder that sooner or later, “they end up on the pile.” PARELES

Amy Allen, ‘ Girl With a Problem ’

Amy Allen has extensive songwriting credits, including Sabrina Carpenter’s current hit “Espresso” and collaborations with Olivia Rodrigo, Justin Timberlake and Harry Styles. Allen whisper-sings “Girl With a Problem,” a sullen, grungy waltz about obsessive desire: “It’s moving so fast, it’s coming on strong/It wants you so bad, doesn’t care if it’s wrong.” Beginning with just acoustic guitars, the track thickens with drums, strings and backup vocals while Allen’s voice stays quiet and stubbornly fixated. PARELES

Mabe Fratti, ‘ Pantalla Azul ’

Mabe Fratti’s “Pantalla Azul” (“Blue Screen”) starts — as many of her songs do — with only her voice and her cello, here playing a few double stops. She sings, mysteriously, about someone who wants to leave reality behind and about seeing her own imagination as a blue screen; meanwhile, samples suggesting voices, pianos and harps arrive behind her, carrying her ever further away from earthly concerns. PARELES

Nduduzo Makhathini, ‘ Water Spirits: Izinkonjana ’

“Izinkonjana” is a tranquil, unhurried ballad from the South African pianist Ndudzo Makhathini and his trio, a pearly melody over reassuring gospelly chords and a minor-key hint of Chopin. Midway through, Makhathini displays some improvisatory flourishes, but without disturbing the composition’s preternatural restraint. PARELES

Caroline Polachek, ‘ Starburned and Unkissed ’

Jane Schoenbrun’s “I Saw the TV Glow,” which comes out on Friday, is a coming-of-age horror film awash in teen angst and smeary ’90s nostalgia, and Caroline Polachek nails that vibe in a new original song from the soundtrack. Vivid and surreal adolescent imagery piles up during the dreamy, downcast verses, but Polachek rips the roof off the song during a cathartic chorus, singing yearningly from beneath the crush of guitar distortion, “My heart’s a ghost limb reaching, star-burned and unkissed.” ZOLADZ

Jon Pareles has been The Times’s chief pop music critic since 1988. He studied music, played in rock, jazz and classical groups and was a college-radio disc jockey. He was previously an editor at Rolling Stone and the Village Voice. More about Jon Pareles

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