Is there a negative stigma tied to jumping from company to company every few years?<\/p>\n
Sign Anonymous<\/p>\n
\n
Dear Anonymous<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s more mobile workforce, it is become rarer that a person stays at one company for the entirety of his or her career.\u00a0\u00a0The days of having lots of workers who hit their 20th<\/sup>, 25th<\/sup>, or 30th<\/sup>\u00a0anniversaries at a single workplace are long over.\u00a0\u00a0In fact, I\u2019ve recently heard from some recruiters that employees can be perceived at staying at one workplace too long \u2013 it creates an impression (perhaps falsely) that a long-serving employee may not be ambitious or willing to seek new challenges.<\/p>\n By contrast, I have also heard that that a person\u2019s resume can be perceived negatively by prospective employers if there is too much jumping around.\u00a0\u00a0Unless there is a good explanation, a series of short-term jobs may convey an impression that an employee has a \u201cits always greener on the other side\u201d attitude towards work.\u00a0\u00a0Certainly, a series of jobs that last less than one year \u2013 without some explanation \u2013 could provoke many questions from prospective employees<\/p>\n So, is there a rule of thumb about how long a person should stay at a job?\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t think so.\u00a0\u00a0Rather, your resume should tell a story about how you\u2019ve planned and stagedyour career.\u00a0\u00a0Assume for example, after graduating from college, you start your first job.\u00a0\u00a0After a few years, you decide to move to another job because you got a big promotion, were able to enter an industry in which you\u2019ve always wanted to work, or you had the opportunity to learn a whole new skill.\u00a0\u00a0After a few more years of experience under your belt, you decide you are ready to start managing others, work more independently, or take more responsiblity\u00a0so you start looking for a new opportunity that will give you those experiences.\u00a0\u00a0So on, so on, and so on . . .<\/p>\n Even though you\u2019ve moved every few years, your resume now tells a story about each new job added something new to your career \u2013\u00a0\u00a0a new skill, a new experience, or more responsibility.\u00a0\u00a0As you move into your mid-career years, you are now able to tell a story to prospective employers about how you were able to build your career through strategic and well-timed job moves.\u00a0\u00a0So long as you can explain how those moves contribute to building your career, there should be no negative stigma associated with jumping to new jobs every few years.<\/p>\n Curtis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Is there a negative stigma tied to jumping from company to company every few years? Sign Anonymous Dear Anonymous In today\u2019s more mobile workforce, it is become rarer that a person stays at one company for the entirety of his or her career.\u00a0\u00a0The days of having lots of workers who hit their 20th, 25th, or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":247,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n