How Often Is Too Often to Change Jobs? Share Your Thoughts and Vote!

Dear All,

Let's take a small poll for the benefit of all concerned. As a professional, when you see a CV with too frequent job changes, chances are you might reject the candidature. So, what is the ideal or satisfactory number of job shifts and in what frequency? Cast your vote and also reply with your views. Let us find out what the job market/today's employees think.

Yogesh Pahuja

Hi Yogesh,

Good start. What I would like to say is that today's scenario is different from the earlier one. Nowadays, people are changing jobs within 1 year or so because of a lot of opportunities in the market. However, it all depends on the profile too.

Regards,
Sujata

Hi Yogesh,

Good topic you bring to notice of everybody. The attrition is high in many industries, so we need to ask this question. I feel it also depends upon the satisfaction level. If I'm satisfied with the pay package, conditions, environment, work, and people, I don't think I'll leave a company in the next 10 years.

Cheers,
Archna

Hi Yogesh,

This is a nice exercise, but I feel it's ambiguous. I would prefer not to change an organization provided it gives an opportunity to learn new things, the environment is conducive, and of course, pay also matters.

Regards,
Shiju Mathai

Dear Archana and Shiju,

Your points are valid. Of course, given that the environment, pay, boss, profile, etc., are okay – is what we are taking as standard work conditions. The issue, as rightly pointed out, is attrition. It takes time for any employee to begin really contributing to an organization only after a period of time spent in that organization, and thus the person grows with the organization.

You will notice that several CEOs, GMs, VPs are those people who have not changed a single employer. One of the World heads of HSBC International was addressing a gathering of 400+ recruiters recently that today he is at that post because he has grown with the company in the past 25 years.

Regards,
Yogesh

Hi Yogesh,

It is always good to grow with the organization's growth. In fact, when we grow with the organization, we definitely experience faster and better growth. A person can switch jobs early in their career, but from my experience, it becomes difficult to find a good job later on, leading to settling with compromises in their job. My point is, we often cite good pay, job satisfaction, etc., as criteria for switching jobs. However, it's unrealistic to expect to find all desired aspects in a single job, so compromises are sometimes necessary. Understanding this and making decisions about job switching can greatly benefit our industry, leading to a more successful career.

Regards, Pooja

I feel it's all based on the environment and culture of the company. For me, the culture of the company matters. A sense of belonging should be present in a company for me not to consider leaving. Additionally, the profile and pay should align with market standards. It's all based on how I perceive the environment of the company.

Hi guys,

I would like to share this topic based on my experience. I can stay for a long time in one company because of the following reasons:
1. The atmosphere or environment of the company.
2. Teamwork among the management and the staff.
3. Last but not least, of course, salary and benefits.

Priatna

I think there should be another option "Depends on many factors" along with the other options!

Really, a very subjective question. I was very happy working with a consultancy for 1 year (that was my first job). But I got a break in a UK-based corporate. It was obvious for me to join them. But now it has just been 2 months here, and I don't see things working in my favor. I am suffocating here. What should I do? If I decide to look for a change within 3 months, it obviously shows instability, which is not the case. However, money is not the reason for looking out. Very sad that in HR, there is so much struggle in the initial stages.

My view as an employee - I have been working with an organization for the past 23 years. I am happy with the management, growth, personal development, etc. Of course, I find the management good. It is not that I did not get chances of a very high increase. However, I did not change as I have some kind of attachment to the organization.

Now I am a part of the HR group, and I will not entertain a resume if a person has been continuously changing jobs for the past five years every 6 months or 1 year. Though there are increased job opportunities, by the time the person learns about the company and its working procedures/methods, they will be ready to jump. Here, the learnings will not be significant.

This is my personal opinion.

It's nice to see two contrasting opinions. I guess the frequency of changing jobs tells how mature the person is. I quit my first 'corporate' job in 3 months. The next job, I stayed for 1 year and a month and had to quit because, believe me or not, traffic!!

That's why I said "depends on many factors" should be an option. Well, I do miss my previous company, I learned a lot and would have loved to grow with the company.

I would like to mention my perspective on the maturity of a person, as I mentioned in the first paragraph. The more a person researches about a company before joining, the clearer they are with what they want. A person who complains about an employer is one who made the mistake of accepting the offer, not the company to blame, and so on. Hence, people who stay long with companies are mature and wise (of course, less greedy, considering the present trend of job hopping and asking for unjustifiable and improper, disproportionate hikes!!)

That's my say! :D

vnd

Interesting topic, as they say, it is almost 100% attrition that we generally have in our country at the moment.

As far as I am concerned, even when I joined a company with the intention of never quitting it, at least for 5 years, I had to leave because of the personal tragedies that occurred in my life. It was never for the sake of money, but for more time for personal and family problems like the death of parents one by one, being a single child of the parents, and recovering debts that were due, etc.

Once I had to leave as we had a difference of opinion with our immediate boss, who was from a premier B-school. I should also say I was not alone - 4 of us left within a period of 5 months, and now two more will be leaving this month. Is there something wrong with the place? There should be, right?

This can be avoided to an extent, I believe, if companies reveal their expectations to the employees.

One of my colleagues, a B-school topper with a very positive work culture, had to leave within a month as the employer offered her a finance and admin position, but it turned out to be a hardcore selling assignment when she had joined. Who can be held responsible?

Long back, when a senior executive of Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting came to us (he was a professional with impeccable records and graduated from SP Jain Mumbai), I posed a question as to how he is balancing between his personal and official demands. His answer was, of course, a lot of credit goes to my wife, who resigned for the sake of our family, despite being my classmate in SP Jain, that she doesn't complain about silly issues!

Secondly, there is nothing called personal or official issues - you need to prioritize and attend to them both and converge them as a single entity.

From personal experience, I think he is right. How do you explain to an employee to continue in a pressing schedule when his house is literally burning with issues like terminal illness to his/her dear ones, crunching financial issues, etc.?

Also, on the other hand, how can you expect the person to be a great family man when his work has crushing issues like a quality inspection or so?

Perhaps it was not a very serious issue in earlier generations where neither we had many night duties normally nor customer care or delight concepts or even a globalized 'small' world or the internet or even a laptop!

Nice to have a discussion on attrition. Yes, it's right that one can only grow with the company. For this, one needs to have the ideal company that suits their nature. I had read somewhere that organizations also have their individualistic personalities. There has to be a consonance between both.

I want to be extremely committed to the organization that I am working for, but if the situation doesn't permit me, then I will have to look for a change. In fact, sometimes pay also doesn't matter when it comes to having a collaborative atmosphere, where at least people are given importance. It's not necessary that the organization should listen to everything, but at least make them feel they are part and are important.

Regards,
Shiju Mathai

Hi Yogesh,

That's an interesting one. Well, I find a kind of restlessness among the youth of India today. Even I am included in that restless group. We think that it will grow if we change a job, but we are forgetting the fact that it is showing our inconsistency or lack of commitment somewhere. I may sound harsh, but that's the bitter truth.

Enjoy.

Hi all,

Attrition... Frequent job changes are what today's trend. The reasons may be many, but in some way, they are related to the saying that "Human wants are unlimited." I have come across people who would have two or three offers in hand but still, they look for a change.

There is so much competition today. I wonder whether it happens only in India. What about the status of companies outside India, I mean in foreign countries? Maybe a survey can be conducted, or research can be done so that we can come to know the basic reasons for frequent job changes.

For example, personal reasons, location change, financial reasons, seeking a challenging career, among others. What do you say?

Thanks and Regards,
Suchitra

Hi Rakhi,

It's well said, "something that is constant today is change." I feel change in a job mainly depends on your personal aims. If you find a company fulfilling your aims, you don't leave it for 25 years. If you find it's not, you will leave in 25 weeks.

We all talk about a good boss, good culture, good pay. But we all will have different experiences and opinions, even for the CMM companies which are officially evaluated for all the above points.

So, if you find a person changing jobs every year, I suggest you not discard him at first instance. Take a chance to talk to him, try to understand his aims, and see if they were met in any of the companies that he left early. If you fail to find out, let him go. But really, we cannot say why a person leaves a company, sometimes even when he does not want to!

Good people are a rare breed right now, don't lose them just because they have not worked for a company for more than 2 years.

Rakhi

Hi Yogesh,

Making decisions based on the prima facie facts is what we prefer, because such decisions are easy to make and justify. However, we often do not achieve quality and innovation in our work if we limit ourselves within our own boundaries.

One of the most important lessons my experience has taught me is not to judge anyone at face value, to refrain from labeling people, and to always provide others with the opportunity to present their side of the facts.

Rakhi

Mini. 1 year necessary for a junior position. If a senior position, like Assistant Manager, Manager, A.G.M. etc., it should be a minimum of 2 years. If it is less than 2 years, then you have to ask for the reason.

A considerable reason could be that the new organization is much larger compared to the previous one, or the new organization has advanced technology that is beneficial for the candidate. In some situations, we also need to consider if the management/colleagues of the previous organization are unnecessarily tormenting the employee.

Dear All,

Great contributions... Cast your vote if you still have not. Also, check out the thread "why do you change a job?" and cast your vote. Let's make these polls a learning curve for ourselves.

Yogesh

Dear Members,

Ninety votes are a pretty decent number to draw some probable inferences. Some observations are:

- There is a growing trend of leaving jobs within a year up to three years.
- Within up to three years, it constitutes almost 60% - an area of concern for all of us.
- Some respite is that there is still around 15% of us who would consider stability and change at the right time.
- We, as HR professionals, must be aware of these changing trends and consider candidates and careers accordingly.

Regards,
Yogesh