Believe me, job hopping is good!

When you meet people who have had a long tenure with their current employer which maybe their only employer so far what would be your first reaction be? For me a long tenure is in excess of 10 years of service. Would the following be some of your expressions?

• “Wow!”
• “Your employer is lucky!”
• “That’s some commitment man!”
• “I can’t do this for sure!”

I would say

• “OMG!”
• “Are you out of your mind?”
• “Hope you are looking out for a change!”
• “Here is my card.”

I say this with a conflict of interest J as I work for a recruitment firm.  I have also not worked for any single employer for more than 8.25 years. I seem to have my own weird reasoning for this. Process the next two anecdotes and see how I contradict myself.

One of my acquaintances was looking for a change after working for single employer for 20 years. When I referred him to an active search of a top executive search firm, they refused to even accept his CV.  I urged them to look at his CV and pointed out how he had grown from a fresher to VP in a company which not only grew fast but also became a giant in its sector.  But in the world of sticking to client briefs the headhunter refused to budge. But he was not the only one. A few employers gave him a tough time before he was recruited after a year of search assistance. All the employers who rejected his CV felt

• his long tenure meant his adaptability could become an issue
• in a leadership role he might struggle to bring in change in a new atmosphere
• he had fossilized kinds of stated reasons

On the contrary I felt he had grown with his employer, performed multiple roles, was promoted many times in an atmosphere which had morphed culturally and whose ownership had changed three times over. But somehow it seemed like the world which was recruiting him had other opinions of him.

We know that, long tenures with organisations  enable you to learn, contribute and grow at a tremendous pace.  In some fast growing organisations employees tend to have a new role almost every year and the passage of time goes unnoticed until somebody points to it. A long tenure with an organisation also offers the experiences of the various phases the organisation goes through like, start-up, turnaround, acquisition, JV, overseas expansion, IPO, new product launches & leadership changes. In each of these phases an employee gets to learn something, contribute and also fail on some occasions. All these add to the robust development of the individual employee which is invaluable.  Having said this, I would like to argue that there is nothing to beat multiple employer experience. But then there is a twist here too…

I was once hiring senior HR resource. Many people I met had over 15 years of work experience and some of them had worked for 7-10 companies over that duration.   Some of their employers were marquee names.  As it had to happen I asked, “So many changes? “. They did enlighten me that there were bad bosses, companies closing down, posted out of hometowns, M & As, better money opportunities, changing cultures, head hunted for larger roles and a number of other reasons. I couldn’t convince myself of their well-knit tales supporting their frequent changes. I felt all these guys were on roller skates not able to contribute and grow with their employers. I had this notion that when you hire senior people you look for professionals who have the intent to fight it out during tough circumstances, unreasonable bosses, paltry increments in a changing world. After all isn’t that what you expect from leaders? Nothing is guaranteed in a volatile world.  So expecting to stick it out isn’t an impossible equation. It was difficult to believe that anybody who did not have a stable past could give me a reasonable tenure in the future which we desire most.

The biggest advantage to any of us when we work with multiple employers is our ability to adapt improves. Our confidence to work in different cultures gets a huge boost. Our significant asset would be our own enhanced abilities than what we would gain if we stuck to a single organisation/employer. I would like to believe that we would be ‘in charge of our career direction’ if we have multiple employer experiences. Now let me elaborate on my multiple employer definition. If you have worked with 3 employers in 4 years I would call that crazy whatever might be the reason. For me a 3 year stint with any employer is a reasonable minimum tenure. As you progress to senior roles you might need to stay a little longer than that to meaningfully contribute. But I don’t know if it is appropriate and easy to give a formula like that. In my view if you have done about 20 years’ of work a 4-6 employer changes would be ideal to get a good mix of different industries, culture & leadership exposures. But then there are aberrations all the time to my theory and I wish we could really plan it to perfection. If anybody’s tenure looks perfect it is purely accidental and waiting to have uneven bumps.

Still, let me stick my neck out and say I believe that multiple employers in a long drawn career is desirable. This puts you in charge of yourself, doesn't allow your employer to take you for granted, your growth most likely will be owned by your bosses. In our formative years we may have a bit of instability as we figure out our strengths and weaknesses,  the sector that we are passionate about and the kind of companies we want to be associated with.  It would be ideal to figure this out in the first 5 years to then gain a steady gait towards your calling.   

I took me almost 7 years to figure out my calling, so take my contradictions today with a pinch of salt.

Shopping is good for health even though sometimes you get tired and you pay the price for excessive shopping. Trust me’ I say this after experiencing 4 employers.

First published on:  https://kamalkaranth.com/believe-me-job-hopping-is-good/

If you liked what you read feel free to click on the LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter icons above to share with your circle of choice, I am sure you have an opinion on this; please comment, I am keen to know what you think!