Let's Watch T20 for fun, but play a Test Match when it comes to our Careers

We recently ran an online Poll on LinkedIn to understand individual’s views on preferred tenure at one's job in IT.

We got ~750 responses, out of which, roughly 20% opined that job need to be changed after/within 1 year tenure, 60% have a view that it job to be changed with in 2-3 years and rest of the 20% feel that it should be changed during 3-5 years of employment. I did not keep 5-7 years OR 7-10 years option because they are becoming less favorable post covid, due to salary bubble and inverse demand-supply ratio.

I remember culture of 'join-work-work-work-retire' from one company , when I started my career in TATA Motors (TM) almost three decades back as a campus recruit. I saw lot of people around me who were with TM for 10-20-30 years. I had similar career plan to retire from TM, which eventually got changed due to Y2K and Dot.COM created job opportunities in IT, but that was after 6 years with TM.

But, one year is certainly not adequate as it does now allow the candidate to offer any positive contribution towards company goals, which is a fair expectation of every employer.

I as a recruiter, myself and all my clients prefer to stay away from such 'butterfly' candidates who have hopped every year.

Unstable work force with frequent changes creates doubt in the mind of clients as well, leading to negative business look out.

Any employer will expect stable work force which allows them to contain costs, invest on employees?to achieve short and long term business goals. Many employers reward their employees with bonus / stock options to create long-term loyal work force.

In my opinion, 4+ years?is optimal tenure to change your job.?

If you refer to following diagram which is based on conservative numbers; bigger the fully productive phase, it is more preferred by employer.

So to conclude, there is no magic number , but more the tenure (4+ is my personal advice) , better it is and preferred by all employers.?

I hope this will help you understand employers view point too, keeping in mind your own career goals. This should allow you to strike 'win-win' situation through out your career for each job change move you make.

Wishing you all stable, prosperous, healthy career growth ahead......