How often do you change your job
Discussion
IT. About every 2 years.
Before I'd even left uni someone told me that I'd probably have to do that to keep getting new experience and moving up. And that fitted fairly well with what I found - I've stayed in jobs for 20 - 30 months ish.
Work for myself now so I hope I last longer than 2 years in this role.
Before I'd even left uni someone told me that I'd probably have to do that to keep getting new experience and moving up. And that fitted fairly well with what I found - I've stayed in jobs for 20 - 30 months ish.
Work for myself now so I hope I last longer than 2 years in this role.
I'm in IT and I've had 4 different jobs in 7 years. So that's roughly a change of job every 2 years.
I'm only in my twenties, so dont have a vast career history.
1st job - 4 years
2nd job - 7 months
3rd job - 18 months
4th - 9 months in and not leaving anytime soon
I do find that those in IT tend to change jobs very frequently. Many ex-colleagues tended to leave within 2 years.
I'm only in my twenties, so dont have a vast career history.
1st job - 4 years
2nd job - 7 months
3rd job - 18 months
4th - 9 months in and not leaving anytime soon

I do find that those in IT tend to change jobs very frequently. Many ex-colleagues tended to leave within 2 years.
13 years in my current job, can't see me changing anytime soon. It's not the best paid job in the world and I daresay I could earn more if I moved on but I don't want to. I love to going to work in the morning and enjoy what I do - to me that's better than being higher paid doing something I don't like or enjoy.
3 months - temp position
4 months at first as temp - went onto 18 months as perm
3 months
3 1/2 years
10 months in so far
Bearing in mind i'm "only" 24 and also spent 4 year's at University,all apart from my last/current job were what you would call student jobs
The 2nd 3 month and 3 1/2 positions were both at the same time,and one had to give away for the other
4 months at first as temp - went onto 18 months as perm
3 months
3 1/2 years
10 months in so far
Bearing in mind i'm "only" 24 and also spent 4 year's at University,all apart from my last/current job were what you would call student jobs
The 2nd 3 month and 3 1/2 positions were both at the same time,and one had to give away for the other
When I'm looking at CVs anything less than 2 years in a post is a little negative unless they were temp or contract roles and too many 2 year posts also starts to look a bit negative. Moving a few times early in your career is fine but I don't want to recruit people who aren't likely to hang around for long.
GeraldSmith said:
Moving a few times early in your career is fine but I don't want to recruit people who aren't likely to hang around for long.
Maybe, but how about getting maximum value out of your employee duringthe short time he's with you ?
I've lost count of the number of employers who have evolved daft, exotic
and pointlessly complex processes and procedures which take years to learn.
Very few of them seemed related to shareholder value, I may add.
Most of the processes aren't written down, which is asking for trouble.
When in doubt, keep it simple. It reduces the new recruit training costs
and allows the new recruit to be doing something useful a lot quicker.
GeraldSmith said:
When I'm looking at CVs anything less than 2 years in a post is a little negative unless they were temp or contract roles and too many 2 year posts also starts to look a bit negative. Moving a few times early in your career is fine but I don't want to recruit people who aren't likely to hang around for long.
I agree with you on this one, especially in IT it makes me nervous that you're looking at the CV of someone who wants to pick up a new technology or two and then move on with something new on their CV. 5 Years
1 Year Travelling
3 Years (back at same company but new position)
3 Years
3 Month - Current
Each was a step up and not for a negative reason.
In my line of work (Software Pre Sales) its rare to have someone longer than 4 / 5 years in a position. Those people tend not to be the eagle go getters you need in the role anyway.
In opposition to the opinion above, I would discard CV's from people who hadn't moved around. To me is shows a lack of creativity, drive and achievement.
Obviously questions would arise if there had been 3 or 4 short (less than 6 months) employments in a row.
1 Year Travelling
3 Years (back at same company but new position)
3 Years
3 Month - Current
Each was a step up and not for a negative reason.
In my line of work (Software Pre Sales) its rare to have someone longer than 4 / 5 years in a position. Those people tend not to be the eagle go getters you need in the role anyway.
In opposition to the opinion above, I would discard CV's from people who hadn't moved around. To me is shows a lack of creativity, drive and achievement.
Obviously questions would arise if there had been 3 or 4 short (less than 6 months) employments in a row.
NotKenBlock said:
In my line of work (Software Pre Sales) its rare to have someone longer than 4 / 5 years in a position. Those people tend not to be the eagle go getters you need in the role anyway.
Jumping from job to job is a minus, being in the same role for a long time is a minus, being at the same employer but promoted from role to role is what I am looking for.4 years apprenticeship
1 year on the spanners
4 years (redundancy)
5 1/2 years (redundancy)
2 years
2 years (redundancy)
6 weeks (made redundant as they lost the contract
)
3 years (redundancy)
some temp assignments of 3 or 4 months each
1 year
and in current job for 1 year so far (but wandering eyes )
1 year on the spanners
4 years (redundancy)
5 1/2 years (redundancy)
2 years
2 years (redundancy)
6 weeks (made redundant as they lost the contract
)3 years (redundancy)
some temp assignments of 3 or 4 months each
1 year
and in current job for 1 year so far (but wandering eyes )
3.5 years = First job, had a few promotions, loved it.
6 months = Better opportunity (or so I thought) came up, took it, made my position redundant with pay till the end of the current month (two weeks)
3 months = Temporary job
And current.. 4 months, going well at the moment.. should be here a while.
So in just 5 years a fair bit!
6 months = Better opportunity (or so I thought) came up, took it, made my position redundant with pay till the end of the current month (two weeks)
3 months = Temporary job
And current.. 4 months, going well at the moment.. should be here a while.
So in just 5 years a fair bit!
sharpfocus said:
GeraldSmith said:
being at the same employer but promoted from role to role is what I am looking for.
Not in IT then?If someone has been promoted from role to role then obviously their employer rates them, that's a good thing to see on a CV regardless of what sector you are in.
2 weeks - First real job at Power House, the company went into administration, only 16 at the time and loved the time I was there.
6 months - PC World, hated every second of the place, got treated like crap by managers all the time, didn't need the stress of trying to meet targets at 17.
4 years - Current job at Tesco, started part time 8 hours a week while at college, now full time...I hate it, but its a job at the end of the day. Moved departments twice so far, from dairy to the petrol station, and moving to the customer service desk in a couple of weeks for a change...been in the petrol station for 2 years now.
6 months - PC World, hated every second of the place, got treated like crap by managers all the time, didn't need the stress of trying to meet targets at 17.
4 years - Current job at Tesco, started part time 8 hours a week while at college, now full time...I hate it, but its a job at the end of the day. Moved departments twice so far, from dairy to the petrol station, and moving to the customer service desk in a couple of weeks for a change...been in the petrol station for 2 years now.
Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff



