Jumping from one job to another

Job-hoping historically has been seen as an indication of a lack of loyalty; naivety which is the luxury of youth; a display of an employee who lacks self-awareness or an inability to adjust or an individual who is merely money hungry.

Either way, a curriculum vitae that indicated incessant job-hopping was more often than not shoved to the bottom of the pile for fear of hiring someone just for them to leave in a few months and for you to incur the cost both financially and time-wise to replace the employee who will hop to a new job in a few weeks.

Jumping from job to job is not all rejecting news and does have some advantages for the candidates. This is especially the case when instituted as part of a career strategy that can add a long-lasting boost to one’s career.

Job hopping can aid an employee to get lateral exposure to various industries and organisations. This allows the employee to gather expertise, experience, and coverage of arenas that allow them to gather best practice from across an industry or organisation, allowing the employee to become the jack of all trades and potentially being able to drive innovation and implement industry standards.

This unique skill set and proficiency is one that an employee who has spent most of their career in the same organisation doing the same role cannot bring, which a job-hopping employee potentially could. The fresh perspective brought on by the horizontal wider-based experience can make a new employee add invaluable insights to standard and mundane operations.

Leaping from an old career to a new career where you might not have as much experience requires you to answer a number of questions. The first being, “am I internally ready for the external changes such as being in a new environment or earning less pay? How will I effectively explain my reason for job hopping to both the recruiter and the potential new employer? How can I show that my previous experience, no matter how brief, would add value to the new role I would be taking on? In effectively answering these interrogations one can effectively address any concerns that a potential employer may have in considering hiring you.

Job hopping can be an effective career strategy in accumulating experience, networks and reputation in an industry or organisation. The historic implications of perceived lack in loyalty; impatient hunger for climbing the corporate ladder and a greater desire for earning more money, can be effectively managed by preparing to answer any questions that may arise from the potential employer and display the mitigation of risk for their apprehension. Jumping from job to job although precarious can be very effective as long as you look before your leap.