Chronicles Of A Serial Job Hopper!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012, 17:54

Have you been branded as a job hopper by all human resources personnel? Do not be disheartened because there is a up and down side to it. Changing jobs frequently is a practice that is like a coin; there are two sides to it. Just because most people choose to look at its dark side does not mean that it is a bad thing or a good thing. This is from a person who has changed 13 jobs in the span of 22 years of working and very moment of it has been worth it.

Your career choices can make or break you; true, but there is no set formula as to what your career moves should be. If you want to know what a job hopper goes through first hand then here are some points worth sharing.

Why You Should Be A Job Hopper?

1. You learn more and the most conservative corporates cannot deny that. If you take a person who keeps moving and someone who has worked in the same company for 30 years, there can hardly be any question about who has had more experience.

2. You can explore your options. For the previous generation, career choices were final, there was no question of exploration but now you can experiment with streams. You may have a degree in literature and end up at a journalist's desk because you liked it.

3. You can never get complacent if you are changing jobs every 2 years. You go into a new work culture with new people and start all over again.

4. If you are making career moves then it means that you have the options. Someone who has no job offers cannot be a job hopper. You get to know your market worth that way.

Why Changing Jobs Often Is A Pain?

1. The human resources people look at you with suspicion and they have it at the back of their mind that you will not make a good employee.

2. After your 4th or 5th move your resume will start reflecting your fickle nature. Now you may think its positive but your recruitment rests in the hands of the HR and if they don't trust you, you don't get the job.

3. You may see that you get many interview calls because you are obviously talented but few confirmed jobs.

4. The company will overlook you for trainings and on site projects because for them a good employee is someone you can trust to stick around. They have a lurking fear that if they invest in you, you'll let them down by moving on to another job.

Expert Tips:

1. To put is simply, there is a time for everything. The first few years of career is to explore and the middle portion for consolidation.

2. Never switch jobs for just money. You will be a happy job hopper and a successful one only if you change jobs to learn new things.