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Recruiter here, and the first thing to consider is that to actually be called a job hopper, you must be pretty good at getting hired. Otherwise, you'd be calle
by fecak 13y ago
Recruiter here, and the first thing to consider is that to actually be called a job hopper, you must be pretty good at getting hired. Otherwise, you'd be called unemployed.
People define job hopping different ways, and the tenure matters. I once had a client (financial, big) that wouldn't hire anyone that wasn't at their current job for 7+ years. They abandoned that policy around 2006, as they found it impossible to hire, and they also found that the types of candidates that met that qualification often weren't that attractive. In other words, they found that if you were at your company for 10+ years, it could be because you are not in high demand by others.
In tech, moving jobs is expected and probably recommended from a marketability and employability perspective, as long as you make smart moves and don't just leave every time you get bored or passed over for a promotion.
Someone who has a pattern of staying perhaps 3 years with companies and then leaving will often be viewed as very attractive, whereas someone who has several 6-8 month stints over the course of a few years will often get a negative view.
EDIT: Forgot that I wrote an article on job hopping for tech pros earlier this year http://jobtipsforgeeks.com/2013/07/25/hop/ http://jobtipsforgeeks.com/2013/07/25/hop/
- CmonDev 13y agoGray area is the most interesting as usual: 1-2 years.
- djKianoosh 13y agoI had an old manager about 10 years ago that told me his advice is, rule of thumb, everyone should move after 2-2.5 years. 1 year is not enough, he would say, to really know the business/tech of a place to make a real big difference. After 2 years, if the work isn't interesting anymore and/or if you've already made an impact, it will take a while to make a big impact again. Looking back (I've had stints of 4 yrs, 2 yrs, 6.5 yrs, .5 yrs, and 1yr) I have to say he was pretty much on the money.
- fecak 13y agoI even think 3-5 years can be a good duration if your company is doing interesting things and moving you around a bit. Multiple 2 year stints could start to scare some people, but I definitely feel that someone with five 2 year stints could very well be better off than someone with 10 years at the same place.
- djKianoosh 13y agoThat person with 10 years at the same place better not have been doing the same thing for half that time! :) that's my point. It could be that you were at Accenture or IBM 10 years. Fine. You probably had a great senior manager/associate partner that took care of you. Great. Most likely during that time you wore many hats, had several roles, etc. To me that's similar to someone working at 5 different companies in 10 years. Just need the details to confirm. But if that gal/guy is 10 years with only two different roles during that whole time. Yeah, I'd have to dig in deeper on that.