By: Liz Ryan
That mode of operation is dangerous, as too many working people have learned through harsh experience. Going to sleep on your career and relying on your employer to take care of your career for you is the worst decision you can make!
The truth is that “job-hoppers” earn more money, grow bigger muscles and become more marketable than non-job-hoppers do. In most cases, the longer you stay at a job past the first couple of years, the more your resume degrades in value. You become less marketable, not more, by staying in your job for a longer period of time!
That’s not your fault, but it happens naturally because your opportunities to learn new things degrade as you stick around in your current job. You’ll find that in order to keep stretching and growing, you have to constantly look for new learning opportunities and often nudge your manager to give you more latitude.
Why do so many corporations and institutions shun so-called “job-hoppers?” It’s easy to see why. The hiring mechanisms and decision-making processes in these organizations are out of step with the modern day.
Decision-makers in HR and in the various departments are still afraid of “job-hoppers” because they fear that they’ll invest money in training a person and then watch that person sail out the door. They don’t see their side of the equation: If you take good care of your employees and give them continuous learning opportunities, they will stick around.
They will bring in their friends to work for you, too. Culture is everything! Nothing in your business matters as much as your culture does, but many leaders are blind to that fact.
Until hiring decision-makers wake up to the power of hiring “job-hoppers” who bring flexibility, resourcefulness and the ability to learn new things on the spot, you may miss out on some job opportunities because of your colorful resume.
Don’t fret about it. Not everyone deserves your talents. Fearful hiring managers and HR people who would reject you just because you’ve got one or two jobs too many in your resume are people who couldn’t grow your flame, anyway.
Forget them, and continue on your path. It’s a job-hopper’s world, these days. Nobody else can run your career for you — you have to run it yourself. Remember that only the people who get you, deserve you!