Are Frequent Role Changes Good or Bad for Your Career?
In the world of employment and recruitment, is there an industry standard for how long you should spend at a job? Furthermore, just how frequent is too frequent? To weigh up whether continual role changes are good or bad for your career, here we present opinions and insights from various business and recruitment experts.
Quick links
- 3 Reasons People Change Their Jobs Frequently
- Pros of frequent role changes
- Cons of frequent role changes
- What are hiring managers looking for?
3 Reasons People Change Their Jobs Frequently
Before we take a look at whether frequent job changes positively or negatively affect career prospects, it’s worth looking at why people choose to change their jobs. Here are some of the main reasons why people job hop.
Seeking work-life balance
Whether it’s the responsibility of the job or the commute, some jobs quickly eat into personal time. Changing jobs can quickly solve this issue, ensuring a better work-life balance.
Company culture
The culture of a company drastically affects how happy employees are in their jobs. Sometimes, employees don’t leave a bad company, they leave a bad culture.
Relocation
The location of a job plays a huge part in how an employee feels about it. The time and money lost due to a long commute can lead to someone feeling the need to change jobs.
Pros of Frequent Role Changes
Now that we know why people might change jobs, let’s take a look at the pros of frequent role changes.
Personal, professional growth
A more varied CV tends to show adaptability and readiness, as opposed to those who have remained in fewer positions. New jobs mean new colleagues, new environments, and new opportunities to grow professionally.
A range of experience can demonstrate that a candidate is able to better adapt to changing systems and may possess a stronger set of soft skills that aren’t quantifiable. While it will still take some time to adjust, candidates who change jobs more frequently are likely to integrate quicker.
Salary
ONS statistics show that those who change jobs every two years experience higher wage growth than those who stay in their job.
In a challenging economy, employees are more likely to change jobs frequently in order to chase a higher salary.
However, this isn’t a given. Employees are most likely to receive a significant pay increase when moving into a role that is more senior than the one they’re currently in.
Skill development
Whether it’s the development of existing skills or the acquisition of new skills, a new job is likely to push you more than your current job. The nature of changing jobs means that you’ll be around new people, new systems, and new ways of working that will only serve to strengthen your professional experience.
Cons of Frequent Role Changes
So, there are clearly plenty of pros to changing jobs, but are there any cons? Of course there are, let’s take a look at them now.
May affect future job prospects
While young professionals might get away with frequent job hops, as you mature in the workforce, changing jobs too frequently might become harder to justify to potential employers.
Changing jobs too frequently can impact future job prospects because it can be an indicator of future behaviour. Ultimately, employers want to know that a good employee will stay with them long-term rather than spending time and money on recruitment soon.
Financial risk
While a pay increase might sound great, by changing jobs, you might also give up legal protections. In the UK, the Employment Rights Act 1996 ensures that employers must demonstrate a fair reason to dismiss an employee once they’ve been in employment for two years. Ultimately, trading this security for a slightly higher pay increase is a risk that each person will have to assess. You can look at online reviews to assess the turnover rate of employers, and even use them to find out whether they’re a good fit for you, so that you’re not joining a workplace that is a bad fit for you.
Harder to build professional relationships
In the workplace, relationships are important, allowing for smoother workflow and generally happier employees. When changing jobs, consider that you will have to build these relationships from scratch all over again. While this might not be an issue for some candidates, other candidates can struggle to overcome this barrier in a short space of time.
What are hiring managers looking for?
When hiring new talent, hiring managers shouldn’t be quick to assume the reasons behind frequent moves.
Those in charge of hiring should consider factors such as the companies that the candidate has worked for. At smaller businesses, there may not be the room for growth that is needed to progress professionally.
As a hiring manager, you should take it upon yourself to learn why a potential employee has changed jobs frequently. So long as they can provide coherent answers confidently, there is no reason that this should deter you from hiring them.
However, be aware of answers that hint at things like personal issues with team members at multiple workplaces. This might suggest the issue will persist in their new role.
It’s clear to see that frequent job changes can lead to both positive and negative effects on your career path. With the right guidance, you can make the correct decision and excel in your new job role or continue to thrive in your current one.
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The views, opinions and positions expressed within this article are those of our third-party content providers alone and do not represent those of SEFE. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. SEFE accepts no liability for any errors, omissions or representations.
