Introduction
So, what is job-hopping? Why is it so common and what are the pros and the cons?
A job-hopper is someone who has changed jobs frequently in the past. But what is considered job-hopping really varies from country to country.
Prior to moving to Thailand in 2016, I recruited for the best of a decade within the UK. The first thing that surprised me about the recruitment market in Thailand was how frequently people moved jobs, especially within IT. It was not uncommon to see people having 3 or 4 jobs in a 2-year period and these people still got hired!
As a headhunter in the UK, these types of profiles simply got filtered out. For the most part, we wouldn’t even call those candidates and we certainly wouldn’t be sending them to our clients.
Job-hoppers would be considered unreliable and unable to hold down a job, with the common perception being their skills are lacking or they are unable to work effectively with other people.
In Thailand it is much more accepted. Possibly due to culture differences but I would say more likely due to a lack of talent in the market and companies’ desperation to hire good people.
Things may have changed in the UK over the last 6 years, but I would guess there are still huge differences in perception between the two markets.
Why do people job-hop?
There are several angles to look at this, both positively and negatively.
If we consider the Thai market, job-hopping is looked at less negatively and due to the lack of IT talent in the market, it’s still pretty easy for these guys to get hired.
When it comes to salary, job-hoppers tend to fare much better than non-job-hoppers. From my experience, employees who switch jobs frequently tend to receive higher average yearly salary increases than their peers who stay at the same company for a long period of time.
This is the main driver for job-hoppers, the ability to get huge salary increases every 12 months. And while companies continue to accept and follow this practice, it will continue.
The current market is unusual, I have seen candidates who have doubled their salary over an 18-month period, simply by moving jobs 3 times. This simply wouldn’t happen by staying with one employer.
There are of course, other factors to consider. People make mistakes, they join companies and it’s not what they were expecting, often having been mis sold the role. In these cases, it is wise to make the decision early that it isn’t for you and look for something more suited.
However, this shouldn’t happen 3 or 4 times in a short period of time.
From a cynical point of view, people take jobs and simply don’t perform. Some companies decide to let them go at the probation stage, others will be more generous and give time for the person to improve. If there’s no improvement, the person may then be asked to leave the organization after 6 months or so.
It’s very rare for a candidate to be honest about their poor performance, quite often they will look for an excuse; It was a bad culture, the boss was horrible, the project was boring, the location wasn’t great etc.
As recruiters, we must question this.
If it happens multiple times over a short period of time, the likelihood is you’re dealing with a poor performer.
So, how long should you stay in your job?
This is a difficult question to answer definitively as there are several variables to consider. I have touched on the differences from country to country, but there are also differences between industry sectors.
For example, the average tenure in a talent short market like IT is considerably shorter than other sectors. That said, it is still important to show some loyalty and longevity in your career if you wish to really stand out and achieve the real career progression.
It’s rare to see C level employees that have jumped around in their careers.
If we are talking about the Thai market, my opinion is a tenure below 18 months is going to be looked at negatively. It might not impact your chances of getting hired if it happens once or twice, but if you continue to move around too regularly it will eventually impact your career opportunities in the future.
The sweet spot is still at least 2-3 years with a company.
Why moving jobs too frequently is bad
- Employers are less likely to promote job-hoppers. The fact that you've changed jobs several times in the past few years does not suggest an employee who is committed or loyal to their employer, so it's understandable why most companies would be wary of offering promotions to people with such a history.
- Job-hoppers are less employable on the open market. If your resume jumps all over the place, employers will question what your reasons were for leaving each position and may question whether they should hire you at all.
- It’s lovely getting all those big salary increases each time you move, but eventually you will become overpaid and other companies will just not be prepared to match it. You could end up in a job you hate on a high salary with no option but to take a significant salary increase to leave.
- Job-hoppers face more layoff risk during economic downturns. The adage, last in, first out comes to mind. When times are tough and cuts need to be made, employers are likely to stick with the long serving and loyal employees. You are also especially at risk if you’re on a huge salary, well above market rates for you experience.
Changing perceptions.
Times change and while it’s widely documented that millennials have a tendency for regularly changing their job, it’s not just limited to the younger generations.
“A job for life” which was quite common in my grandparents and even parents’ era, just doesn’t exist in the modern world of work. The thought of staying with one company your whole career is absurd for most people.
Today, the thought of staying with an organization for 7 or 8 years is almost as absurd, with 3 or 4 years now seen as about the right time to start looking for a new challenge in most countries.
How will this change in the future? As the gig economy and flexible working continues to grow in popularity, maybe the thought of staying longer than 1 year with a company will become old fashioned too.
We are not there yet though, especially here in Thailand where most of the workforce are employed as permanent members of staff.
Conclusions
A lot of the problems we see here in Thailand with job-hoppers is dictated by the market conditions. There is a massive demand for talent and a very low supply, especially in tech.
With so many companies looking to scale their teams, they are prepared to overlook the negatives and hire pretty much anyone that is technically strong, while offering them a big salary increase to come onboard too.
It’s not sustainable and eventually a ceiling will be reached and possibly the bubble bursting completely.
So, what are the solutions?
Simply, companies need to do more to retain their staff, and this is not in the form of a counteroffer when their star employee already has one foot out the door. Pay market rates, reward loyalty, and offer salary increments that are meaningful.
To the job-hoppers reading, just consider that we are in a bubble right now and the boom for hiring will almost certainly slow down at some point. You may be getting lots of calls from recruiters right now, but if there is a downturn, you don’t want to find yourself at risk of being unemployable.
Don’t get greedy by just moving to the highest bidder, consider all the factors when looking at a move and never forget about your true motivations and long term career goals.