How to Avoid Job Hopping?
14 May 2015
Read by 3345 persons
After more than ten years with the same organization, Dominic changed employers three times in as many years.
Disagreement with a new company direction, lack of resources, desire to experience new things: various reasons pushed this video game programmer to look elsewhere more often than he would have liked.
Because professional "job hopping" doesn't only have advantages. Of course, it allows you to diversify your knowledge, expand your professional network and can be accompanied by a salary increase or promotion. Especially as the practice becomes more widespread, it is less and less poorly perceived by recruiters.
But if the ship starts to take on water, the last arrival may be the first to be dropped. Changes of employers are also accompanied by periods after hiring where the employee is not covered by the organization's health insurance plan, which Dominic experienced. The fact of not accumulating seniority also penalizes the worker, for example regarding benefits associated with many years of service in a company that offers a retirement plan to its employees. It is therefore better to think twice.
Here are some avenues to explore before submitting your resignation.
First, examine the situation
It is first of all essential to examine your motivations and objectives, emphasizes Marie-Christine Poulin, CRHA and organizational development consultant. She invites the worker to consider the following:
sources of dissatisfaction related to their current duties;
their professional goals;
the needs they seek to meet by wanting to change jobs;
the possibilities of meeting these needs internally, without going to another employer;
the advantages and disadvantages of changing employers;
the possible positive repercussions of a discussion about their needs and dissatisfaction with their supervisor.
Julie Mackay, CRHA and recruiter at CORTO.REV, invites professional job hoppers to prepare to justify their conduct: "I wouldn't eliminate [the application of] a person who has frequently changed jobs, but I will want to understand the reasons that led them to do so." Hence the importance of establishing a balance sheet of the skills acquired in the different positions held.
Try to improve your situation internally
Once this reflection is complete, explore the possibilities with your current employer: promotion or lateral movement, assignment to a special project, adjustment of working conditions... If the employer is open to changes, so much the better! Take advantage of the meeting to establish an action plan.
Ms. Mackay emphasizes that professional fulfillment is a shared responsibility: "The employee is responsible for their development and the manager or company must provide them with opportunities."
Marie-Christine Poulin adds other avenues for getting out of the rut while remaining in the service of the same organization: enrolling in a professional development activity, attending conferences or participating in a mentoring program.
Set a personal challenge?
What if you met your thirst for new challenges after work hours? Could starting a new sport or getting involved in a cause close to your heart be enough? Maybe. Julie Mackay doubts, however, that such initiatives will satisfy a "desire to move [...] motivated by in-depth reflection."
But if the desire to leave prevails after all these steps, you will at least hand in your notice with the satisfaction of having tried everything!
Anne-Hélène Dupont.
Workopolis.com
Published April 28, 2015.
Posted online May 14, 2015.
Disagreement with a new company direction, lack of resources, desire to experience new things: various reasons pushed this video game programmer to look elsewhere more often than he would have liked.
Because professional "job hopping" doesn't only have advantages. Of course, it allows you to diversify your knowledge, expand your professional network and can be accompanied by a salary increase or promotion. Especially as the practice becomes more widespread, it is less and less poorly perceived by recruiters.
But if the ship starts to take on water, the last arrival may be the first to be dropped. Changes of employers are also accompanied by periods after hiring where the employee is not covered by the organization's health insurance plan, which Dominic experienced. The fact of not accumulating seniority also penalizes the worker, for example regarding benefits associated with many years of service in a company that offers a retirement plan to its employees. It is therefore better to think twice.
Here are some avenues to explore before submitting your resignation.
First, examine the situation
It is first of all essential to examine your motivations and objectives, emphasizes Marie-Christine Poulin, CRHA and organizational development consultant. She invites the worker to consider the following:
sources of dissatisfaction related to their current duties;
their professional goals;
the needs they seek to meet by wanting to change jobs;
the possibilities of meeting these needs internally, without going to another employer;
the advantages and disadvantages of changing employers;
the possible positive repercussions of a discussion about their needs and dissatisfaction with their supervisor.
Julie Mackay, CRHA and recruiter at CORTO.REV, invites professional job hoppers to prepare to justify their conduct: "I wouldn't eliminate [the application of] a person who has frequently changed jobs, but I will want to understand the reasons that led them to do so." Hence the importance of establishing a balance sheet of the skills acquired in the different positions held.
Try to improve your situation internally
Once this reflection is complete, explore the possibilities with your current employer: promotion or lateral movement, assignment to a special project, adjustment of working conditions... If the employer is open to changes, so much the better! Take advantage of the meeting to establish an action plan.
Ms. Mackay emphasizes that professional fulfillment is a shared responsibility: "The employee is responsible for their development and the manager or company must provide them with opportunities."
Marie-Christine Poulin adds other avenues for getting out of the rut while remaining in the service of the same organization: enrolling in a professional development activity, attending conferences or participating in a mentoring program.
Set a personal challenge?
What if you met your thirst for new challenges after work hours? Could starting a new sport or getting involved in a cause close to your heart be enough? Maybe. Julie Mackay doubts, however, that such initiatives will satisfy a "desire to move [...] motivated by in-depth reflection."
But if the desire to leave prevails after all these steps, you will at least hand in your notice with the satisfaction of having tried everything!
Anne-Hélène Dupont.
Workopolis.com
Published April 28, 2015.
Posted online May 14, 2015.
