Job Hopping Is Becoming More Acceptable

It used to be common for people to start a job and often stay with that company for a long period of time, working their way up the ranks. In more recent years however, it is becoming increasingly common for the younger generation to change their job or employer every few years as they try to find the perfect role to suit themselves.

A survey of 10,000 European individuals by ADP found that 28% of the respondents will change their job within 2 years and 2 in 3 were interested in either self employment or freelancing. This job hopping is particularly seen as being something the younger generation does, with research from LV= finding that workers who enter the job market today will change their role every 5 years.

Are Attitudes Changing?

Changing jobs frequently has often had negative connotations, with many thinking it does not show loyalty. For employers, it would be understandable to be hesitant to hire someone who has shown that they are willing to change their job often.

But new research of 1,200 professionals by CV-Library has found that views towards this have changed, with almost three quarters (74.3%) of workers believing it is more acceptable. Unsurprisingly, this figure increases among the younger generation with 87% of under 18s agreeing.

The length of time that people find acceptable that someone should stay in a job before leaving is becoming shorter as well. Almost half (46.8%) of the survey respondents found it acceptable to leave a job after less than a year.

Reasons behind this changing attitude are varied as well, with 35% agreeing that if a better opportunity arises then someone should take it. A further 26% agreed that circumstances can change, for example someone may have to move further away, travel expenses may be too much or other reasons.

The final three reasons include:

• A job may not be right – 17.9%
• Freelance work is becoming common – 7.9%
• Get a wider range of experiences – 7.5%

It Is More Expected To Change Jobs

As well it becoming more acceptable to for people to engage in job hopping, it is also slowly becoming more expected amongst professionals to have many jobs. Just over a third of professionals (31.7%) expected to have more than 10 jobs in their life.

It is also becoming less accepted for companies to expect long term loyalty from their employees. This is because one in five (20.9%) felt that it was particularly unrealistic for a business to expect their employees to remain for more than two years.

Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, said: “Though some believe that job hopping looks unprofessional, many workers across the nation are seeing the benefits, with the majority agreeing that it is becoming more acceptable. It’s interesting to note the generational gap, with younger workers more likely to job hop than their elders, suggesting that this trend could continue to grow as the next generation enters the job market.”

Something interesting to note though is that while changing jobs is becoming more acceptable, there are still plenty of people who view it negatively. The survey also reported that 33.3% of respondents felt that employees who leave after less than a year had not given the company a legitimate chance. Almost a third (28.8%) also felt that leaving after such a short period would look bad on your CV.