Tuesday Thoughts! We’re already at March and closing in on Q1 for 2022. There’s only been one thing worth discussing this past week, and that was the start of the War between Russia and Ukraine. It has taken the world by storm and looks to be a significant moment in the 21st century, which seem to be happening just one after the other in the 2020s. The sanctions to Russia internationally have been appearingly muddled but at the same time strong. Russian banks have been banned from accessing SWIFT, the Russian football teams have been banned from competing internationally and the F1 axed the Russian GP to name a few. War is clearly a distressing time, many have been forced to flee from Ukraine, but it’s been appalling to see the obvious racist treatment of black people within Ukraine, even still in these times.
For today’s blog, I won’t be discussing the war in length but rather one by product of poor treatment in the workplace, job hopping. Job hopping can be defined as spending less than two years in a position. Job hopping has been on the rise, 6/10 Millennials are open to new job opportunities, but why?
Higher Pay
Career Advancement
Better Work Life Balance
More interesting/ challenging work
Escape poor management
Most things in your life, from your health, mind to career is on you to manage first and foremost. If you are a passenger in your career, some things may fall your way, but when you’re the driver you can steer yourself towards what’s best for your career. This could be staying in your team, changing roles internally or taking the leap to a new company entirely. Women appear to job hop more than men, demonstrating their willingness to go for roles that will help them achieve what they want professionally. When being passed up for a promotion, the solution is to continue to work hard, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be reassessing if you should be looking for a promotion elsewhere.
A leading reason for people job hopping is being underrecognised and underpaid. Whilst there has been a lot of talk of the ‘Great Resignation’, it could alternatively be seen as the ‘Great Reshuffle.’ There are plenty of new types of jobs on the rise and industries such as Tech offering pathways to career fulfilment and advancement in a less conventional route for people. People are advised against job hopping as it can be a possible red flag to employers, but with times evolving that advice may need to evolve with it. There is not a shortage of jobs, rather an excess of vacancies, with companies struggling to fill them all. Time and time again employers like to hire candidates with more experience. So whilst number of jobs on your CV can be a factor in the hiring process, let’s not downplay the other factor of the experience that those jobs provide.
ONS provided a breakdown on the earnings impact of job hopping and staying:
Job stayers on average earn a higher hourly wage compared with those who hop jobs; however, workers who switch jobs experience higher pay growth compared with those who do not.
The relatively weak pickup in wage growth in recent years, despite record low unemployment, has been driven by job stayers – who represent most of the sample.
Full-time job hoppers experienced higher earnings growth compared with job stayers, while part-time stayers and hoppers experienced similar growth to each other.
In the past few years, experts have described the current labour market as “candidate-driven.” Job seekers hold more power than employers, a trend that seems to be deepening. The ONS stats imply the passivity of staying in a job will allow a company to continue to offer minimal wage growth, so be prepared to get aggressive. Just remember your career and the power is in your hands, leaving doesn’t need to be on poor terms either. Companies value good workers, just cause you hop around, doesn’t close the door to a return.
Like I should be dressing different
Like I should be less aggressive and more pessimistic – Pound Cake/Paris Morton Music (Drake)
My 2 pence is job hopping should always be explored, the retirement age is 66, and it’s set to go up further to 68. That is coming into effect by 2046, whilst that is an age away, by that point will you be at the retirement age? There’s a cost-of-living crisis which is impossible to be ignorant to, seeking better remuneration is essential. The aim isn’t to be barely breaking even, it’s to thrive, daily coffees or not. In the Civil Service, one of the best ways to improve your professional aptitude and applications as a result, is to expose yourself to different government departments, a form of job hopping. Job hopping can prevent companies’ ways of working from becoming stale, since a diversity of thought can be bought in through it.
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Temis2Pence