Thanks to Mabel‘s comment and from it, I drew inspiration for this post. Below is an extraction from one of her comment: “Working in many industries we go gain a wide-set of skills and we might find what we love doing. On the other hand, some might see this sort of person as being “floaty” or flaky, flitting from one job to another and that it will be hard to invest in things like property and shares later on.”
So is job hopping bad? I always believe that there both sides to a coin, nothing is truly bad if you do it with a little bit more thought and in moderation. If you job hop every 3 to 6 months and hop around without a purpose in mind, with various reasons of just because but not limited to:
– My pay is too low – I hate my colleagues – My boss hates me – I wish I have more benefits – I hate my job
Of course, all the above are valid reasons to quit a job however if you find yourself doing it one too many times, you need to ask yourself a really painful but realistic question: Is it them or the job unsuitable for you or is it you with unrealistic expectations?
However, there is absolutely nothing wrong with exploring different fields that you have been exposed to. Only trying out new things then will we grow as a person. Having a job is not all about putting food on our table and paying the bills, it is also about cultivating who you are and your growth. So before you make the decision to change your job, ask yourself earnest the following questions:
– Is the new job going to give you opportunities that your current job is unable to give you?
– Have you learned all you can learn from in your current company? In your current role?
– Is there anything else you haven’t explore within your role?
– Is the new job a step up from your current role? Meaning perhaps you are an engineer in your current position, is the new role going allow you to become a lead engineer in your field?
– Before you switch industry, are you satisfied that you have learned all you can about the workings of the industry?
These questions will provide you with the guidelines whether to move on or stay. Let me tell you this because to fully understand your role, you’ll need at least a year. The year will present its highs and lows surrounding your position, that’s also the reason why companies do evaluation of an incumbent yearly instead of quarterly because it is more accurate. And to understand your industry, you will need at least another year to fully understand how each departments in your company work and how they manage to collaborate with each other to produce the final product – the end results.
So to safely put across, yes a two years in your current position will not only helped you to see in-depth of the company but also help you to grow all around. I am using a medium size company to gauge the growth, of course the bigger the size of the company, the more to explore and to learn. Don’t just give up your job for a higher pay. Yes, realistically you should do that but you should also think about the growth and learning challenges the new company can give to you. Monetary compensation and benefits are superficial in exchange of self-satisfaction and self growth.
Let me share a true experience of mine:
I was very young and working in the retail industry because the money is extremely good. The job is easy enough and commission just kept flowing in. I learnt a lot from how to deal with difficult customers face to face and studied a great deal about body language; and because I was close with the store and area managers, from them I learnt even more about managing a store as well as tenancy agreements and how to pick a viable store location. I made myself available to befriend the back office folks and learnt about the logistics of goods receivables and what’s not. So much so I can run the store without any supervision by the end of my 1st year.
I was approached by an entrepreneur who wants a good independent administrative staff, someone who can help him to run his business on the paperwork end so that he could go out and procure more businesses for his company without worrying what’s going behind the scene. As his business is only starting, he couldn’t pay me very much. I took a pay cut of more than 50% with zero benefits and jump ship.
You must think I’m crazy. My parents thought so too. But I saw an opportunity that no one saw. I saw that from him I can learn how to run a business and to grow with a start-up company. I of course, being young, didn’t have much financial commitment except my monthly mobile bills. And I have never regretted my decision because I have gain so much in knowledge. I gave to him is my belief in his company and he gave to me is a triple promotion with pay raise once the business has picked up and was soaring with profits. That was the period, I learn how to use Microsoft Office, I learn how to acquire and liquidate a company and how I learn to become an operation manager of a school at a tender age. My reasoning was simple: Money can buy degrees but money can’t buy experience and education. My pay cut to me was the school fee in exchange for lifelong education and it was well worth it!
In comparison to some of my friends who either stayed where they are due to complacency and now they regret having stuck in the same company for more than 10 years or another group of my friends who kept hopping in and between jobs that they became jack of all trades and master of none. The key here is to find a comfortable balance and to truly identify the real opportunity.
Don’t see your career path as a list of companies you want to write in your résumé. See the different decisions as the next chapter in life. Be sure you have completely read that chapter before flipping the page.
Do you agree with me? Come and share your thoughts with me below. Or follow me here and Twitter for more updates.
Comentários