Am I resigning too quickly?

rjay100

rjay100

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I’m averaging at around 1 year per company.
I know back in the day people would stick it out for 8 years at a job they hated.
Is staying at a company for years on end so you don’t look like a job-hopper still a thing? I get paid well enough but the work, processes and tech is ancient and horrible. Closing in on one year and thinking of firing up my LinkedIn..
 
rjay100 said:
I’m averaging at around 1 year per company.
I know back in the day people would stick it out for 8 years at a job they hated.
Is staying at a company for years on end so you don’t look like a job-hopper still a thing? I get paid well enough but the work, processes and tech is ancient and horrible. Closing in on one year and thinking of firing up my LinkedIn..
Click to expand...
I stayed 7 years at one company only to be retrenched. I never forget, what a person told me, do you have 7 years experience of acquiring new skills or 7 years of doing the same thing year in and year out.
 
rh1 said:
I stayed 7 years at one company only to be retrenched. I never forget, what a person told me, do you have 7 years experience of acquiring new skills or 7 years of doing the same thing year in and year out.
Click to expand...

Oh snap! Been with my company for going on 7 years and getting made redundant in October. Luckily I’ve moved around quite a bit internally during that time, so my CV is quite fleshed out.
 
How many companies is that? IIRC, you were quite new to the workforce. One a year is ok for the first 2-3 years, but it’s starting to look dodgy after that. Given that you’re already at R1.6m+/y, I doubt hopping Is going to cause hardship, but it will make those higher end overseas jobs harder to land.
 
rjay100 said:
I get paid well enough but the work, processes and tech is ancient and horrible. Closing in on one year and thinking of firing up my LinkedIn..
Click to expand...

If you hate the work move on... thing is, the companies that still hire you in spite of the fact you've never worked longer than a year for anyone else, are probably increasingly going to be those companies where a good solid tech platform is not really a thing either. Nevermind a solid work culture.

So you could end up in a vicious cycle.

Maybe stick it out long enough to get into a position to actually influence the work processes and tech?
 
rjay100 said:
I’m averaging at around 1 year per company.
I know back in the day people would stick it out for 8 years at a job they hated.
Is staying at a company for years on end so you don’t look like a job-hopper still a thing? I get paid well enough but the work, processes and tech is ancient and horrible. Closing in on one year and thinking of firing up my LinkedIn..
Click to expand...
You probably need to change roles or the industry you're in.
 
Saw a CV of a person who averages about a year a company. She applied for a job that required 7 years experience in a field. Her job hopping however meant she didn't have enough experience to be competent in the job she applied. She has >10 years experience but keeps changing roles so she ends up not being good at anything. I say not good cause she struggled with technical questions. I think when you start out you should try spending more than a year to learn a bit.
 
In my opinion, it depends on how long your work career is.

If a short career (less 5 years), more than 2 one year stints will be concerning. If a medium term career, I would say more than 4 one year stints will be concerning from a recruitment perspective. If you can't build a resume showing "loyalty" I do think it becomes tricky when selling yourself.

As many others have said, I guess the question for yourself is why you have found yourself in this 1 year average cycle. Their could be real reasons but once you have sufficient experience it becomes hard to BS the HR person for the reasons that you have left your previous jobs.

I've recently started a new job (same industry and title) and see myself minimum 3 years at the company to ensure I can learn something new as all companies have a different way of thinking and its good to have that completeness when developing professional identity.
 
I never invite a candidate for an interview when I can see he/she is a job hopper. With the cost of recruitment and training these days it is not worth hiring a person in the tech field that stays less than 30 months.
 
3 years company One, retrenched
4 years company Two, But Company one was software house that loaned me to Company Two, so basically 7 years at Company Two. Retrenched after boss retrenched whole IT department. Had 4 months of contract work with Company Two, nailing them for retrenching the day before Christmas. Worked one week a month for double the salary.
Then Company Three for 18 years. Still going strong.
I like stability.
 
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I've made a post about this previously, but it's been very hard to find candidates with solid experience, despite several years racked up on their cv's. From my very anecdotal POV, it's pretty clear that job-hopping is now the norm, expecially amongst candidates in the 1 - 8 years experience brackets.
 
Problem is that unless you’re extremely lucky, you’re not going to hit your earning potential by being loyal to a company. Average annual increases are around 5-10%, but a move to a new company could lead to a 20%+ increase. Do that a few times and you’re minted.

Sure, it doesn’t look great on your CV, but in the long run the only reason you or anyone else goes to work is to make money.
 
rjay100 said:
I’m averaging at around 1 year per company.
I know back in the day people would stick it out for 8 years at a job they hated.
Is staying at a company for years on end so you don’t look like a job-hopper still a thing? I get paid well enough but the work, processes and tech is ancient and horrible. Closing in on one year and thinking of firing up my LinkedIn..
Click to expand...
Early in your career you may be able to get away with it. Mid to latter part it will count against you esp if you are trying for high end jobs.
It also depends on if you were permanent or contracting.

Generally job hopping like that tends to create an impression of
1) You couldnt get on with people
2) You dont know your job hence you quit
3) You dont stay long enough to really gain knowledge.
 
First full time job I stayed at for 7 years, mostly because I was just paying the bills, but I was also upskilling informally on the side. Second I was at for 2.5 years. Currently on my third job at almost 2 years. The work environment is very good and only reason I will leave is if I get a BIG salary upgrade elsewhere (like 50% so if it turned out to be kak I could quit and get by on my savings for a bit). My current goal is to try and get decent increases where I work just because the of the work environment.

Purely from my experience, but it takes six months just to settle into most places. That only gives you about six months of actual learning.
 
Company 1 : 2.5 yrs
Company 2 : 8 months
Company 3 : 5 months
Company 4 : 1 yr
Company 5 : 1.5 yrs
Company 6 : 2.5 yrs
Company 5 again : 1.5 yrs
Company 7 : 1 yr
Company 8 : 3 yrs
Company 9 : 6 yrs (currently)

Due to the variety of projects, I am now seen as a specialist in my specific field.

Disclaimer: I am not in IT or computers.
 
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