Job Hopping Can Affect Wages
...but to what degree?
Featured Author:
Anita Bruzzese
Author of a new Amazon Top 20 Workplace Book, Anita is a prolific newspaper writer and columnist, expert on workplace issues, and Smith College Fellow.
Anita’s 15-year career has been built around giving consistently clever, fail-proof advice to literally millions of readers; her insights cover an expanse of topics, including coping with demotions, how to not tick off your boss, obnoxious alpha males, and the correlation between childhood disobedience and later-life business botches. To quote from her website: “The premise is simple: Bosses do not hire you to fire you. Then why do employees continue to make the same mistakes that cost them raises, promotions – and even their careers?”
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Anita Bruzzese | 45 Things.com
March 20, 2008
There’s been some debate about the idea of job hopping. Many younger workers have no problem with it, while older workers fear the perception that job hopping will make them look less reliable to prospective employers. It appears there’s some value in both arguments, which I’ll discuss further in this post.
But on this first day of Spring, let’s start with:
The Five O’Clock Club provides eight signs that it’s time to change jobs.
I’ve added my own insight, and come up with this list on how you know it’s time to head for the exit:
1. You don’t fit in. In other words, your values don’t match the company’s. Why is the boss having lunch with Tony Soprano?
2. Your boss doesn’t like you – and the feeling is mutual.
3. Your peers don’t like you. You’ve discovered that high school cliques have nothing on workplace snottiness.
4. You don’t get assignments that demonstrate the full range of your abilities. In other words, the boss doesn’t seem to trust you enough to park his car.
5. You always get called upon to do the grunt work. Can you say “clean out the fridge?”
6. You are excluded from meetings your peers are invited to. (“Hey…why is this door locked?”)
7. Everyone on your level has an office. Your computer sits on the radiator.
8. You dread going to work and feel like you’re developing an ulcer. When you start putting vodka in with the Maalox, you know you’re in trouble.
In another salvo aimed at attracting younger workers, Ernst and Young has set up what they call “EY Insight,” a fully interactive website that allows someone to see exactly what’s in store for them should they choose to work there.
The press release states: “Through customizable tools, such as ‘EY 360◦’, ‘Picture Yourself’ and ‘Interview Insider,’ firm prospects are allowed to tailor their interests and education background to explore career paths that present the best fit for them within the firm. Prospects can also view video testimonials of a ‘Day in the Life’ or even a ‘Year in the Life’ of a current employees.”
And, while I’m on the subject on younger workers, there is new research in the latest issue of the American Sociological Review, stating that workers who frequently change jobs generally end up earning less than their more stable counterparts.
The research found that any benefits of job hopping accrue in the early days of a career, and after that, wages can take a hit when you move from employer to employer.
“One reason for lower wage trajectories among high-mobility workers is their failure to accumulate valuable early tenure associated with staying up to five years with an employer. In the first five years of a job, each year of tenure is associated with approximately 2.4 percent higher wages for men and 2.9 percent higher wages for women. However, after five years with an employer, women’s gains from tenure plateau and men’s begin to erode,” the study found.
The study also looked at the impact on wages when workers took time off to raise kids.
