How long is long enough at a job?

**NetSkyBlue** · 03-26-2012, 12:42 PM

I'm not in hiring, so you may take my advice with a grain of salt, but I think it depends where you are in your career. I think 3-5 years' stay at one job, then moving to another job in the same field but higher up the corporate ladder would seem acceptable for someone "just starting out". If I were looking at a resume of someone who had worked at one company for 20 years, then had several 3 to 5 year terms with different companies, I'd wonder why.

**BudgetSurgeon** · 03-26-2012, 01:08 PM

Originally posted by herdjohnson View Post

Hey all, just looking for a quick opinion. I figure there are quite a few in the business world on this site, and I was curious what the general consensus is on how long is long enough to stay at a job as you move up the career ladder? Just to be clear, I love my job right now, and I make pretty decent money for my age. The only problem is I had to move about 8 hours away from my "home" in order to take it. I'm 25 and single so this wasn't a huge deal.

I'm still learning a lot and don't plan on moving for at least another year, but I was just wanting to see what you guys thought was the minimum amount of time you need to stay at a place before you move on without it looking bad on your resume.

I don't think these rules are really in play any more. With allegiance (on both sides of the fence) not at all like it used to be years ago, I think the rules of engagement have changed. I think if you stay at this first job for 2+ years you are really fine. You can justify moves on a variety of things: more money, closer location to home, better career oppty, more interesting work, etc. I wouldn't recommend jumping ship every 2 years, but I do know people who have had 6 or 7 jobs in the first 15 years, and are still gainfully employed.

**LuckyRobin** · 03-26-2012, 04:15 PM

I think it depends on your field as well. My husband's an engineer/designer in the oil industry and it is quite common to move from company to company depending on who has what contract or whether or not you want to move up the ladder. In his field changing companies anywhere from one to five years is accepted and expected. Now, say, a kindergarten teacher that moves every year probably would not be considered a good thing. So a lot depends on what you do, but if you are changing companies to move up and that is common in your industry, it's probably not going to be an issue. If you are in a job that expects a lot of lifers, than it might be. That being said, less than a year doesn't look so good. I'd stay at least a year unless the offer was incredible to go elsewhere and it sounds like you are planning that anyway.

**LivingAlmostLarge** · 03-26-2012, 05:50 PM

Year minimum and every 3-5 isn't unreasonable depending on the field.

**MonkeyMama** · 03-26-2012, 07:07 PM

Originally posted by LuckyRobin View Post

I think it depends on your field as well. My husband's an engineer/designer in the oil industry and it is quite common to move from company to company depending on who has what contract or whether or not you want to move up the ladder. In his field changing companies anywhere from one to five years is accepted and expected. Now, say, a kindergarten teacher that moves every year probably would not be considered a good thing. So a lot depends on what you do, but if you are changing companies to move up and that is common in your industry, it's probably not going to be an issue.

Pretty much what I was going to say. My dad is in engineering and I couldn't even count how many companies he has worked for. The jobs are very project based, lots of start ups that never make it, and on and on it goes. I'd think even staying a year doesn't mean anything in that case. OF course, I think there is a lot of "the project is over" and "there is no more funding." Not like there is a lot of choice in the matter.

**YLTL_Dan** · 03-27-2012, 05:30 AM

Your decision shouldn't be influenced by total time as much as it should be by opportunities provided and your happiness. I stayed in my first job for seven years. However, this was with a large consulting company, and I worked for ~7 different clients and ~10 different projects. This provided me with the opportunity to learn, network, and advance very quickly.

I finally left because of work/life balance issues. I traveled and worked a lot and never established myself in the city I lived in.

In my article, How To Be A Consultant, I discuss how on average we switch jobs every 2.3 years. It's not common to switch jobs, but you should be very purposeful when doing it. Make sure you have a great reason for doing it (opportunities, satisfaction, money, work/life balance, etc).

**herdjohnson** · 03-27-2012, 06:44 AM

Thanks for the opinions everyone. I work in healthcare finance, so the longevity at one company is probably a bit longer in some of the other careers mentioned. As long as I keep learning I don't plan to leave, as the next step is probably management which I really have no interest in at this point in my life. I just plan to keep my eyes open for great opportunities closer to home.

Another interesting factor is that the company I work for also has a lot of healthcare in Columbus, OH. They are very supportive of inter-company transfers, and the right opportunity could creep up there (only a couple of hours from "home").

**disneysteve** · 03-27-2012, 09:47 AM

I also think it really matters why job switches occur. I was part of a hiring committee recently and one thing that was a red flag was frequent job changes, but we addressed that in the interviews and most of the time, we found there to be very good reasons for the switches that in no way reflected badly on the applicant.

**kv968** · 03-28-2012, 03:45 AM

Originally posted by BudgetSurgeon View Post

I don't think these rules are really in play any more. With allegiance (on both sides of the fence) not at all like it used to be years ago, I think the rules of engagement have changed.

I totally agree. Companies these days want to hire more temporary workers and with doing so they don't always get the "loyalty" from employees that they may have years ago and rightfully so. The days of staying at one company your whole life and retire with a gold watch is seemingly a thing of the past.

I work at a large pharmceutical company and have almost 25 years there and I'm looked at as an oddity since there's very few of us with that amount of time. It's amazing when I walk around and see how many red employee (temporary/contractor) badges there are.

However I think there's a shift in the attitude of the younger workforce anyway. They don't expect to be at one company all their life and they manage their professional life accordingly. Not exactly jumping from job to job, but I think they realize there isn't much "loyalty" from the employer side either so if a decent opportunity arises in a different department or even a different company they don't think twice about taking it. Another factor that may contribute to this movement also is the fact that they don't offer a pension based on your years of service like they used to. Not that it may be a huge factor but if you had some time with a company knowing you'd get more in ways of a pension if you stayed, that may have swayed your decision to not leave. Whereas now all you have to do is rollover your 401k and you're gone.

Heck I know of some people we've hired out of school and within a month or two they're already looking at the company job postings to see if there's something better after getting their foot in the door and I don't blame them.

How long is long enough at a job?