[wiscodh]

So there are some peoples in HR here and some others that have been around the block.

What are the thoughts of people that are "job hoppers"

I moved to portland to chase the girl, landed a gig before we moved out here. Was with a job shop. I was put on assignment at a company for some engineering services. I proved myself here and was offered a full time gig with them. I was at the job shop for 8 months. I have been with the current company 4 months. The hours not being on contract are intense. rolling 60 hour weeks and I am salary. I get **** for putting in half days on sat..... i know, woe is me, firstworldproblems, yadayada. I do like my job tho.

I know i cannot keep this up for my sanity sake. I could really give a hoot about being management some day, i like being a peon engineer that gets **** done.

I plan on keeping this up until the project is done, we have 2 more ready after this one...... designing/building 50ft utility/military boats. I hope the load lightens up, but if it doesn't, would it look fishy to perspective employers that i went thru 2 jobs in about a year?

tl;dr, moved, didn't like a job, moved to a new one, hours are wicked long, maybe looking for a new gig soon. all in 1 year. this bad?

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

yes, job hopping is bad.
i would not hire a job hopper.

best thing you can do, is to carefully look for a new job (so that you wont quit the new job in a few months), and make the switch.
in the following interviews... try to explain that you were on temporary gigs due to personal reasons, no longer relevant, without getting into too much detail.

 

[stevew]

answer: no

 

[jonKranked]

I'm on job #6 since graduating in 2007. Hasn't hindered me at all. Shortest duration at a single job was barely 4 months.

 

[MMike]

It's best to have a REALLY good story to back it up. Before my current gig (now coming up on 6 years!),I had some pretty short stints at places. But i had valid excuses for just about all of it, and was able to convince my interviewer of that.

That said, it's definitely a red flag on a resume.

 

[CBJ]

A solid resume is better than a not so solid one but staying in a job situation that does not work out is not good either.

 

[jimmydean]

I have worked for 16 companies in 14 years. It used to be good that I have such a range of experience, but contracting on 6-12 month projects means you might be gone with the next project.

Bottom line, do it for the right job. A bad fit is a bad fit. I work some long hours, but my company gives a lot of time off. They understand burnout and try to avoid it.

 

[jonKranked]

It's best to have a REALLY good story to back it up. Before my current gig (now coming up on 6 years!),I had some pretty short stints at places. But i had valid excuses for just about all of it, and was able to convince my interviewer of that.

That said, it's definitely a red flag on a resume.

this. it's all in how you spin it.

 

[dan-o]

Being happy trumps what some HR dolt thinks.
Find a job with the right work/life balance and move on.

Your situation doesn't raise any flags with me but I would likely pass on somebody with JKs history.
Hiring/training is too expensive to invest in chronic fly-by-nighters, imo.

 

[jimmydean]

Hiring/training is too expensive to invest in chronic fly-by-nighters, imo.

People like me don't require much in the way of training. I am brought in to fill a need, that need exists because the folks they have don't know how to do it, or they need more people to do it. I come in, do what needs to be done and move on.

I wouldn't have been brought on to do what I do if I required training. But every industry is different.

You wouldn't hire an electrician you had to train how to run and connect wires, would you?

But yes, it can be expensive to hire someone and that's why companies like Intel use more than 50% of the engineering staff as contractors. Fire 1000 employees, it makes the news. Fire 5000 contractors, nobody gives a sh!t.

 

[I Are Baboon]

You've had a couple of jobs. That's not really job hopping. A bunch of six month gigs with gaps in your employment would be a problem. I don't think your situation would throw up much of a red flag. Having done some interviewing myself, your situation wouldn't deter me at all from hiring you.

I had three jobs in three years when I interviewed for my current job. They expressed concern about my "job jumping" because they thought I'd bail on them too. 11 years later I am still there. I still remind my boss about that.

 

[wiscodh]

Thanks all. I think i am going to stick with it and see if things balance out a tad.

I was on contract here, and was limited to 40hours. I did a swell job so they wanted me on full time. Seems like there really isn't training for design engineers, just here is a pile of stuff that needs to be done, you have x amount of days, GO!

my previous job in VT was 5.5 years before I moved west.

 

[jonKranked]

Being happy trumps what some HR dolt thinks.
Find a job with the right work/life balance and move on.

Your situation doesn't raise any flags with me but I would likely pass on somebody with JKs history.
Hiring/training is too expensive to invest in chronic fly-by-nighters, imo.

actually i have a lot of unique / hard to find experience, even within my niche industry. that's how i landed a position with a company looking for someone with 10-15 years experience when i only had 5 years.

 

[Da Peach]

It's best to have a REALLY good story to back it up. Before my current gig (now coming up on 6 years!),I had some pretty short stints at places. But i had valid excuses for just about all of it, and was able to convince my interviewer of that.

That said, it's definitely a red flag on a resume.

Friggin' Juliani!

I'm on project oriented work. I've had 6 employers since 2001. It's never hindered me, yet...

 

[skibunny24]

So what qualifies as job-hopping? I keep jobs for about 2 years and then seem to move to the next thing. I've been at my current job for 2 years, and am looking again. Before that I had a job for two years, and before that, a job for two years... before that was college I think. Where I had the same seasonal jobs for winter and summer, 5 years each.

Ok, back to indeed.com

 

[mandown]

I'm on job #6 since graduating in 2007. Hasn't hindered me at all. Shortest duration at a single job was barely 4 months.

you cannot be stopped. you may as well just go ahead with plans for that neck tatteu.

 

[jonKranked]

you cannot be stopped. you may as well just go ahead with plans for that neck tatteu.

Can't be stopped, but no plans for a neck tattoo.

 

[stoney]

It's best to have a REALLY good story to back it up. Before my current gig (now coming up on 6 years!),I had some pretty short stints at places. But i had valid excuses for just about all of it, and was able to convince my interviewer of that.

That said, it's definitely a red flag on a resume.

A solid resume is better than a not so solid one but staying in a job situation that does not work out is not good either.

These are both right. I've went 2 years, 2 years, 2 month gap, 4 years, 4 month gap, current role.

They have been increasing tiers within my industry. Despite the gaps, I haven't had any issues with finding jobs. My last gap was due to a medical issue (epilepsy), which everybody I have interviewed with understood the reason for the time off. It has not impaired my ability to get offers.

As long as the jobs, even on paper, can tell an appropriate story, you should be fine.

 

[mattmatt86]

I was over qualified for a job I interviewed for a few weeks ago and all 4 of the interviewers brought up that I've been with 3 different companies in my industry since graduating in 2009. I had good reasons for leaving both times (better pay/career advancement) but ultimately I was passed over for the position. They had a very extensive(expensive) training program and they were worried about investing time and money in me to then have me leave.

 

[CrabJoe StretchPants]

Graduated in 2008, been at my company since my junior year....7 years total, will be 5 full time this coming May. Hard to justify leaving given how well I have it here (enjoy what I do, pays well, and my boss is cool enough to join RM and harass me on it while at work), but if this industry doesn't pick back up like it's predicted, I may have to start looking elsewhere. Being on a 4 day work week since last April has had me pretty close to leaving, but I'm hoping to tough it out and benefit in the end.

 

[jimmydean]

As long as the jobs, even on paper, can tell an appropriate story, you should be fine.

This has been key to my success. Even if I did 3 months at a place, I left on great terms and have references to back it up. Contract work is common in software, so it's not unheard of. People who have been with the same company since graduation (if for more than 5 years) can actually be looked down on due to lack of exposure to other projects/technologies/environments.

 

[johnbryanpeters]

I was over qualified for a job I interviewed for a few weeks ago and all 4 of the interviewers brought up that I've been with 3 different companies in my industry since graduating in 2009. I had good reasons for leaving both times (better pay/career advancement) but ultimately I was passed over for the position. They had a very extensive(expensive) training program and they were worried about investing time and money in me to then have me leave.

Sorry to say, but I would screen you out. I don't need two year wonders.

I look rather carefully at timelines on resumes. The overall pattern has to make sense and I will ask directly about short gigs and time between jobs. I would be more sympathetic to someone who had moved on because they needed time to have a life than with pay/career advancement ratcheting exercises. I have seen too much wreckage caused by people who stay just long enough to create a mess that must be cleaned up by others.

 

[ire]

I do the majority of the hiring for our IT shop and I stay away from people that are bouncing around. Most of our systems are home grown and take a while to learn. I don't care to invest and have someone leave.