It seems like every year, new trends arise with regard to just about everything from fashion choices to the way people choose to handle their lives, new trends arise on a routine basis. This includes perceptions about jobs and finding the career that is right for each individual.
In 2016, one of the most prevalent trend seems to centre around job hopping, the tendency for a person to work in one location for a few months, only to quit that job and move on to something different.
That might mean that a person is working in a similar field, only in a different location or it might mean that they are hopping from one job to the next, all of them in entirely different fields that are completely unrelated.
Either way, it is important to understand this trend and why it is occurring, not to mention the key factors that contribute to the trend.
While this creates something of a new reality, so to speak, especially for those who participate in job hopping, it is imperative that each individual understand both the potential benefits and the disadvantages of living this type of lifestyle.
Eventually, you will have to live with your decisions and job hopping could help you or it could hurt you.
Understanding the Trend
Despite the fact that this is an increasingly popular trend, many people question why it has become such a routine activity.
The truth of the matter is that things seem to be changing at a rapid pace when it comes to the way people view their careers.
Perhaps this is the sole reason for the trend but it is worth exploring. Many people that are in today’s workforce are not in the professions that they would actually choose for themselves if they could do anything they wanted.
Recruitment agencies are finding more and more that an overwhelming number of them have college degrees, yet are unable to find any type of work in that particular industry.
This often forces people to take whatever they can find so they can pay the bills.
As a result, many people find themselves dissatisfied and extremely frustrated. A lot of these candidates have a tendency to start jumping from one job to the next in an attempt to find something that makes them happier.
At other times, it is strictly because of financial needs. One job may not pay enough for a person to survive, essentially forcing them to find work elsewhere in order to make enough money to cover their bills.
For some people, job hopping simply becomes a way of life as they try to figure out what they want to do with their lives and settle on a career that makes them feel fulfilled.
Key Factors That Contribute to the Trend
Some of the key factors contributing to this trend were briefly touched on in the above paragraph.
One of the problems that has contributed to this growing trend of job hopping is the fact that the economy has been rather sluggish. To make matters worse, job growth has essentially stalled out in some fields, leaving individuals that are skilled in those areas with little or no choice when it comes to finding work.
People that are forced to take a job simply because they can’t find anything better within an allotted amount of time often find themselves quitting shortly thereafter and going to work somewhere else as their efforts begin to pay off. Still others simply grow so frustrated with the situation that they decide to do something completely different, even if they have little or no direction.
A Trend Dictated by Necessity?
Perhaps the question everyone should be asking is whether or not this is a trend that is dictated by necessity.
Without a doubt, there is a certain amount of job hopping that occurs as people struggle to survive.
In this case, it could justifiably be said that there really are no other choices available when people go from one job to the next, as they have to keep earning a paycheck. For others, it becomes much more about personal issues than anything else.
In other words, a lot of people that hop from one job to the next, and then the next are doing so because they don’t know what they want out of their life and they don’t know what they want to do with it. Perhaps they are jumping from job to job in an attempt to find something that makes them feel whole.
Creating a New Reality
This current trend has created something of a new reality for many people. It used to be considered extremely bad form for a person to quickly transfer from one job to the next.
Individuals that participated in this type of activity were thought to be untrustworthy. People were generally expected to figure out what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives, settle on a career and then stick with it until they retired.
Today, it is considered not only acceptable, but almost expected, that people transfer from one job to the next several times a year.
Benefits of Job Hopping
There are some benefits associated with job hopping.
First and foremost, it gives people an opportunity to see what different lines of work are like from a first-hand perspective. This can help anyone that is trying to settle on a long-term career figure out what they really want to do with their life so they don’t go to all the trouble of finding a career, getting the necessary amount of education and training, and then discover that they can’t stand doing that particular job as soon as they start working. It also provides a well-rounded amount of experience that can be beneficial later on down the road.
Disadvantages
Of course, there are also plenty of disadvantages to changing jobs all the time.
As previously mentioned, people that constantly switch jobs are not really thought of as being the most reliable individuals. To a certain extent, that line of thinking still exists today. Prospective employers might start to wonder why a person has held four or five different jobs in the last year alone.
More importantly, they might begin to wonder if it is because that person has issues with dependability or if they are unable to work well with other individuals.
In other words, it can hurt you in your job hunt later on and it might cost you the job of your dreams if a prospective employer is paying close attention to your job history.
Living with Your Decisions
The point is, you have to be able to live with your decisions.
If you find yourself in a situation where you have spent years training for something and you can’t find work in that area, you don’t really have any other choice but to work in another field until something does become available.
By the same token, there will undoubtedly be times when a job simply isn’t working out for you. You might have problems dealing with the schedule, the workload or there might be something else going on that means the job just isn’t right for you. However, it is vitally important that you always stop to think about the fact that you will ultimately have to live with your past decisions when it comes to finding the job you always wanted.
Therefore, you should think about things carefully and weigh all of your options before you jump from one job to the next.
