How old are you and how many jobs have you had?

[JunesDunes]

My Dad was moaning about how no one sticks to one job/company now and that he doesnt understand why people are constantly looking for new jobs and moving about.

He is past retirement but still working. He works for a very traditional company with a job for life, only move for a promotion type approach. He has been there since school and excluding a couple of sideways moves, he has followed that path. He hasn't always been happy there but "it's what you do".

I tried to explain why most jobs don't work like that anymore and that people are more willing to move if they are unhappy and all the other reasons to change jobs/careers. But he didnt get it.

So I'm curious about your experiences?

I'm late 40s.
At school/college/university I had 4 jobs but they were typical transient student jobs so I dont really count those.

Since then I've worked for 4 companies. However within those companies I've had at least 12 different roles, some sideways and some progression. Some my choice, others due to restructure or redundancy etc.

So basically a new job on average every 2ish years which seems a lot when I put put like that! But I do stay in companies for a while.

Assuming nothing major happens, I dont have any plans to leave my current company, although I'll probably move about in it. I dont always like it but it fits around my life not the other way round. I am also counting down to retirement (😂), I'm not ambitious anymore and just cant be bothered tbh.

45 and fucking loads

50

Various Saturday and holiday jobs while at school and uni. Excluding those, five.

Over 50 and 'proper' jobs, Ive had one!
Same job for 28 yrs (should be a decent pension at least!😄).

47 - 10 companies. I'm in my current role for a year now. In my industry (tech / creative) it's very much the expectation to move every 3-5 years.

48 now

15-18 1 job with 1 employer

18-21 2 jobs with 1 employer
21-33 6 jobs with 1 employer across 2 locations
33-38 own business
38-43 1 job with 1 employer
44-46 1 job with 1 employer
46-now 1 job with 1 employer

So 13 roles in 33 years and 7 employers.

I'm all over the place, lots and lots while studying. Then 3 jobs after graduation. Then I did a masters and did some casual work that I couldn't even count. 2 paralegal roles in different firms, 1 training contract in yet another firm, and another firm after qualifying before going in house. My CV would never end but I only put the legal roles on it tbh no one cares about anything else. I know someone who qualified in 2024 and is on their 4th or 5th job since no one seems to care and she has no trouble getting jobs seemingly!

Mid 40s
-6 months(temp contract)in gap year

• 6 months and then uni holidays for 4 years
• 2 years
• 15 years (but promoted 5 times, so every 3 years or so), stayed as I had children and they let me work round it plus there was great career progression
• 3 years (and one promotion so far)

Will probably stay in this job for 5 years or so unless I see a really appealing job elsewhere. Then when the mortgage is paid off I may move into consultancy

While at school/college/University I had four different jobs. Three waitressing and one working in a newsagents.

I'm 38 and have only worked for 3 companies since graduating.

Company 1 - worked there for 1 year and moved as soon as I had some experience built up. It was a tiny business run by a tyrant but helped build my CV.

Company 2 - I worked there for 3 years, I was promoted after a couple of years so built up my line manager experience and then moved on.

Company 3 - I've been there 13 years and counting but have had 4 different roles there in that time. I've been promoted to a level I'm happy with at the moment and it is really flexible around my family life so I can't see myself voluntarily moving anytime soon.

I'm 46. I've had 12 jobs, all with different employers. For 20 years I was a sahm or unpaid carer and I didn't work at all in those years.

I’m 42

Since graduating:
Job 1 - 1.5 yrs
Job 2 - 1.5 yrs
Job 3 - 8.5 yrs
Job 4 - 10.5 yrs and counting

Various roles / internal moves

My pension contributions went up considerably at 10yrs and at 15yrs I’ll get a paid sabbatical so it would be difficult to move on from this one…. For the right 💵 perhaps 😁

I’m 43 I’ve worked for 3 companies and had 5 roles. The first company was my weekend job while still at school. I’ve been with my current employer for 22 years first role was 3 years, second was 14years before I moved to my current role.

Mid 50s. Aside transient jobs I've had 6 .

I've got a relative aged 58 and a friend of 60 who have both just had one job in the same place.

Most of my immediate family were in jobs a long time.

I’m 34, if you don’t count weekend jobs as a teen etc I’ve had 2 jobs. One from age 20 to age 23, the other I started age 23 and still here now. I love my job and have no plans to go elsewhere.

Job 1 - five years
Job 2 - 18 months, promotion to
Job 3 - five years
Job 4 - nine months (hated the toxic environment)
Job 5 - five years
Job 6 - 20 years
Job 7 - 10 years (just finished)

Jobs 6 and 7 part-time and over lapped.

I've been a teacher for the last 26 years but have worked in 4 different schools. Prior to that waitress x2, shop assistant x 2, office temp x 2. So a total of 10.

I’m 37. I have had four different part-time/seasonal/zero hours jobs during student years, followed by one temp job for 7 months, followed by 5 permanent jobs. The permanent jobs lasted as follows:

1. 1 year 10 months
2. 1 year 10 months
3. 5 months
4. 8 years
5. 1 year (current role)

I envy people who find the right place and don’t need to hop around! A family member (late 60s) recently retired from the company they’d started at as a teenager!

A lot more than most it seems, I've had bad luck in that some places have closed down or my role was made redundant. I suspect around 30 jobs, including temp work. Never been sacked though!

Just counted up.. 15!!!

I'm 62. I left school at 18 (no uni) and spent 5 years working for a government agency. Left there and went to a huge corporate where I stayed for 33 years. Took voluntary redundancy in 2020 due to covid. Six months out of work then joined a very small local company where I stayed for 2 years. Left there due to family caring responsibilities (terminal illness) and took early retirement.

So, in summary, worked my whole life and had 3 jobs. Or 4 if you include my Saturday job from age 15-18.

60’s. Started work when I was 16. Including part time jobs, and second jobs while working full time, I’ve had 18 jobs. I wish now I’d stayed in one public sector job all my working life like some of my friends. They have all got pensions much bigger than mine.

58, seven jobs since university, two stints at the same firm. Longest service was 12 years, I've had three jobs in the last ten months 😱, left the 12 year service job and didn't like the new organisation so left again. Hope to stay here until I retire.

Late 40s. Not counting student type jobs, I’ve had one career change and worked for 8 companies (one for 20 years).

Mid thirties.
First job made redundant after 3 months, legal based
Second job worked there for about a year, legal based
Third job, call centre for housing association, planned as a stop ago but was there 4 years in that role
Fourth job, same company, different team, stayed for 6 years
Fifth job, had some sort of pre mid life crisis and left above job and went to admin job at local council. Shit show
Left and went to sixth job, similar to the last at the housing association. Worked there 3 months and then my old job at the housing association was readvertised and I went back to it.
Now I plan to stay there, in my seventh, but also fourth (!) job until I die as I realised how much I love it and the grass isn't greener lol

I’m not even sure because I did so much temping whilst I was at uni. Since I graduated (16 years ago 😭) I’ve worked for 7 companies but also with some internal job hopping along the way. My longest stint was 4 years at one company but I actually had 4 job roles during that time and the next longest after that was 3 years and 2 jobs. Made redundant once. However I can say I’ve worked just about every recognisable building in London 🤣

College type part time jobs - 3
Temp jobs while looking for something else - 4
Full time jobs - 11

Mid 50's.