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.

Mid 40s. I have lost count. I have only had one FT job, the rest were part time.

Does your dad not know redundancy exists?

I’m 53 and on my 7th job since I left Uni aged 22. I’ve had 3 redundancies, admittedly one was voluntary. 1 was a training contract which was for a fixed term. I’ve resigned from 2.

I'm early 60s. Since graduating I've had seven jobs. Three full time before children, then nine years as a SAHM, then two part time roles and the last two jobs have been full time.

48 and a few, but have a PhD so did a lot of temp work during my long years as a student stuff like waitressing, coffee shops, call centres, working in a cinema and so on. So about 8 different jobs besides the one I've been doing since finishing my education.

In regards to your fathers observation that people move about a lot now its true they do but in a lot of industries that is how you progress and get a pay rise and loyalty is often penalised. My husbands industry is like that and so he's moved around a lot over the years to progress. He's still in the same field doing the same work but at different companies.

Since undergrad uni I worked as admin in a school whilst doing my PhD, which I then did full time for about 3 years after my PhD finished. I then did a brief stint as a seminar tutor and contract research for a charity whilst trying to get into academia, a year as a research assistant at a university, then became a civil servant and have now worked in my department for 13 years (a lot of colleagues job hop within/between departments every couple of years or so).

44 and two. One was a Saturday job in a cafe when I was a teenager. Then nurse for 22 years.

12 companies, 18 jobs. 49 years old. This doesn’t include Saturday jobs or temporary jobs. I didn’t go. No uni, left school and started work.

55 and too many jobs to count. If I ignore the temp/student jobs, I have worked for 7 organisations and held multiple positions in all but 2 of them. Been in my current company 2 years and have already survived 2 restructures and am on my second role.

Tonnes but that is because as a doctor in training I rotated frequently (sometimes every 3 months).

So I've had 29 jobs in the NHS. 28 of which were before I started my consultant job in my late 30s (I'm a sub specialist so my training period was particularly long). I also had four jobs prior to starting work as a doctor (chambermaid/ retail type roles).

Hilariously I was a national treasure fellow at one point during my training. I loved it. I had national treasure on my ID badge as my job title.

This was then topped by a non medical friend who got to claim they were a Devil on LinkedIn. For those not familiar with the scottish legal system a devil is a trainee advocate. Advocate is the name for a barrister in Scotland. So instead of doing a pupillage you become a devil. Thought to arise because you worked really hard - "worked like a devil".

Mid 50’s and for past 15 years been at 3 companies doing the same role abs before that 6 jobs over 25 years. Altogether 9 jobs

64, retired after last redundancy - 15 jobs. Made redundant 6 times! Also had 4 jobs at the same time, contract, self employment, to earn a decent salary. No gaps, specialist qualifications, post grad qualifications, including specialist qualifications I paid for, which kept me employed, in different industries, from print through to employment support! Learnt very early on that you are basically a line on a spreadsheet.

I’m 51. Had 7 years in a shop from 15 years old. Then 3 years in a company, 3 years in another, and 23 in my current job.

Not counting Saturday/holiday jobs. I retired five years ago at 65, having had 15 jobs in four different fields (finance/banking, third sector, academia, civil service) in three different countries, plus a period as a self- employed consultant.

I think your dad is unusual even for our generation. Even my parents didn’t have one employer for life, nor did 3 of my grandparents. The fourth - my maternal grandmother - worked for the same company for 70 years.

I’m 46. I had 2 jobs when I was 18, one for 4 months and the next for 3 months. Never worked again after that due to severe MH issues

Mid fifties - ignoring Saturday and holiday jobs I've had 5 different employed roles and 1 stint of self employment. Been in current position over 10 years and intend to stay until I retire.

Before leaving school at 18 I had 5 jobs.

After education ended I had 4 jobs. The last one was for 16 years.

I had a weekend job while studying for A levels, then ( after deciding I was too shy to go to uni) worked for an electricity board for 6 months on a fixed term contract. Just reached 36 years in the NHS, very niche job so I won’t be changing anything until I decide to retire. I can access 1 pension when I’m 60 and will probably work PT for 3 to 4 years?

Sorry forgot age I’m 59 and retired.

42
not including waitress/bar jobs from 13-finishing uni
6 altogether, one job was 7 years and one nearly 10 years

66 and had 4 jobs including Saturday job. One for 11 years and one for 22 years. Looked after friend’s child for one year.

Since qualifying I the area of work I chose age 22, I have had 3 jobs in 24 years!

46 years and 3 jobs

One move was career progression, one was redundancy and then I moved to current place.

Im a stayer!

11 for me, 7 during uni waitressing/bar work, graduated into teaching, PT, DHT and finally HT before I left to work in our own company.

Mid 50s, not including Saturday/holiday jobs, which included juggling house cleaning/library/swimming pool shifts all in one day at one point - 7 jobs, between 5 months and 19 years.

1 year fixed term contract no renewals,
1 year, resigned to go back to uni for MSc
5 years, resigned to go travelling
15 months, resigned for more money
19 years, redundancy
5 months, resigned because of micromanagement
18 months and counting

Dad had 3 jobs, the last one being just under 30 years (died before retirement.)

46, about 50 jobs . Most were under 25 though, I worked all through from 15 in lots of PT jobs

60, I worked in my last job 37 years. They were a great employer, working over ten years there meant my annual leave and public holidays were 40.5 days a year, I working flexi time and WFH since 2006. My pension is great.

I had no desire to change employers, it was a large corporate and I probably did about 10 very different jobs in that time.