To ask how many jobs you've had?

[n0ne]

How long have you been in the workforce and how many jobs have you had? What prompted each change of job?

I've been working 20 years and feel like I've had quite a high number of different jobs, so am curious to see how other people's careers have panned out. Will give my answers in the comments.

I’m 32 and haven’t had a real job yet

Not counting pre undergrad jobs

Job 1: Education based job working with students exclided from school, run by a liar, a bully and (i strongly suspect) a crook.

Job2: bored, very much square peg in round hole. Resigned to take job 3

Job3: Enjoyed, very full on and exhausting, but fulfilling and great colleagues. Left to move to other end of country with now wife.

Job 4: 12 month temp post, took as it was an area i thought i might want to go into on a more permanent basis. I didn't. Glad to leave.

Unemployed for a period during the aftermath of the financial crisis

Job 5: Another move to another part of the country at now wife's behest. A return to working in the same area as Job 3, but as maternity cover. Really enjoyed it whilst it lasted as i was planning on doing my masters degree as I knew it wasn't forever.

Job 6: Part time minimum wage job that woyld see me through my masters and PhD and the longest I've ever worked anywhere, physically exhausting but quite liked being able to switch off mentally.

Job 7: temporary academic post #1 more teaching than research based. Great project leader and could work from home, bits of the job were a bit routine, but others were fascinating. Contract ended and i started job #8

Job 8 another temporary academic job, maternity cover. Colleagues were great, some real highs, great students who were suoer enjoyable to teach, but workload unbearable and senior staff utterly dumped on temporary staff, whilst they got on with research. Contract ended after 12 months and i got another temporary academic job

Job 9 Temp academic job 7 hours away from home city and another maternity cover. Students are okay, but the department i work in is fairly disfunctional. Lonely and bored, already counting down the months.

Wow, that's a long list, especially as I'm just shy of 40, but hey blame the chronic insecurity in the higher educational sector.

Oh, apart from the funding stream drying up, I left the others because I had had enough, I moved counties or they went out of business.

Except for lecturing, I ran away from that one before it could 'get' me. It took 18 months before I could function properly after that! Which is why I am now self employed, I need some semblance of control in my life!

33yrs FT apart from 5mths mat leave.
5 jobs = YTS, 2yrs, 5yrs, 13yrs, 12yrs and counting.

Job 1 - waitressing through uni holidays, same place for 3 summers/Christmases
Job 2 - left for different job
Job 3 - made redundant
Job 4 - made redundant
Job 5 - loved, stayed for years but eventually commuting got too much
Job 6 - left to have a baby

I'm 42.

1. Quit after 9 months because I hated the constant business travel (the glamour wore off very fast)
2. Quit after 9 months for more money.
3. Quit after 2 years because a restructure made my job less fun.
4. Quit after 1 week because the job was not as advertised.
5. Quit after 3 years for a career change.
6. Voluntary redundancy after 14 years for another career change.
7. Still going!

I'm 44 and have had 3 jobs.
Age 16/17 - Saturday job in local shop.
Age 18-21 - Summer/Xmas job in a department store.
Age 22 - started current job and am still doing it.

Probably more than 20 but slightly less than 50.

Too many to list.

I have done everything from shop-work, flipping burgers, barmaid, various office works to painting and decorating, property developer, builder, and Antique dealer and loads of variations and other jobs in between.

I was a post person at one stage and have worked on banking.

Those were my first 2 jobs. Both of which I had started and left within 3 months

1&2 retail roles 2 years each
3 was some temping, count as one rather than each company about a year
4 low level admin role for 2 years. Creative and mad, allowed me to use a particular language I have and teach myself things since they has zero expectation of me
5 was another admin role but in a corporate role whereas I had been in a creative company before. This was good for training/perks etc. Left after maternity leave to move into a more senior admin role. My manager was an arse too. 3 years - longest job ever.

1. Lasted 3 months, just didn’t work for me post baby to be honest

7.another load of temping for a bit

1. Rolling contract for 9 months, needed more money and company moved from round the corner. Great friends with boss still.
2. Mat contract for a well known retailer in a senior admin role about 9 months

10. Short role 3 months at a publishers. Didn’t like the director. 11. Back to the retailer for some sick cover. 4 months 12. Rolling contract for a massive blue chip. Nearly 2 years. The perks were out of this world, the pace fast but one day I just decided I was done. 13. Short temping for a couple of weeks 14. 4 month contract which was fun and the person I worked for set me with my role now 15. My first perm role in about 7 years. I was happy contracting but have hit it off with my boss/organisation etc. Been here 7 months.

Have plans for career change next year.

34 - so working for 21 years
Various pubs and restaurants - 3 in total
FT job 1 - about 18 months
FT job 2 - about a year
FT job 3 - 10 years
FT then went to PT job 4 - a year
Current job 5 - a year

Paper round as a teenager.
Saturday girl in Greggs.
Nursery nurse in a private nursery.
Shop assistant in a garage
Current job as an EArly Years Practitioner. Work for the LA going where needed.

Not counting Saturday jobs as a child

1 PT 1 year resigned
2 FT 2 years redundancy
3 FT 2 years resigned
4 FT 7 years resigned, this job was a return to job 1 which I loved but I moved cities to be with BF.
5 FT 6 years resigned
6 FT 15 years medically retired.

I fitted in having two dc took one maternity of six months and one of one year. I never had a gap in my employment record. Maternity leave was extremely generous.

Working 11 years, 3 jobs

Job 1 - 2007-2012ish
Job 2 - 2009-2015
Job 3 - 2014-present

Around 14 jobs (some for a very short time, some for years) over 42 years. I am now retired. I was never sacked and only made redundant once.

6 jobs, same profession but different grades and types of jobs and geographically different locations. 27 years working.

Job 1- left to do professional qualifications
Job 2- made redundant
Job 3- made redundant
Job 4- resigned as arse hole boss plus horrible commute got too much
Job 5- fixed contract
Job 6- going well so far

I'm 40.

I'm 24 and have worked at 8 different companies (had various roles in a few of them)

1. Paper girl
2. Pottery barn team member
3. Bar/restaurant
4. Estate Agents
5. Light Shop
6. Housing Developer
7. Another Housing Developer
8. Consultancy

I think this last job will be it for a good while

I'm 54, been in the workforce since I was 22 apart from a 9 year break as a SAHM. I've only had six jobs in total as if I'm enjoying a job & I'm still learning I stay. My shortest was six months, my longest is my current workplace where I've been for 8 years.

3 firms in 14 years, multiple promotions within that.

1st firm - straight out of PhDs. Brilliant first boss, taught me everything I needed to learn about leading and supervising other people's research. Promoted 18 months later. Fell out of love with my job after the firm started 'positive discrimination' and more women were being promoted just because they were women, That policy cost me the respect of the team I was responsible for - it became the assumption that no female promotion was on merit. Left because I didn't like the environment any more and my position was untenable.

2nd firm - Brought in as team lead for one of 2 'elite' teams because of my combined skill set. Loved my team and loved my job, could have seen myself staying there...then came the union. The union started to pressure the management because the 2 elite teams had better t&c. Long story short, I was headhunted and the firm lost a lot of money.

3rd firm - Brought in as a section head and been promoted a few times since. Broke through the proverbial glass ceiling to get the job I have, I was both the youngest person to hold the position and the first female to ever hold a divisional head position here.

Local shop
Tesco (student)
Ft position using my qualifications
Poached by a different company better pay less hrs
Break to raise family for 6yrs
Local council temping
Civil service now medically retired at 38 and heartbroken loved my job

I'm 45 and have been working for 23 years and had a total jobs of 5 jobs in that time.

Job 1 (4 years) - Left accountancy practice after qualification to move into industry.
Job 2 (6 years) - Left to move back to home city after having DS.
Job 3 (1 year) - Left as company incredibly disorganised plus awful commute whilst DS was still a baby.
Job 4 (6 years) - Left to set up own business in a completely unrelated, non-finance field.
Job 5 - Ongoing for nearly 6 years.

Plus various PT jobs between age 14 - 20 working in a hairdressers, pub kitchen, nightclub and DHSS and a year in industry as part of my degree.

First job- aged 16, part time shop assistant/cashier in John Menzies/WHSmith 2 years

Second job- full time primary classroom assistant 2 years

Third job- summer holiday play scheme playworker 2 summers

VERY short lived stint selling karate class memberships door to door 2 weeks!!

Fourth job- barmaid whilst at uni (incidentally where I met DH) 2 years

Fifth job- part time sales assistant BabyGap 2 years

Sixth job- primary school teacher 11 years

Seventh and current job- primary school teacher 1 year so far!

Some of these jobs overlapped with others and with attending uni

So in employment in some form or other since age 16, so 21 years.

I've worked for 6 years and technically had 14 jobs most were part time at college/uni.

I had retail, pub and hotel jobs as a teen and student.

Afer uni ive had two jobs. In 20 years. Ive clearly no ambition.