How long do you tend to stay in a job for?

[Rainydays55]

People seem to change job more often nowadays, it’s no longer that you stay in a job for years, how often do you tend to stay in a job? Do you think it’s good to change/ keep it fresh?

3-5 years. I work in IT and companies get taken over a lot, so jobs come and go.

I stayed at my last company 12 years. When I left I got a 50% pay rise and with the bonus scheme I am on now, I will take home more than 2.5 times my previous income. Loyalty didn’t pay in my case. I should have left much earlier.

I'm 63 and have only had 6 employers since I left school at 18. My role keeps changing where I work now so it never gets boring. I have worked here for 24 years in total with a 4 year break.

Depends I guess - if the job is good, has potential to grow, salary increases and is a good company, I work for such a company so 12 years now.

The pp whi says she reviews CV's : "Equally, a decade in one role would make me ask questions too! ", wouldn't like this, would she?

I frequently recruit and anyone with a CV who has stayed in one role for 10 years with no progression would raise questions. I think it is fine if there is progression but it does come with a slight whiff of being institutionalised and how flexible this person can be to adapt to a new organisation, culture and way of working. 5-7 years is a decent time to spend in one place. Much longer and it starts to get negative.

Until they pay me to leave - have only resigned once so far to go to a new job, the rest of the time, I take the redundo.

First job 12 years. Second job 27 years. Now work a a contractor, self employed.

I stayed at the same company for 10 years, but had 5 different jobs internally. Then got made redundant so with another company now.

IME it’s more important to change com

It's ranges from just 6 weeks to 6 years. I tend to move on after 2-3 years. DH has been in his current job 12 years (since he was 17), although of course he's moved up the ladder quite a bit.

Sorry pressed too soon!

more important to change company than internal job if you want decent pay. Companies will often give decent pay to attract external colleagues and not offer the same raise to internal colleagues.

I worked for the same employer for many years, different roles. Then moved just over 2 years ago and can see now why people often move after 2 years. It's fine but has become a slog after the initial settling in, learning all the new stuff , breath of fresh air bit. Feels like the hard graft part of the job now.

6 years in my first job, 2 years somewhere I wasn’t happy after Mat leave but meant I could work part time, then 5 years in my last job however my next job I intend to be for longer. Interesting that the last 5 years felt much quicker than the first 6! I had to work out how long I’d been there for and I would have said more than 6!

I've worked for 5 employers in 35 years , which is an average of 7 years each but it was actually 5 years, 5 years, 1 year, 9 years, and 15 years in my current job . In that time I've had 13 different jobs/roles, 8 of them with my current employer ,

Of the 8 roles with my current employer, 4 were secondments and long-term leave cover but 4 have been permanent moves to higher paying roles. I'm nearly 60 now so unlikely to leave this employer unless they leave me first 😁

I get itchy feet after about 6 months, I get utterly bored. But I try my best to stick it out for 2 years unless I’m desperate.

Just over twenty years but with a three year break towards the start, so technically more like seventeen. I'm self employed though, so it helps that I (mostly) like my boss 😁

Before that, anything from a couple of months to a couple of years but I don't think I ever stayed anywhere longer than that. Left school at 16 and have been working ever since.

I was with my first employer for over 20 years, which is definitely unusual, but it was a huge international bank, with the opportunity to move around a lot - I spent two years on secondment abroad. It was a bit dull towards the end, but the pay and benefits were excellent. When I got made redundant I got a six figure pay out which was really helpful.

Been at my current employer for 5 years. I’ve definitely got itchy feet now, but again, they pay well, are very flexible and I suspect there will be redundancies in the next couple of years so I might as well hang about for that as their redundancy terms are also very generous.

I’m a civil servant and have been in the same department since I started 22yrs ago. I’ve been in the same type of work for 15yrs now, I think it’s time for a change soon. I did get a job in another department but also was successful in a promotion in my own and chose my own as it was more money. I do want a change now though, but I won’t deviate too much from what I know, as it’s what I’m good at

2 years
<1 year
5 years
1 year
2.5 years
5 years inc mat leave and 2 years p/t
now self employed with bits of p/t contract work

the last two (in the arts) were both FTC though, which is common.

7 years, 12 years, 3 years. I stay because I liked it and it suited me to have a stable job whilst ds's going through primary for example.

My first proper job I stayed at 7 years but got got promoted a few times so changed role. My current role is 10 years which I think is too long. My responsibilities switched a few times and it's project type work so what I do varies a lot but I am bored. However it's super flexible and I have primary aged kids so I will be sticking around.

I graduated from university 27 years ago.
1st job - 9 years
SAHM - 9 years
Current job - 9 years (and counting)

How symmetrical! I hadn't realised that till I just wrote it down!

I think staying at least a year is important unless it’s awful or temporary contract type thing

I’ve been roughly 6 years first job, 2 second, 6 third and about a year into my 4th so I guess one more here then 6 at the next place if that’s my pattern 😂

Hugely varied through my career - 2years, then 7 years and then another 6 years. I then did 14 years in one role which suited me as a divorced parent bringing up 2 small children - it gave me stability and flexibility. Despite engineering a lot of change - disposals, mergers and new initiatives I was told by a headhunter that it made me look unambitious. Despite me doing a number of non-exec roles too. Shame I didn't have a husband/wife to support me!

My next role after that was only 2 years - unsurprising that my first time after such a long stint wasn't quite the right fit. I think I jumped at the first thing that paid well. But it did lead to my current role which I've only been in a year and which is exceptionally challenging but worthwhile too - and probably my last role before retirement.

1st- 9 years (should have left much sooner as very toxic place however earned a qualification near the end that meant I was able to progress ten-fold so made it worth it)
2nd- 4 years (left after they refused to increase my pay and moved to a better paid place)
Current - 1 year (better pay but not happy with the management but about to go on maternity and won't be returning!)