Im a job hopper arent I?

[PingPongSong]

Ive been in the field for 10 years. My history is..

4 years in one job. Left for professional development (regret it)
3 years in the next job. Left for professional development
16 months in next job left because it nearly gave me a nervous breakdown
2 years up to now in this job but going on mat leave shortly and likely will have to look whilst on mat leave due to inflexibility of service

im a job hopper arent i?

bump

I don't think it looks that bad! Minus the 16 month one, which is still ok, it's not like you were there a few months.

I don't think people stay in the same job as long as they used to. Most times you shifted jobs it was in order to develop yourself professionally. If you're about to go on mat leave focus on having that time out and enjoy being a parent for while. When you are ready to start applying for a new job, show off the broad experiences you've acquired. If you really like the company, say so and allude to the fact you see it as a place you want to commit to and develop within. Don't get paranoid! See your work history as a plus point. If you sell it that way, that's how prospective employers will view it! Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy and hope you have a lovely mat leave

Not as bad as me! 9 months in first job after retaining- 9 months in next one now taken another 6 month job!! For charities though where funding is dodgy and often short term so hoping that will explain it on CV.

No, not really.

IMO people who stay in jobs for too long get comfortable and lazy. The hardest workers are contractors because they have to come in and get on with it. You're only as good as your last job as a contractor.

I wouldn't describe that as job hopping, no.

IMO people who stay in jobs for too long get comfortable and lazy

Comfortable and lazy? There's everything to like about being comfortable, if it meets the person's employment needs (aka job stability).

If the performance management process operates fairly and keeps the employee motivated to continuously improve and if the employee is hard working, no reason they should be branded as lazy just because they don't want to change their job.

Doesn't look bad at all to me! It must depend on the industry?

daisychain that was a sweeping generalisation. It doesn't apply to everyone.

I just tend to think of when I worked for a company a while back who had a lot of staff who had been there for a long time. They were all well paid and had final salary pensions. Pretty much the rest of the staff were contractors. The comparison between the two was just shocking.

The full timers were just a bit too comfortable.

Nah its fine.

And remember up until the day your mat leave finishes, even if it lasts a whole year, you are employed. So potentially that last job is 3yrs

Sounds like an average LinkedIn profile to me!

Thanks guys. It will be nearly three years by the time mat leave is over it's November 15 to September 18 more or less.

The industry is NHS I've no interest in moving up I want to stay at the same band so lots of sideways moves

2-3 years is a very normal amount of time to stay in a job in my sector (tech), especially during your 20s.

Im 30 so probably just going enough to get away with moving lol

Unless you have an uber interesting job then two to three years is fine. If you were in the same job for ten or fifteen years then that could go against you.

I feel ill keep on searching for the right job forever!

Which job nearly killed you PingPong?

The 3rd one it was just unrealistic expectations and a huge workload with no training

It looks fine to me. I've seen CVs with far shorter spells in roles.

If someone deliberately follows a policy of doing short-term assignments and travelling or some other hobby inbetween I have no issue with roles that only last 6 months or so. But I would be suspicious of a CV where someone flits from job to job. You can make a mistake in choosing a role and only stay 6 months, either because you don't like them or they don't like you or it's mutual but I'd be concerned if all the roles were that long. But that doesn't mean I would not necessarily interview, but I'd probe quite deeply on the short term assignments.

But 16 months is not short. Anything over a year is fine I think especially if you have longer-term roles as well. And there is definitely a view in some industries that you need to move every 3ish years anyway.