celticgrid

A question relating to the cultural differences in the workplace...

It seems to me that changing jobs after only a short period, for purposes of 'career progression', is an accepted part of the culture here in the US. Certainly, it appears, far more so than in the UK.

Or is it just me?

Or is this just times a-changing?

The views of others are sought!

Bill_S

In what field? It's pretty common in academic research - postdoc at uni #1, second postdoc at uni #2, junior lecturer at uni #3, then assistant prof, associate prof, full prof, department chair... all at different places.

In the IT field, lots of work is contract based, so workers go from place to place, contract to contract.

celticgrid

Not contracting - which is necessary movement to keep the money coming in.
In general I guess. In roles where one might spend years (5-10) working up through a company, gaining experience, but instead choose to do short stints, always on the look out for a 'career progression' move to another company. As I said, it might just be me, but I wondered if there were indeed different views of job-hopping on each side of the Atlantic. Or it might just be me that distinguishes between development and progression.

Point noted re. academia, which I think is probably a similar situation in the UK and US.

Michael

I think it more has to do with the economic times and opertunities in your field. In the Silicon Valley it was very common during the late 1990s when the tech boom was occurring but now it is not anywhere near as common. At that time, I received calls once a week from people that I had previously worked with or from head hunters.

ian-mstm

I don't believe it's as much cultural as it is generational. For us Boomers, we "live to work" and tend to change careers only a few times during our working life - unlike our parents (the Greatest Generation) who mostly stayed with a single company from the time they finished school until they retired. GenXers prefer to "work to live", so they change jobs much more frequently as a means to moving further, faster - in order to give themselves more free time. GenY's see their working future as being a bit bleaker than their parents and so most will emulate the roles that their grandparents (the Boomers) fulfilled - and will likely have only a few career moves during their working life.

Ian

Noorah101

I've worked around civil engineers for 20+ years. It used to be that engineers would job-hop every few years, many times even returning to the company I work for after several years working for a competitor. During the past few years, though, that's happened less...I think because of the economy, people are less willing to risk job-hopping, as the next job might not BE there...they'd rather keep their current stable job while they can.

Rene

celticgrid

Thanks for the replies.

Reading them I suspect the answer to my question is "it is me" or, at least, it isn't cultural per se but a mixture of changing times and economic conditions. I'm not sure the replies have answered the questions racing around inside my head (and which I didn't ask) but they have certainly helped. Thank you.

emailrob

my opinion (both as a professional and personally). Here are my gross over generalisations based on my industry experience. ymmv

- reference checks are much less rigid or useful in the US. UK is going that way quickly
- many people have had to move around due to economic necessity
- many US recruiters are not professional. They are not HR people. They miss the obvious questions
- US hiring can be very erratic - just get the person on board.
- management thinks it can "handle" a person, even if they get the sniff of a bad reference
- job hopping is more prevalent in the US than in the UK IMO
- as long as you have a good story as to why, it is less frowned upon by recruiters / HR people in the US than in the UK

TerryVA

I was part of an interview team (just to keep the numbers up - I'm not normally part of the process) and one applicant had a couple of jobs in a short space of time. I thought they were the better candidate technically, but the boss had a negative opinion of "job hopping". They didn't get the job.

In other words, it depends on who's doing the hiring.

Terry

tonrob

Mrs tonrob is in the hotel industry, and used to change jobs more often than I changed my underwear - both in the UK and the US.

Bob

It's got to depend on the field your in I guess.

In my field, I don't know anyone in the US that has been at a place more than 5 years, most people move on after about 2-3 years, saying that, it's usually because of redundancy and the place going bump in the night.

Back in the UK, I'd say it generally would be the same, but I know a few people who have stuck 10 plus years at the same place. I know it happens in the US too, I just don't know anyone who has...then again, don't know that many companies old enough

Kaffy Mintcake

I think part of the change is generational and comes about because employees have learned that there is little loyalty on the part of their employers. I know when I was laid off after three years in the workforce, putting my own needs first became more of a priority.

But it varies by industry and by company. I worked for a while for a very large company that tended to work its employees to the point of burnout. After three years you were one of the more senior employees.

At my current company turnover is VERY low. Twenty years with the company is not at all uncommon, and we've had a few retire recently who had 40 years at the company. After five years, you're still on the light end when it comes to tenure.

I can't speak for the UK, but that is my impression of the US.

scrubbedexpat091

I think its the norm in hotels to job hop.

Everyone of my co-workers has worked at many different hotels, none stay at one job or property long term, those that do tend to not make as much and not able to move into new positions as often.

Only job where I did no see much job hop action was at the airline where it was all seniority based, seniority meant everything so it was an incentive to stay in one position.

TimNiceBut

I used to be in banking IT, did a lot of contracting in the UK and as a result changed jobs every 1-3 years.

A headhunter here in the US had massive problems getting people interested here because they considered that 'job hopping'.

Dan725

I think it is the sign of the times, rather than a cultural difference, especially in the current economic climate. I feel that employers have even less loyalty than their employees do.

A point I always note - I think in the UK it would actually be far easier to job hop, with less penalty. Using vacation as an example, for instance, in the UK you could job hop till you could hop no more, and chances are you'd get 5 weeks vacation plus *ALL* Bank Holidays, wherever you went.

Contrast with here in the miserly US, where you are more likely to get 2 weeks vacation (3 if you are very lucky) plus *some* Bank Holidays, until you have worked with that same company for x amount of years, where they will reward you by increasing your time off. If you hop jobs, unless you are a very senior industry guru or something, at your new job, you'll be back to 2 weeks off a year again. Not to mention, in the UK, you don't have to worry so much (if at all) about comparing and contrasting benefits such as Health insurance.

Right now in this economy, I'm seeing very little job hopping; even internally. Everyone has gone on "lockdown mode" - company's are freezing their hiring, freezing their expansions, etc - I feel that everyone, employers and employees alike, are stuck at the moment.