Comments on: Real stability is a myth

By: Jose

Jose — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:43:49 +0000

One of my Corporate Idols (Jack Welch) was a lifer at GE – and a good one at that.

However, from my personal experience you are less vulnerable if you switch jobs frequently. Someone that knows how to find a job in the good times may be in a better position to find a job in the bad times than someone that doesn’t know how to find a job at all!

Many people (not all) who stay with the same company for a long time develop a very narrowly focused set of skills and subject matter expertise. After many years, they are trapped – their skills are only highly valuable to a very small set of companies that share the same market-space. (Unless they do a slight career change and maybe have to opt for some paycut).

I have seen many lifers being fired from big companies and they find themselves out of luck. They do not even know how to go to an interview and sell themselves – they haven’t practiced in all these years. They may not have updated the skills the market wants (only the ones the big company asked them to update).

By: Meredith

Meredith — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:29:31 +0000

@Jessica – thanks. I agree that people shouldn’t stay in a job that makes them unhappy just for the sake of loyalty. I do raise my eyebrows at too many jobs in too few years though, because even if there are perfectly valid reasons for all that moving around, at a minimum, I have to question whether the employee is a good judge of what job/company is a good fit for them.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:18:11 +0000

@Meredith. I agree that job hopping isn’t ideal and I do realize that seniority plays a part in who is and isn’t cut, but my point is we shouldn’t stay at a job simply out of loyalty. I believe you owe your company your best efforts and loyalty as long as you work there, but once your job no longer offers you room to grow or an ability to learn, or if your job makes you unhappy you should leave. What I really want is a job where I can keep learning, be challenged and do interesting work. As long as I have that I’ll never leave (because as I said I want stability) Like I said, I am not sure when job hoping becomes a determent rather than a help to your career, but I would think it is somewhere around the 5 year mark. Entry level jobs can only offer so much in the way of learning opportunities. Oh and you are worried about sounding preachy to the person who has the gall to write a blog about career advice? I love to hear all viewpoints especially when I respect the commenter.

By: Meredith

Meredith — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:04:08 +0000

At the risk of sounding too preachy, the challenge is that “in the world of mass layoffs and corporate mergers”, job hoppers are most likely to be cut first, all other things being equal.

I’m not suggesting that you never leave a job, but loyalty in business isn’t dead yet (for companies or their employees).

I know, I’m just an old fogie who doesn’t understand this generation. But the combination of smarts, hard work, ambition and loyalty is extremely powerful – and one that any smart manager will value and reward.

And finding the right job is a difficult endeavor, but don’t expect your job to be perfect. That doesn’t exist.

2 cents from an old crow

By: Frank

Frank — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:08:13 +0000

I don’t think there is such thing as a reliable job. I cant see a reason why not to jump into a new job offer if it means more money, and aligns with your career goals… the sad part is that most people have no goals….