Des Moines Register
08-07-06
Young workers worry job-hops may look bad to employers
DAWN SAGARIO
WORKBYTES COLUMNIST
In the past six years, Antoinette Bernich has held three jobs.
She spent a year in St. Louis doing public relations work for a tourism agency.
Then she moved to Des Moines to follow her boyfriend, and held a position at a
government agency for 21⁄2 years.
For the past year and a half, she has been working at a local marketing firm.
Each move, Bernich says, was a step up in her career. Every job change gave
her the opportunity to work with a larger staff, to increase her business
networking contacts, to move up in the company - not to mention, to make more
money.
"Now I work in an agency where there's lots of opportunity, and it helps to
stimulate your work and just helps you to do better work," said Bernich, 27, of
Norwalk. "I know if I work really hard, I can advance here."
Still, she has a constant, niggling worry: "I always kind of wonder if that looks bad
that I've had so many jobs."
It's a concern that's shared by her friends, many of whom occupy the same jobhopping boat.
"I know a lot of my friends wonder, 'How many jobs is too many jobs?' " she said.
"But if you're advancing your career, how can that look bad?"
It's a quandary that Mike Gaul, director of Iowa State University's College of
Agriculture's career services office, said shows the disparity of views of recent
college graduates versus their parents' generation when it comes to job loyalty.
Part of the reason is that some young people saw their parents' jobs slashed
after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, even after devoting 20 or 30 years of
their lives to one company, Gaul said.
But, he added, the brief job tenure of "Millennials" - mostly people born in the
1980s - also seems to be a general trait of that generation.
"I think they've been brought up in such a way that, 'If you don't like it, you quit,' "
Gaul said.
"I think today's generation has a hard time giving a job a chance.
"A chance," he said, translates into giving a job a year before considering moving
on to another.
What is the right reason to switch jobs?
"For a better professional-personal fit," Gaul said.
"Ultimately, it's you that has to wake up every morning and ask, 'Am I happy with
my life?' "
If you're not, then get out of that job, he said.
So what's the wrong reason for switching jobs?
Bolting strictly for higher pay. "They need to look at the total package deal rather
than just that dollar sign carrot that's hanging in front of them," Gaul said.
That means considering factors such as the cost of living in the city you're
moving to, retirement and insurance benefits, sick leave and flexibility of
schedule.
Billie Ruth Sucher, a career transition consultant in Urbandale, said questions
and issues regarding whether to take a different job are the same for workers of
all ages.
Some fairly intense self-evaluation should take place before making a decision.
Sucher said a major question to consider: "Am I running toward something,
instead of running away from something?"
Other questions to mull over, according to Sucher: Are you looking for a job or a
career? Have you found your vocational calling? Is this the right marriage of your
skills and interests? Are you motivated, excited and passionate about your work?
"Really explore what kind of job you're looking for as an individual," then find a
place that honors and respects that, she said.
Gaul and Sucher said to keep in mind that any excessive, seemingly random jobhopping will likely be viewed as negative by employers. So be ready to explain
your work history.
"I think if you're jumping from job to job, from year to year, then that's a red flag,"
Bernich said.
"But ... if you get to that point where you know you're kind of stuck and have to
go to another company to advance, you have to make that choice."
Reporter Dawn Sagario can be reached at (515) 284-8351 or
dsagario@dmreg.com