Rolling stone: noun, a person who is unwilling to settle for long in one place
The IT industry encounters the phenomenon of skilled professionals’ job hopping. Employees tend to leave a company after a couple of years, if not sooner. This does not mean that they are not satisfied with the company, the supervisor or the benefits of their role; it is simply because they are given a much better opportunity by someone else.
Let’s see what used to happen in the past. Baby Boomers & Generation X (born between the 50s to the end of 70s) were traditionally employed and stuck to a company for decades. This gave them the feeling of security and validation for the future.
But then, the internet & modern technologies bloomed, and this led to Millennials or Generation Y (born between 1980 to mid 90s) to be given lots of opportunities to thriving companies.
As the IT industry flourished, new jobs came along, and new skills and qualifications were developed and nurtured so young professionals could further elaborate and become even more advanced.
A couple of decades ago, an IT person would be someone with basic programming skills and hardware systems understanding. Nowadays, there are so many different IT roles and profiles that give the industry a significant push forward.
Therefore, employees now have many choices and relevant opportunities to choose from. According to Deloitte’s Millennial Survey, GenY employees tend to change jobs every 1.3 years.
A person in his mid 20s or even 30s will most probably have a job-hopping CV. And this is not necessarily bad. Imagine working at a local IT company, small-sized, as a Software Developer for the last 3-4 years. You have no significant salary increases or job promotions, but you are happy because you get along nicely with the team and the supervisor and you are used to your day to day duties.
And then, a recruiter comes! And he pops the message!
He/she wants to talk to you about this great opportunity at this huge company where they develop some quite exciting projects and the salary is huge!
What would you do?
Of course, you will give it a shot! You don’t really care as you know that even if you fail, you still have your current job. But in the end, you get the new job. And yes, the salary is huge, the projects are exciting, and you love it there.
But after a few months, another recruiter contacts you and this time he/she offers a role in a multi-national firm with opportunities to relocate to any country you want, and this sounds so much more exciting!
And you go for it. And you get that job too.
Some people would say that you are not reliable, and you change jobs too frequently. But let me tell you something. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT!
If you managed to change 3 jobs in a year, I won’t say you are a job hopper. I will think that you are probably quite good at what you do as you landed 3 offers in the row. I will also think that perhaps you haven’t found what you are looking for yet. I will see it as a challenge to make you want to stay with our company.
It is perfectly understandable also if you chose to quit from a few companies, even for reasons that you do not wish to mention. You might not have been comfortable with the team, or maybe your job is not what was presented to you during the interviews.
You may feel unappreciated or just that you do not fit in. This is fine! It is like when you go to buy a new dress; you will need to try on several dresses from different stores until you find the one you want, the one that suits you and is within your budget and relevant to the particular instance that you need it for.
Why would you buy something without trying it on?
What do you think?
Should we be concerned when we see a Rolling Stone?
Or is it just the reality of the modern world we live in?
