ARE MILLENNIALS THE JOB HOPPING GENERATION?

Last week we talked about the Impostor Syndrome and how it can affect our careers, but today, I came across a “new Syndrome” that seems to primarily affect millennials: Job Hopping Syndrome (JHS).

The term Job hopping is pretty self-explanatory as it is, however, JHS most applauded definition describes it as: “Switching jobs multiple times for short-term reasons and winding up with too many wasted years. The syndrome is easy to diagnose on one’s resume making the person less employable”.

But this definition focuses more on attacking rather than explaining, that could be because this phenomenon has only been studied for the past few years,

In 2016, A Gallup report revealed that 21% of Millennials have switched jobs within the past year. From age 18 to 28, they held an average of 7.2 jobs and, according to Gallup, this is costing the U.S.  economy $30.5 billion annually.  But The job-hoping stigma is slowly vanishing and becoming a thing of the past.

Millennials are a generation that grew up in fast times, it’s no surprise that we have little to no patience. A jump from employer to employer to further our careers in a shorter time frame shouldn’t necessarily catalog us as “unstable”. In fact, the ability to adapt to different and new environments can be very beneficial. When switching jobs the right way, hoppers harvest a variety of useful and competitive skills along with a diverse background of experiences.

Trading jobs brings the possibility of a better pay. Asking for a raise can be more intimidating than quitting. In order to give a larger paycheck, companies will ask their employees to take more responsibilities and, in most cases, the numbers might not even match millennials expectations.

But, When should we stop hopping? I mean, should we ever at all? Could there be a place where we can actually feel like we can dream, create and evolve along with our employer as a team?

Millennials are occupying the boss’s chairs, so maybe there’s still hope these new employers will understand our generational life crisis needs.

Thanks for reading. Until next time!