is job hopping still frowned upon like it was in the 90s and before?

LinkedIn showed someone (old colleague) who is in their 11th job in 14 years which seems excessive to me and would raise some red flags.

I'm in corporate finance, usually see about 2 year stints as the norm.

This equates to roughly 14-15 months at each place. Some less, the longest is 3 years. You would wonder if the company would start to question whether or not they would recover their investment from training the employee and seeing any return.

As long as the person can keep getting hired, then sounds like no one cares about the job hopping. Its much more acceptable now than it was 10+ years ago, especially with all the downturns we have had lately: 2014-2018 oil and gas downturn, 2020 pandemic, 2022-2023 mass layoffs/weak economy.

I have been laid off 3 times since 2018 through no fault of my own, all were due to the economy or company failing. Every time a company asks me why I left, I am honest with them, and they don't seem to care. It's impossible to build tenure at a company these days with constant layoffs and re-orgs.

Another point to consider is that you are FAR more likely to raise your wage by changing jobs than you are receiving a raise with your current employer.

Red flags for sure. And I say that as a job hopper myself. Not going to lie, Finding the correct landing place can be hard. I've had my personal issues with it, and I am still working to figure it out. While it's true that companies at times are guilty not being patient with employees at times, it's also true that a lot of people are too impatient and won't stick things out at times too. These are strange times. On one hand, handouts due to covid convinced many that they don't need to work for an extended period of time. On the other, companies will drop you like a bad habit the moment things go south. And who can blame some of them. Shut downs stretched a lot of employers thin and if they were lucky enough to stay in business, they do not have a lot of recourse if things don't work out. And in the middle, a lot of us are just trying to figure out the best course of action for us and our families. Granted, this goes back further than Covid. There was a time people kept a career for decades, with the same employer. Now? Your friend's resume is not unusual in this climate. Extreme, but not unusual. I feel like a lot of it happened after the tech bubble burst in the early 00's. After that, things were just different.

A few questions: Was he doing multiple jobs at once? That is happening more and more. Like, I can train clients as a trainer and teach HS as a teacher. I have summers off and long holidays. Some people may moonlight to make extra cash and have it on linked in....

I have gotten laid off 4 times in a row. Every time the company got sold so things changed after that and product teams are pushed out. So my track record in the last 10 years looks like I am a job hopper when I really did not mean it to be. My last job was super toxic and political so I quit after 2 years. I am at my new place which has a West Coast feel and working remotely and am loving it. So I plan on sticking around for a long time.

That much job hopping is a red flag. But staying at one company and not at least moving around within a company and learning new skills can also be a red flag.

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A few questions: Was he doing multiple jobs at once? That is happening more and more. Like, I can train clients as a trainer and teach HS as a teacher. I have summers off and long holidays. Some people may moonlight to make extra cash and have it on linked in....

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One of my friends is an Azure Architect and last year held THREE jobs at the same time. Based in the West Coast. He would juggle meetings. He kept one employer happy but the others he did as he pleased. One fired him and now he has 2 jobs. Of that one is complaining but he is hanging on. He must be pulling in over half a Mil a year.

infinity ag said:

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A few questions: Was he doing multiple jobs at once? That is happening more and more. Like, I can train clients as a trainer and teach HS as a teacher. I have summers off and long holidays. Some people may moonlight to make extra cash and have it on linked in....

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One of my friends is an Azure Architect and last year held THREE jobs at the same time. Based in the West Coast. He would juggle meetings. He kept one employer happy but the others he did as he pleased. One fired him and now he has 2 jobs. Of that one is complaining but he is hanging on. He must be pulling in over half a Mil a year.

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Theres a reddit sub called overemployed, that has tons of stories like this. Its crazy how many people are doing this and able to hold down 3-5 jobs at the same time making insane money.

At some point it absolutely becomes a red flag....

For example, nobody in our ELT, or even down the the VP level has a resume filled with 2 year stints.

If you are fine being a contributor and happy hopping job to job to chase a couple more bucks, I don't think it'll be much of an issue. But, probably leaving a lot on the table.

Sims said:

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Another point to consider is that you are FAR more likely to raise your wage by changing jobs than you are receiving a raise with your current employer.

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This x a million and at a much quicker pace

htxag09 said:

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At some point it absolutely becomes a red flag....

For example, nobody in our ELT, or even down the the VP level has a resume filled with 2 year stints.

If you are fine being a contributor and happy hopping job to job to chase a couple more bucks, I don't think it'll be much of an issue. But, probably leaving a lot on the table.

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It's not as easy as that. If you are unlucky to be stuck in a sucky company, it's better to jump than to suffer on. In a sucky company, you won't go too far anyway.

infinity ag said:

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htxag09 said:

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At some point it absolutely becomes a red flag....

For example, nobody in our ELT, or even down the the VP level has a resume filled with 2 year stints.

If you are fine being a contributor and happy hopping job to job to chase a couple more bucks, I don't think it'll be much of an issue. But, probably leaving a lot on the table.

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It's not as easy as that. If you are unlucky to be stuck in a sucky company, it's better to jump than to suffer on. In a sucky company, you won't go too far anyway.

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Huge difference between that and 11 jobs in 14 years….

htxag09 said:

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infinity ag said:

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htxag09 said:

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At some point it absolutely becomes a red flag....

For example, nobody in our ELT, or even down the the VP level has a resume filled with 2 year stints.

If you are fine being a contributor and happy hopping job to job to chase a couple more bucks, I don't think it'll be much of an issue. But, probably leaving a lot on the table.

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It's not as easy as that. If you are unlucky to be stuck in a sucky company, it's better to jump than to suffer on. In a sucky company, you won't go too far anyway.

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Huge difference between that and 11 jobs in 14 years….

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There are some locations where all companies suck. That is because of historical and other reasons. In other words, not much choice. Only option is to move to another city but for some that's not possible.

infinity ag said:

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htxag09 said:

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At some point it absolutely becomes a red flag....

For example, nobody in our ELT, or even down the the VP level has a resume filled with 2 year stints.

If you are fine being a contributor and happy hopping job to job to chase a couple more bucks, I don't think it'll be much of an issue. But, probably leaving a lot on the table.

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It's not as easy as that. If you are unlucky to be stuck in a sucky company, it's better to jump than to suffer on. In a sucky company, you won't go too far anyway.

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There also has to be open spots above you…and in some cases those are filled by younger people. So you either have to leave or they have to in order to move up.

I guess agree to disagree. I'm not saying you have to stick to a company forever. Hell, I've been with 5 in my 13 year career. Shortest stint being 6 months because it was just a terrible fit, so I get it.

I'm saying 11 jobs in 14 years will raise red flags. Not only will it raise flags, but chasing a dollar to that extent will probably cost you money. I just don't see a hiring manager giving an external applicant with that resume a "raise". Will they hire someone with that kind of resume a lateral move? Sure, and, yes, probably for more money.

But if you want to advance your career in the sense of going from a contributor to a manager, director, etc., it'll likely behoove you to find a place you like and stay for longer than 18 months.

It's not like this person has relocated out of state, or his specific geographic region. his roles were some kind of a sales position, whether it is a sales manager, sales, Director, etc. "Chasing a buck" is probably appropriate here as this person moved industries numerous times, financial services, oil and gas, construction, copiers, etc. Lateral, Not promotional opportunities.

Given the track record I would have a hard time hiring that person, knowing after training and getting them ramped up after 3-6 months there is a very good likelihood in 18 months or less they will be gone.

In a sales person, it's definitely a huge red flag.

It takes 9month to 16 months to show that you can't sell anything.

As someone who would be looking to hire,

how spread out is the 11 jobs?

did he have a hard time finding a fit? get laid off and HAD to find another job?

How long was the last job?


Whatever it is, you can't expect him to stay longer than a year or so. Can YOU live with that?

Really depends on the market. All things being equal, I would take a stable worker over a job hopper.

Probably depends on the industry, but as someone who hires people in finance, that resume would go directly into the trash can at first glance. There are thousands of qualified hungry candidates, so why take the risk.

wsjag said:

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It's not like this person has relocated out of state, or his specific geographic region. his roles were some kind of a sales position, whether it is a sales manager, sales, Director, etc. "Chasing a buck" is probably appropriate here as this person moved industries numerous times, financial services, oil and gas, construction, copiers, etc. Lateral, Not promotional opportunities.

Given the track record I would have a hard time hiring that person, knowing after training and getting them ramped up after 3-6 months there is a very good likelihood in 18 months or less they will be gone.

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You can do whatever you want as long as you can convince someone to hire you.

11 in 14 is too many for me. But knowing that, dude sounds like a solid salesmen as he convinced a lot of employers that it wasn't too many.

RangerRick9211 said:

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wsjag said:

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It's not like this person has relocated out of state, or his specific geographic region. his roles were some kind of a sales position, whether it is a sales manager, sales, Director, etc. "Chasing a buck" is probably appropriate here as this person moved industries numerous times, financial services, oil and gas, construction, copiers, etc. Lateral, Not promotional opportunities.

Given the track record I would have a hard time hiring that person, knowing after training and getting them ramped up after 3-6 months there is a very good likelihood in 18 months or less they will be gone.

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You can do whatever you want as long as you can convince someone to hire you.

11 in 14 is too many for me. But knowing that, dude sounds like a solid salesmen as he convinced a lot of employers that it wasn't too many.

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Sounds like he can talk the talk but can't walk the walk to me.

I'm generally pro job hoppers (stats show that they make more money than people who stay in one place) but 11 in 14 years is nuts.