When to Job Hop and When to Stay Put

When to Job Hop and When to Stay PutWhen to Job Hop and When to Stay PutA generation or two ago, it was expected that youd get hired at a job in your 20s and stay there until you retired. But as our attention spans shortened, so has our ability to stay at a single company. According to a May 2014CareerBuilder study, 25 percent of workers have held five or more jobs by age 35.But how do employers feel about it?Is your desire to continually search for greener pastures wrecking your option of getting hired?It depends on where you are in your career path. Employers are seemingly more tolerant of job hopping in young careerists who are still trying to find their foothold on the corporate ladder. Naturally, you wouldnt want to stay in an entry-level position for the rest of your life, so theres some leeway while youre still gaining experience and seeking progressively better roles. How you define job hopping is important. Some statistics show that the average employee stays at a company f or about four years, while a younger employee stays there for closer to two. So were elend talking three-month stints here. It depends on your industry.Employers in certain fields tend to expect employees to job hop more, due to talent shortage, extreme demand and assertive recruiters. According to CareerBuilder, the top industries with employers that expect staff to job hop are information technology, leisure and hospitality, transportation, retail and manufacturing.When should you job hop?Leaping from one job to another for the sake of novelty may not be the best career strategy, but here are a few situations that may warrant a change of sceneryYou want to expand your skills. Perhaps youve mastered every task your current role requires, and youre ready to learn more and expand your experience. If youve exhausted resources at your current company, it may be time to find a more challenging role elsewhere.You want to move in another direction. If youre a recent grad, you may have dis covered that the career path you had planned isnt ideal for you. If thats the case, make a move now, so you can put in time in your new field, gain experience and move up that ladder.Youre not getting paid what youre worth. Despite all your successes and milestone accomplishments, the employees at your company are notoriously underpaid. If you dont see a chance of pay that reflects your increasing responsibilities, it might be time to move on.Theres no career path. Many of us want to get promotions and increasingly better job titles, preferably at the company where we currently work. If this is important to you, and your company cant give you a clear path of what you need to do to gain additional responsibilities, you may have butted up against the ceiling.When should you stay put?While these examples may warrant seeking out employment elsewhere, there does come a point when employers dont want to see so many positions and companies on yourrsum. CareerBuilders research shows that 41 percent of employers find it less acceptable when a job candidate in her mid-30s continues to job hop. So if youre approaching this age, or are already past it, consider settling in. Or at least give a company more time before moving on.Lindsay Olsonis a founding partner and public relations recruiter with Paradigm Staffing and Hoojobs,a niche job boardfor public relations, communications and social media jobs. Hoojobs was voted as a Top Career website by Forbes. She blogs at LindsayOlson.com, where she discusses recruiting and job search issues and is chief editor of the HooHireWire The Hoojobs Guide to Hiring Getting Hired.