I remember back when I was in high school, a group of friends and I were talking to one of our teachers and the topic evolved to dating and marriage. One of my friends asked, "Do you believe there is one person out there for everyone?"
The teacher responded, "Oh no. I believe there are dozens of people out there that can be your soul mate that you could marry and spend your life with."
That comment stuck with me. Although at that point of my life, I hadn't yet prioritized looking for a wife to settle down with, I had always assumed there was a "Miss right" that I would seek out, hopefully find and live happily ever after.
When I got to that point in my life, that teacher's comment stuck with me and I never fretted about whether the person I was marrying was THE right person, but rather if she was A right person. I was lucky enough to find one and I am currently in the process of living happily ever after.
I've known people, however, that are chronic daters. They constantly date, sometimes have long-term relationships, but there's always something. They can never find the perfect mate and never stay with the same person.
I know people that approach their jobs the same way. They seem to be looking for that perfect job. They have a job for a couple of years and for one reason or another, it's just not what they thought it would be. They update their resume, find that next utopian career move and, low and behold, it wasn't the perfect job either.
Even a great marriage will have difficult times, with arguments and disagreements. Part of life is working through those moments (as well as knowing when to just shut up). I have had jobs that I loved, and still got frustrated with management decisions, bureaucracy, clients, etc.
There are people that are looking for the one definitive job where they can live out their remaining working years and retire with a gold watch. My dad worked at the same place for 40 years. Most of the people from his generation did too. Back then, the priority wasn't so much to find the job that you enjoyed, but to find one that allowed you to support your family and serve your time until you made it to retirement. Like it or not.
We live in a much different working world today. Fewer people stay at a job for their entire career. For many occupations, the pace of change in technology and economic cycles makes it hard to continue doing the same thing for more than a few years. People need to retool and reinvent themselves regularly.
The concept of loyalty is not what it was either. Previous generations were loyal to the corporate machine that fed them and the employees paid that loyalty back. Complain all you want about the lack of loyalty today, but it's just not economically feasible. Companies can't afford to keep the same skill set around indefinitely as technologies change. And if the skill sets they shift to don't interest you, it's time for you to move on before they move you out.
Management guru Tom Peters has preached for years that we should all think of ourselves as independent contractors. Companies switch out workers for new workers with new skills all the time. Why shouldn't workers do the same? Determine your personal growth goals and the types of projects you want to work on. If the company you work for - whether you're a full-time employee or a contractor - doesn't offer the great opportunities you want and deserve, find one that will. The only problem is, if you change permanent employment jobs every year or so, you tend to get a reputation where companies will be reluctant to hire you.
So... how do you reconcile the contradiction that you should avoid being a job-hopper, but you also shouldn't stay in a dead-end job?
Unfortunately, there are no hard and fast rules. It depends on the situation. The goal is to strike a balance between:
a) Staying at a job long enough to give the company a chance to bring you up to speed, allowing for slowdowns in the normal ebb and flow of progress and;
b) Leaving when long-term growth has been stifled and there is little-to-no hope of advancing your skills. It also depends on how many job changes you've made. If you've had three job changes in the past four years, it may show a trend. However, if you have stayed at most of your past jobs for 4-6 years except for one job that you left after a year because it didn't provide appropriate growth opportunities, you may get pass on that one.
One other alternative to thinking of yourself as an independent contractor is to actually go independent. You can either sub-contract with consulting firms or affiliate yourself with firms that specialize in placing independent contractors for temporary contract positions. Then, you select your projects.
There a very few perfect jobs out there. But if you choose an occupation that you enjoy, and then can find a company that makes it pleasant; you will experience more enjoyment than most people in the work world.
The teacher responded, "Oh no. I believe there are dozens of people out there that can be your soul mate that you could marry and spend your life with."
That comment stuck with me. Although at that point of my life, I hadn't yet prioritized looking for a wife to settle down with, I had always assumed there was a "Miss right" that I would seek out, hopefully find and live happily ever after.
When I got to that point in my life, that teacher's comment stuck with me and I never fretted about whether the person I was marrying was THE right person, but rather if she was A right person. I was lucky enough to find one and I am currently in the process of living happily ever after.
I've known people, however, that are chronic daters. They constantly date, sometimes have long-term relationships, but there's always something. They can never find the perfect mate and never stay with the same person.
I know people that approach their jobs the same way. They seem to be looking for that perfect job. They have a job for a couple of years and for one reason or another, it's just not what they thought it would be. They update their resume, find that next utopian career move and, low and behold, it wasn't the perfect job either.
Even a great marriage will have difficult times, with arguments and disagreements. Part of life is working through those moments (as well as knowing when to just shut up). I have had jobs that I loved, and still got frustrated with management decisions, bureaucracy, clients, etc.
There are people that are looking for the one definitive job where they can live out their remaining working years and retire with a gold watch. My dad worked at the same place for 40 years. Most of the people from his generation did too. Back then, the priority wasn't so much to find the job that you enjoyed, but to find one that allowed you to support your family and serve your time until you made it to retirement. Like it or not.
We live in a much different working world today. Fewer people stay at a job for their entire career. For many occupations, the pace of change in technology and economic cycles makes it hard to continue doing the same thing for more than a few years. People need to retool and reinvent themselves regularly.
The concept of loyalty is not what it was either. Previous generations were loyal to the corporate machine that fed them and the employees paid that loyalty back. Complain all you want about the lack of loyalty today, but it's just not economically feasible. Companies can't afford to keep the same skill set around indefinitely as technologies change. And if the skill sets they shift to don't interest you, it's time for you to move on before they move you out.
Management guru Tom Peters has preached for years that we should all think of ourselves as independent contractors. Companies switch out workers for new workers with new skills all the time. Why shouldn't workers do the same? Determine your personal growth goals and the types of projects you want to work on. If the company you work for - whether you're a full-time employee or a contractor - doesn't offer the great opportunities you want and deserve, find one that will. The only problem is, if you change permanent employment jobs every year or so, you tend to get a reputation where companies will be reluctant to hire you.
So... how do you reconcile the contradiction that you should avoid being a job-hopper, but you also shouldn't stay in a dead-end job?
Unfortunately, there are no hard and fast rules. It depends on the situation. The goal is to strike a balance between:
a) Staying at a job long enough to give the company a chance to bring you up to speed, allowing for slowdowns in the normal ebb and flow of progress and;
b) Leaving when long-term growth has been stifled and there is little-to-no hope of advancing your skills. It also depends on how many job changes you've made. If you've had three job changes in the past four years, it may show a trend. However, if you have stayed at most of your past jobs for 4-6 years except for one job that you left after a year because it didn't provide appropriate growth opportunities, you may get pass on that one.
One other alternative to thinking of yourself as an independent contractor is to actually go independent. You can either sub-contract with consulting firms or affiliate yourself with firms that specialize in placing independent contractors for temporary contract positions. Then, you select your projects.
There a very few perfect jobs out there. But if you choose an occupation that you enjoy, and then can find a company that makes it pleasant; you will experience more enjoyment than most people in the work world.
