Yesterday I posted about the best way to increase your salary as a consultant.
How? By switching jobs! Sad but true.
I explained about when you should do it and the benefits when you switch jobs: your salary can increase by 5-10%. While staying for the yearly pay raise increases your salary by 1%-3% and if you’re incredibly lucky up to 5%.
But when shouldn’t you do job-hopping?
❌ Don’t within 18 months of your job.
This is seen as real job-hopping and is still a negative point. So, you should hang on for longer than that if you don’t want to be seen as a bad employee. Frequent job-hopping isn’t as much of a career stigma as it used to be, but hiring managers still see it as a red flag. Employers typically look for new hires that want to stick around for the long haul. So, if your resume is dotted with numerous jobs, then it proves you are disloyal.
❌ Don’t when you already have a good salary.
You are already the top performer and are getting well paid for it. There isn’t a lot of wiggle room to give you an increase in salary if you are already at or above market value. At this level company culture is more important than a little bit more money: happiness in life and work is so much more important.
❌ Don’t when there is an upcoming bonus.
Is there an upcoming bonus, like once-in-a-year, that will only be given on a certain date? Then wait until you receive that bonus and then leave. This is also the reason I don’t like this type of bonussen: it will make people leave all at the same time.
❌ Don’t when you get tired of proving yourself every time.
Job hopping can affect your mental health, every time you need to re-adjust, having stress and emotional exhaustion. You need to prove yourself every time, building up trust and loyalty. Trust and loyalty work both ways.
❌ Don’t when you haven’t maximized where you are.
You can still learn a lot in your current job. Your long-term colleagues and managers will have a better understanding of your skills and what you bring to the table and will give you new opportunities to grow. They will even see possibilities in you that you didn’t know about yourself.
Don’t get job-hopping syndrome, you switch jobs multiple times for a variety of reasons (or the same reason every time) and are never happy where you land.
Lastly, job-hoppers may miss out on valuable team bonding and networking opportunities. If you don’t stay at your jobs for a longer time, you don’t get a chance to make friends with co-workers and develop relationships that could last a lifetime. These friendships can also be valuable for networking purposes.
What do you think?
