The Lost Art of Job Hopping

I really miss the days when job hopping was not considered such a crime on humanity or crime against all careers. I am "of the certain age" of which I can remember when every career choice was not supposed to be a life sentence or the end all, be all of jobs.

It really was refreshing just knowing that this job or even the next job you had really was just a job! And you could always say "Well, I'll stick it out for 3 months or so, until something better comes along". I have had a few good employers in my time, but most do not pass the test. I do not like giving my best to bad jobs or bad employers. And if you change careers now, people label you as unstable and unreliable. Hmmm, the fact that I have more experience in more areas does not sway the powers that be. I do feel that job hopping actually did help me to find out what I liked and disliked about a company, or work, or even people.

These days and even when the economy turns for the better, everyone has high expectations on people's resumes. Back in the day a lot of jobs did not require that you had to even provide a resume. You just had to fill out an application and meet with the interviewer. If you had any "job hopping dates or industries" on your application, they would ask you to explain it and they would usually just say ok, fine, and you would either get hired or not based on your qualifications.

But now, it is very structured even in the fields where most people were able to job hop and get away with it. I have had many employers who were only willing to pay minimum wage for the job I was applying for ask me for a resume. Of course back in the day making your resume was a major undertaking. It was even judged by what paper stock it was on and you could not just fax or email them!

I am writing this article because I do not believe you should have to marry your job or your employer. I have had to be very creative in writing my resume and watch the way that I put the dates/different industries as to not draw attention to short term employment. If you can get creative on covering your tracks, I think a person has every right to job hop.