Purposeful Job Hopping
Kent R.
I've had a few client's reach out in the last couple of weeks concerned about how many jobs they've held in a short period of time, which reminded me of some advice I provided a reader several years ago. That reader had shared that he was 29 years old and had held 5 jobs in a variety of industries from Retail to Accounting to Hospitality. Understandably, he was concerned that potential employers would think that he was unfocused and, in is words, "a mess." Here is the advice I gave him:
"I work with a lot of individuals who are still in the early stages of their careers. Many subscribe to the notion that you have to have "it all figured out" on the day that you graduate from college. People are reluctant to embrace the idea that it's actually a good thing to explore a variety of pursuits in order to find the right career fit – one where what you do is infused with passion. I encourage clients to get comfortable with the idea of exploring a variety of interests. No, this doesn't mean that I encourage mindless job-hopping. It simply means that it's very unlikely that you'll quickly fall into the "right" job and/or career. In fact, I work with many late-in-their-career clients who are trying to recover from the downside of staying with a career that wasn't the right fit because "that's what you're supposed to do."
Allow yourself to grow into whatever is right for you. Eliminate counterproductive thinking that keeps you doing something that makes you miserable. Trust me – it will never get better. Don't let what a potential employer might think keep you from doing what makes sense for you. The payoff will be worth it."