Job length question

[waverly]

How long have you been at your current job?


How long should people stay at their job assuming they are mostly happy? Min? Max? 


I have heard my H say people shouldn't stay more than 10 years because it does not show growth.  I guess if you are moving to different roles that may not be true.  In my industry people tend to stay at one job a long time.

When I google I just get that people should stay a minimum of 2 years, but they don't really mention max although lack of growth and boredom is mentioned.  


What does WP think?  I think it differs by industry/ field.  

[rere]

I have been at my job for 15 years for several reasons.
1. I went part time after I had my DS and stayed part time for 10 years. I accrued pay increases, retirement, sick, and vacation on the same level as a full time employee with just reduced hours.
2. I have moved up since coming back full time.
3. After 20 years in the system, you have full free insurance. After 27 years, you have full retirement. Combining my two jobs in the system, I have 19 1/2 years.

It is coming around to bite me now. I have moved up as far as I can. So unless someone leave or there is a major reorganization, I may not have much growth.

[waverly]

1. I have been here 9 years. I have toyed with the idea of going part time, but never pulled the trigger due to the loss of income and loss of health insurance and PTO. If they had stayed the same rere , I would have done it.
2. The longer I stay in my pension I think the more money I get. But I would have retirement elsewhere just structured differently.
3. I too am at the highest level that I would want to be at in my organization.

I've seen people with 15 years or 30 years in my field get fired because of issues with their boss and have a hard time finding as good of a job later. So I was wondering if people feel the need to pre-emptively move after so many years. Or maybe when the issues start to arise is when they should have job hunted rather than waiting it out.

[mae0111]

I was at my last company for 15 years, but I had 8 different positions there.

I stayed because, for a long time, the benefits were great. Good medical, excellent retirement, WFH 2 days a week, stock bonuses, paid parking ($40/day otherwise). Slowly, those benefits were stripped away or reduced, and the cons really started outweighing the pros.

Perhaps I look stagnant, but there really was tremendous growth. I had a couple of major job changes, but several promotions. I started at the lowest possible level in the company, and when I left, I was part of the Senior Leadership Team - top ~100 people in the 2000+ person company. It was worth staying for a long time. Until it wasn't.

I never put a lot of stock in people leaving a job too quickly, unless it's a pattern. Everyone makes mistakes, and everyone gets misled.

[mommyatty]

I’ve been at my company 10 years. But I have had multiple different roles and duties and have been promoted multiple times. I have never heard of a max time, so maybe that’s industry-specific.

I don’t hire job-hoppers. If you have 1 or maybe 2 short stints in a job (2years or less), I will ask questions. If you have more than 2, I’m not interviewing you. I interviewed and hired one job hopper. She left when we were about to put her on a performance improvement plan. She had excellent “reasons” for all of her hops. Since she left 4 years ago, she’s on her third new job and already called an old coworker to complain about her newest job. Nevah evah again.

[supertrooper1]

I've been at my job for almost 14 years in 5 different roles. Only one was supervisory and it was only temporary. It made me realize that I don't want to be management at my location. There are so many opportunities to move in my job, lateral or up the ladder. I'm only looking elsewhere right now because I don't want to move and I'm tired of the overtime, which doesn't seem to have an end in sight.

In my opinion in law enforcement and government, it can look bad if you move too much, as if you're a problem that a location gets tired of dealing with.

[mustardseed2007]

I've been at my job for 10 years now in one role but my responsibilities and pay have increased dramatically. I would say in the next year change will be coming to our organization (I posted about it a while ago). I was initially scared of that - I still am - but I'm hoping the change will be positive, or at worst neutral, for me (and I've heard indicators from ownership that this will be the case) so I've continued on.

[shakinros]

- 3 years at my current job, 2 different roles.
- Just under two years at the job before this one.
- 9 years at the job before that, in 3 different roles.

I’m inclined to agree with your H. Different roles in a company is good for personal growth but it also builds skill to learn some other work cultures.

[mrspez07]

I was at my 1st job for a year, the next one for 12 years, then 2 and then 3 for my current one.
I’ll probably stay at this one for a very long time, I have an opportunity to become owner/partner and it is a very family-friendly company, though the work is less interesting than what I did for the 12-year company. I moved up and learned most of my current skills at my 12-year job, it was a great experience until things started feeling stale. I’d also done part-time during the downturn when DS2 was about 1.5.

[ilovelucyvv]

11+ years at my job, 1.5 years in my current position
Prior position was 6 years and 1 level lower. I got married, finished my MBA, and had two kids while I had that position. All of those events, especially having kids, contributed to me staying in it for so long. I won’t have to change positions again for another 2.5 years, but the change may happen before then.

[polecat8]

I'm in the tech field where changing jobs after 2 or 3 years is common for my area. There are a lot of startups here, which could be a great opportunity or a bust. A lot of people in this industry will go where the money takes them and it's not uncommon for headhunters/former co-workers to lure you to another company in our specialized field.
I've been in my current job for 3.5 years. It was a startup that was bought by a larger company and then downsized and sold to a smaller company. I love the technology that I am working on and I wear a lot of hats right now since there are only 7 of us. Since it is a regulated field, I can command a higher pay. I am working on getting a more senior title and a pay bump. The benefits are ok - there is no match on the 401k and the health insurance isn't the best, but I have a ton of flexibility, such as working from home when I need to.
To date, I've never been at a company for more than 5 years. Since graduating college 15+ years ago, I've worked at 5 different companies and I've never had an issue finding a job.

[sunbutter]

I just marked 5 years. I have said that I would be happy to retire from this company because the benefits are top notch.
Having said that, I’m in an industry and on a ladder that people get wooed to competitors all of the time and layoffs happen. Staying for long periods of time doesn’t look bad though because it demonstrates that you survived layoffs and reorg perhaps because you are valuable.
I have little interest to move up the official ladder because it puts me at greater risk however I have lots of opportunity to develop additional skills and expertise even staying where I am.

[twinmomma]

I have been here 2.5 years. I don't see myself leaving here any time soon. It's an awesome company, there's still room for growth here, and benefits are great. We have a lot of people across many divisions that have been here 5 - 10 years.

I was at my previous job for 7. I moved up the ranks there and had tapped out on growth. Plus, the company sucked, so I left. In my experience, that was a long time to stay there, but it was a small company that kind of churned through young graduates and burnt them out quickly.

[freezorburn]

21 months, but I have always viewed my current job as a transitional role for me so that I can reserve my best energy for dealing with stressful life events.

I’m looking to get back into my field in a full time capacity sometime in the next year.

In my field it seems that people would stay in their first job for 1-3 years, then settle in someplace for a few years. I have friends who have been in one place for a dozen years, others have changed roles every 3-5 years or so.

[divanerd]

I will always move for better opportunity, last position I left for a better commute so I can literally be at work in under 15 mins especially if I have to work long days..

With a young kid this was important to me.

My resume shows leadership growth and consulting roles. Sadly my last employer burned a lot of us so many left including the "lifers".

[nellgirl]

I’ve been with my current employer for 16 years, in my position for 12 years, and in my location for 9 years.

[sandandsea]

I’ve been at my current firm almost 11 years and my previous one for 5 years full time plus 2 internships. I’ve moved up the ranks as far as I can without buying in. By jumping I could have made partner faster at a smaller firm, but I’ve been the one tapping the brakes to have more balance. I like my firm and those I work with. Many of whom were at my prior firm too so I’ve worked with them over 16 years. I do value longevity in a career as hopping often in my field is an easier way to get a promotion or pay increase they weren’t getting before. Staying shows perseverance and dedication and an ability to work with others and make it work. There seem to be two types from my experience- those that stay forever and those that hop every 2-3 years. As a senior level person, I want to invest heavily in those that will “run the place” some day, not those that are looking for the fastest way to get more.

[laterz]

I've been at my current company for 13 years. I don't think there's anything wrong with that if you can demonstrate growth. I've covered 5 major areas in that time, and generally my day-to-day work changes every 1-2y (I am in the project mgmt space). My resume reflects that change (and the promotions/progression in responsibility I've had.)

If I was reviewing a resume for a person that had been in the same role for a long time, I'd probe a lot on their flexibility/adaptability (I'm not assuming they're not adaptable, but it would be an area I'd want to see examples on.)

[madringal]

I have been at my current employer for 6 months, prior to that I was a SAHM for three years, and before that I was at my company for 11 years. In those 11 years I had 5 promotions so my resume shows growth.

[honeydew1894]

I've been at my current position for 12 years, but I am a teacher and this is the norm, more or less. The longer you stay, the less sense it makes to leave. That being said, my school is a really great fit for me. The only real downside is the 45 minute commute.

[dragon's breath]

I've been with my employer for 18+ years and have worked at four locations (rotating through three of them was required while I was in the pre-apprenticeship program). I stayed at one location through my apprenticeship to journeyman, with temp time as various promotions and foreman. I had to escape that after well-documented and proven sexual harassment, and was sent to an office at the fourth location for a year (I am not made to work in an office, so it was a year of pure hell for me.)

I took a pay cut to work at my current location in a new, but related, career. Now I'm finally working in my hometown instead of driving 90 miles a day. I love my schedule, even if it's rotating shift.

As for growth, I don't give a shit about growth. I like my schedule and my job is the best job ever (I mean, if I have to work, I can't top my duties with this one, I almost finished knitting a pair of socks while working this weekend.) I'm hoping I can just be "fat, dumb, and happy" in my current position until I retire (17 years, unless I can manage to get a penalty-free/full-benefits early retirement). If you try to improve, go above and beyond, etc, you get the crap kicked out of you. I have learned my lesson there.

Many people are "lifers". I work with three of the guys who were hired with me, and a few who were hired in the group behind me. I've known two guys who had put in over 50 years before retiring, all at the same location.

For people in my job, you have two kinds of job hoppers-- those who are trying to get closer to their desired location, and those who cannot get along with others and tend to get forced to move along.

[CrazyLucky]

I've been with my company 13 years, four different roles. I've said several times that once I hit four weeks vacation, they'd have a hard time getting rid of me. I wouldn't mind changing companies, but I'd hate going back to two weeks.
I think it depends what you want. If you're planning to change jobs at some point, then I guess you might as well do it once you hit the 7-10 year range. If you're at a stable company and would prefer to stay there, I think that's a valid choice too.

[rere]

Oct 29, 2018 7:54:07 GMT -5 CrazyLucky said:

I've been with my company 13 years, four different roles. I've said several times that once I hit four weeks vacation, they'd have a hard time getting rid of me. I wouldn't mind changing companies, but I'd hate going back to two weeks.
I think it depends what you want. If you're planning to change jobs at some point, then I guess you might as well do it once you hit the 7-10 year range. If you're at a stable company and would prefer to stay there, I think that's a valid choice too.

Same.   There is no way I could go back to 2 weeks vacation.   Especially with my kids getting older, I don't want to sacrifice any vacation with them.  Plus, as I get older, I would hope my DH and I have the ability to travel since he has more vacation time than me.  If I moved, vacation time would be the top of my negotiation list above compensation.