It’s the tendency that’s given millennials a bad name. We can’t stick to anything. Labels are the enemy and everything is ‘fluid’. We have no money. Can’t buy a house. And why do we keep job hopping?
My parents, luckily for me, have been very supportive of the decisions I’ve made… They’ve been supportive again, when I’ve turned around and done the complete opposite to the very thing I was absolutely convinced I had to do.
Changing my mind is my biggest constant.
I changed my mind half way through a physiotherapy degree, deciding I wanted to be a journalist instead. My parents smiled and agreed that anatomy wasn’t my strong suit. My mum took a sip of her wine and we talked about the possibilities ahead.
Their belief in me has never faltered through the job changes, and “what if I did this instead?” and “what do you think about taking my career here?” and “I’ve always wanted to study marine biology” and “do you think I should become a campaigner for animal rights?”
Certainly, I am lucky and privileged to be in a position where I do have choices. But my situation, and my habit of chopping and changing and exploring new ideas and then returning to old ones, is very normal for my generation. We are the overwhelmed-with-options, can’t-make-a-decision-to-save-ourselves millennials.
But this might not be a bad thing… Companies, finally, are catching on.
Attitudes are slowly changing and maybe, just maybe, our constant searching and switching and changing again might be seen as a good thing by prospective employers.
John O’Neill, the Assistant Dean of Career Education for Stanford University in California in the U.S. told The New York Times last Thursday that job hopping straight after graduating university is no longer so frowned upon by potential employers. (Thank God).
“Nowadays it’s not as negative as it once was to move on to new job opportunities,” said O’Neill said. “It’s expected that people will move on to new opportunities, especially earlier in their career.”
Top Comments
A lot of people have no choice but to job hop these days, with more and more jobs available either contract or casual, employers will just have to get used to three page resumes.
Thank god - this makes me feel so much better! I only stayed in my first post-uni job for 10 months (long-distance boyfriend proposed so I moved back to be with him...also the job sucked but hey) and now I've been in my second role for a year but I'm really considering leaving but was worried about how bad it might look. I definitely have solid reasons for leaving, none of which involve relational issues, but reading this article makes me feel a little better - thank you!