Nearly One-Third of Employers Expect Workers to Job-Hop

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May 15, 2014, 05:00 ET

CHICAGO, May 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Does job-hopping (working for various employers for a short period of time) carry the same stigma in today's job market? Not necessarily, according to a new study from CareerBuilder. More than half (55 percent) of employers surveyed said they have hired a job-hopper and nearly one-third (32 percent) of all employers said they have come to expect workers to job-hop.

"More workers are pursuing opportunities with various companies to expose themselves to a wider range of experiences, build their skill sets, or take a step up the ladder in pay or title," said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of Human Resources at CareerBuilder. "While building up a wealth of experience is a good thing, make sure that you're staying with a company long enough to make an impact and provide a return on the investment they've made in you. Employers may be more understanding of job-hopping today, but most employers are still more likely to hire the candidate who has a pattern of longer tenure with organizations."

The national survey was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder from February 10 to March 4, 2014, and included a representative sample of 2,138 hiring managers and human resource professionals, and a representative sample 3,022 full-time, private sector workers across industries and company sizes.

Job-hopping by Age
By the age of 35, 25 percent of workers have held five jobs or more. For workers ages 55 and older, 20 percent have held ten jobs or more.

While employers may be more accepting of job-hoppers, their expectations still tend to vary based on the candidate's age. Forty-one percent of employers said that job-hopping becomes less acceptable when a worker reaches his/her early to mid-30s (ages 30 or 35). Twenty-eight percent find job-hopping less acceptable after the age of 40.

Job-hopping for New Graduates
Employers expect a higher rate of job-hopping among younger workers who are still trying to find their footing for their long-term career. When hiring a new college graduate, nearly half (45 percent) of employers expect the new hire to stay with the organization for two years or less, while more than one in four (27 percent) expect new college grads to stay five years or longer.

Job-hopping by Industry
Information Technology, an industry with a notable talent shortage and highly competitive recruitment tactics, has the largest percentage of employers who expect workers to job-hop. Rounding out the top five industries are:

Information Technology – 42 percent
Leisure & Hospitality – 41 percent
Transportation – 37 percent
Retail – 36 percent
Manufacturing – 32 percent

So You've Hired a Job-Hopper
The study shows that a significant number of employers (43 percent) won't consider a candidate who's had short tenures with several employers. However, others point to advantages in hiring people who have worked for numerous companies. More than half (53 percent) of employers said job-hoppers tend to have a wide range of expertise, and can adapt quickly (51 percent).

The majority of employers (55 percent) said that they've hired someone they'd categorize as a job-hopper. Of those employers:

34 percent said the job-hopper left after a short period of time
40 percent said the job-hopper stayed for at least two years
17 percent said the job-hopper stayed for at least three years

Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder among 2,138 hiring managers and human resource professionals and 3,022 workers (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government) ages 18 and over between February 10 and March 4, 2014 (percentages for some questions are based on a subset, based on their responses to certain questions). With pure probability samples of 2,138 and 3,022, one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have sampling errors of +/-2.12 and +/-1.78 percentage points, respectively. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies.

About CareerBuilder®
CareerBuilder is the global leader in human capital solutions, helping companies target and attract great talent. Its online career site, CareerBuilder.com®, is the largest in the United States with more than 24 million unique visitors and 1 million jobs. CareerBuilder works with the world's top employers, providing everything from labor market intelligence to talent management software and other recruitment solutions. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI), Tribune Company and The McClatchy Company (NYSE:MNI), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, South America, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com.

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SOURCE CareerBuilder