Money's a big part of this.

45% of American workers say they need a higher income.

Job switchers increase their salary more quickly,

on average, than those who stay put.

In February 2024, people who stayed at their job

for more than three months increased their

salary by 5.1% year-over -year, whereas those who

switched jobs increased by 5.9%.

I ended up almost doubling my salary after a year and

a half, and then from there, each year, I

probably increased my salary from anywhere to

$15,000 to $35,000 or $40,000.

But hiring professionals stress that it's important

to be strategic about job moves.

You don't want to rise up the ranks too quickly and

then be this expensive head that's sort of easy

to chop in any kind of downturn.

I think companies do expect an unrealistic

level of loyalty, but unfortunately we're at

their whim a lot of times, right?

So we do have to play the game, and that game is

making it seem like you're going to spend the

rest of your life there. They really do want to be

lied to you.

So how long is the optimal amount of time to stay at

your job for your career advancement, salary, and

your well-being?

The survey data about why people leave their jobs is

pretty consistent across the board.

Ranking at the top of the list are wanting a higher

salary and not feeling like they have room for

growth at their current job. The desire for higher

salaries may lead people to job hop, which is when

a worker jumps from job to job within a short

period of time.

Oftentimes, switching companies is the fastest

way to get to that next level role in terms of

seniority and in terms of your income level.

And the reality behind that is in your current

company for you to get promoted, for you to get

to the next level, that position needs to open up

in a way that it's either someone leaves or they get

promoted or the company is growing.

Gen Z is 36% more likely than other generations to

prioritize advancement opportunities.

Even if there are opportunities for

promotions within their current workplace, they

may still find it easier to leave.

A lot of employers are reaching out to people and

recruiting them.

Workers have more negotiating power that

way. You can also find out more easily what wages

are available just by, you know, going on

ZipRecruiter and looking at job postings, whereas

perhaps finding out what the opportunities are

within your company involves sort of an

uncomfortable conversation with your

manager.

Other common reasons for leaving are to get better

benefits to escape a toxic work environment,

and for better work life balance.

The ancillary thing is, if I pay people more, would

they be happier?

If that were true, then investment banks and

private equity firms law firms would be the

happiest places in the world to work.

They notoriously aren't viewed that way because

there's a certain way that you treat people,

whether it's benefits or whether it's time off or

compensation or, quite frankly, just how you

treat people on a day in and day out basis with

interpersonal skills.

Those are the things that end up being more

important.

Workers also have career aspirations that may not

be fulfilled in their current positions.

Early in my career, I always had the goal of

eventually working for myself. So I told myself

around the age of 30, try and get enough experience

and exposure to the things that are required

to have a consulting firm.

So each job that I've worked, I've always left a

company, if I felt like I had already obtained the

skill that I needed to obtain. And if I wasn't

getting opportunities to obtain the skills that I

needed, I went to the next place.

As humans, we tend to change every 2 to 3 years

in terms of our goals, our priorities, our stages

of life. And now the younger generations ask

themselves, well, how does my career serve me

and not the other way around?

There's never a wrong reason to want to leave.

If you want to leave, you can leave, right?

But you have to be smart about leaving.

Americans consistently stay at their jobs for a

median of 3 to 4 years.

In 2022, the median tenure was 4.1 years.

In 2002, it was 3.7, and back in 1983 it was 3.5

years. But breaking those numbers down by age paints

a clearer picture about how long Americans should

stay at their jobs.

Between 2002 and 2022, workers aged 20 to 24

typically stayed at their jobs for less than one and

a half years. As you look at older workers, the

median tenure increases with each age group.

I think a lot of people think of job hopping as

being generational, but it's actually more driven

by age than generation.

So our parents generations at the same

age as young people today, a lot of the data

shows that they quit at very similar rates.

A Bureau of Labor Statistics study found

that American adults born between 1957 and 1964 held

an average of 12.7 jobs between the ages of 18 and

56, with nearly half of those jobs held before the

age of 25.

I think the idea that you have to stay at one

company for an extended period of time comes most

probably from our families and our parents,

because their expectation and their version of

success was to stay within one company, or at

least within one career, their entire life.

Our parents would get pensions, they would work

for a company for a certain amount of time,

retire and be paid for the rest of their lives.

So the incentives have shrunk and so the loyalty

is just not there.

Another thing to consider is a lot of benefits

accrue over time. So if you switch companies too

quickly, you could be leaving money on the

table. For example, some employers won't allow you

to keep your 401(k) match until you've been there

for a certain number of years.

I see a huge wave of Gen Z and millennial

professionals asking themselves: is this job,

is this career right for me?

And what do I want for my career to look like and to

feel like and where do I find this career?

Versus feeling like I have to stay doing what

I've been doing in my career.

Recruiters say there's more leeway for job

switching earlier in your career.

Gen Z can do that right now because they're in

their early 20s, but when they get to their late 20s

or their early 30s.

They can't be moving like that. You're 22 years old.

You're not making any career mistakes right now.

There are so many places that you could go, and

none of them would be a mistake. Because you're so

young and you have so many years to figure out

what you want to do.

When you're 35, not really right?

Ideally, you're in your career and you're making a

good salary with great benefits.

And once you have that, you need to be more

strategic and intentional about those moves that you

make, because now you can make a really bad career

mistake.

Instead of asking how long you should stay at your

job, career experts suggest shifting your

focus to how much you've accomplished. I think the

biggest risk with job hopping or leaving your

job too early is you not understanding where you

are in your development.

And that's why I try to tell people remove your

focus on money, especially if you're being

compensated okay, and you're able to pay your

bills and survive.

Don't focus on just getting a huge pay bump

before you are actually ready, before you have

gained the right skills.

Don't focus on time.

Don't focus on money.

Focus on skills.

And if you are comfortable in the skills

that you are acquiring, then you are ready to move

on to the next level.

Workers may also want to consider looking at their

career as a whole, rather than honing in on only

tenure or compensation.

I took a $20,000 pay cut when I dropped hopped the

first time, and I knew that was okay because it

would come back tenfold based on the experience I

was going to be getting at the new place of work.

So I don't focus on the money.

And I know that's a privileged thing to say

because my roles compensate me well.

And at the time when I started in my career, I

just really shrunk my cost of living.

I would say I lived in a house with seven other

people and my rent was like $500.

So after I took the $20,000 pay cut, I ended

up almost doubling my salary after a year and a

half. And then from there each year, I probably

increased my salary from anywhere to $15,000 to

$35,000 or $40,000.

And now that I'm an independent consultant, I

mean, this is the most that I've earned ever.

While it could deliver a quicker pay raise to

switch jobs, often long term loyalty and tenure

are rewarded in the end.

And so if you look at the top five highest paid

people within a company, they're often the veterans

who were there from the start. The company may

only want people in senior leadership

positions who have a demonstrated track record

of reliability, of sustained performance, and

of loyalty to the company. Companies don't

do promotions that often.

They might do them once a year, twice a year.

And so if you have only stuck around two cycles,

but the company has a policy of promoting people

about once every three years, you know, you may

miss out on that big payday if.

You are not a self-aware person and you don't do a

lot of introspection for what you are and are not

ready for, job hopping is not wise in my opinion.

If you're not really able to assess your true skill

set, it's going to be hard for you to get the

opportunities that you want or reach your end

goal.

Timing and the broader economy are important

factors as well. How difficult would it be to

find a new job.

In January 2024, the Glassdoor Employee

Confidence Index fell to its lowest point since

2016.

You need to figure out like the strategy before

you give that notice, because it is taking

people 6 to 12 months to land a new position.

A 2023 survey from Insight Global revealed that 55%

of unemployed adults said they've been searching for

a new job for so long that they are completely

burnt out. This trend is hitting Gen Z the hardest,

with two-thirds of them suffering from application

burnout. But 75% of Gen Z workers would quit their

jobs without having a new one lined up.

I personally would never leave a job if I don't

have another opportunity already lined up.

Another part of being strategic is thinking

about how employers are viewing a candidate's work

history.

For employers, turnover is challenging and very

expensive because hiring realistically takes a lot

of time and a lot of resources.

90% of organizations are concerned about employee

retention. Helping employees upskill is a key