Confessions of a Serial Job Hopper: Finding the Right Fit for You

As part of the Early Career Professionals Affinity Group's spotlight month, co-lead Alyssa Acosta discusses how to find the right fit in a job.
Early Career Professionals Affinity Group
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Look, I did not plan on jumping between three companies and two different industries in less than five years, especially as an early career professional, but life happens and priorities change. Turns out I am not the only one, and neither are you. On average, a woman’s tenure at a job is 10% lower than a man’s. Job hopping can benefit a young professional in a lot of ways. For example, switching jobs can result in an average pay increase of 15.7%. However, leaving a job does come with risks. Only 16% of large companies said they would hire job hoppers, and being someone who has seen the other side of the recruiting process, I can tell you it does not look good on a resume. In this blog, let’s discuss when it is time to consider leaving, tips on how to find your next opportunity, and some red flags to look out for when choosing where you want to be.

My Journey Through the First Five Years of My Career

I graduated in 2020 from Texas Tech University with my bachelor’s and master’s in environmental engineering. It was in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Luckily, I had landed a job with Exxon Mobil at my school’s fall job fair, so off I went to Chicago. (For those of you actually from the Chicago area, I actually moved to Naperville.) I started working for Exxon Mobil at their Joliet Refinery as an environmental air advisor. That year was a hard time to be in the oil and gas industry due to the pandemic. Two weeks into my career, I was faced with company-wide layoffs. The layoffs affected a lot of the mid-career engineers, those who were in charge of showing me the ropes. Due to this event, I ended up with a lot of responsibility really fast. While this gave me some great on-the-job experience, it also quickly caused me to burn out. I decided I wanted to move back to Texas and go into water treatment, which is what my degrees focused on. I took a job in College Station, Texas, with a small civil engineering company and started working on municipal water/wastewater treatment projects. Within a couple of months, I realized that the company culture just was not for me, and I didn’t see myself growing with them. Also, if you know anything about College Station, you know that it is the home of Texas A&M University, and as a Red Raider, I had to get out of there. I started applying for jobs again and used my network to land an opportunity with Burns & McDonnell. After one year in College Station, I moved to Houston, and now I get to work with industrial wastewater treatment, which is the perfect union of my refinery and water treatment experience. Hindsight is 20/20. Looking back, it’s easy to see how my decisions led me to where I am now; but at every job there came a point in which I had to ask myself if I should stay or go.

When Is It Time to Leave?

Here are some of the signs that it may be time to leave your job because it isn’t giving you satisfaction or will not get you where you want to go:

  • A feeling of dread going into work.
  • Little to no respect for your manager.
  • Feeling like a cog in the machine.
  • Your role lacks autonomy.
  • Feeling like you don’t belong.
  • No opportunity for growth.
  • More responsibilities without compensation.

If you can relate to more than one of these bullet points, it may be time to consider another opportunity. If you can relate to one of these, try talking to your manager and give it six months of really trying to find the purpose in your work. Also, consider the pros and cons of job hopping.

  • Pros
    Pros to job hopping can be ending up with an increase in pay and moving up the professional hierarchy. Of course, the number one pro is ending up in a job and company you love.
  • Cons
    The number one con of job hopping is damage to reputation. As a recruiter, if you are looking at a resume that shows multiple companies or jobs in a short amount of time, it can be a concern. Companies want an employee that will stick around to make the company better. Another con to job hopping is burning a bridge and finding you are not able to return to your former company. Leaving can be hard. Getting out of your comfort zone can be scary, and you have likely formed bonds with your coworkers, which could make it hard to leave. The devil you know may be better than the one you don’t. You can also end up in a worse work environment.

I know the cons sound bad and overwhelming, but I wouldn’t leave you without some solutions to these problems.

Mitigating the Risk

First, while you are interviewing and still employed, you will get the question, “Why are you leaving?” This is your chance to control the narrative. Be truthful while keeping language about your company professional. For example, I left my former company because it was what I would describe as a “boys club,” but in interviews, I simply said, “I can not see myself growing with this company.” It was true, I could not grow with a company that saw me differently than my male counterparts.

Once you’ve aced your interview and have accepted an offer, make sure you leave on good terms to avoid burning a bridge. Give at least two weeks notice before leaving and stay in touch with someone you trust in the company. Note that there are some companies that will want you gone as soon as you give your notice and that is totally fine.

Getting out of your comfort zone and possibly ending up in a worse position than before can be scary, but if you keep an eye out for some red flags while interviewing, you will have a better chance at ending up in the right place for you.

Keep an Eye Out for the Red Flags

After further research via Glassdoor, LinkedIn, or reaching out to your network, you have landed an interview with your company of interest. Now is your chance to ask the right questions to make sure this is the right position and company for you. Remember, you are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you.

Questions to ask during your interview:

  • Does your company offer continuing education/professional development?
  • How flexible is your work schedule?
  • What would a typical day look like for me?
  • What happens when an employee fails to meet the mark?
  • How is an employee’s success measured?
  • Is there something you would change about your company?

The answers to these questions can help you gauge whether a company is the right fit for you culturally. You want a company that invests in you as much as you invest in them, and as an early career professional, you want to make sure you get to keep learning. Having a flexible schedule doesn’t just benefit you personally, it also shows that a company trusts you and will not be micromanaging you. Knowing how a company handles success, and most importantly failure, is very important. A fact of life is that we learn from our mistakes. You want a company that will take a failure as a learning opportunity instead of something to be held against you. In success, you want a company to reward you and not just with a pizza party. Lastly, we all have things we want to change about our company, so the right response to this question is not “nothing.”

Now, you have been through the interview and you have an offer in hand. What are some red flags to look out for?

  • Push to start immediately
  • “We are like family”
  • “Work hard, play hard”
  • Puts finding work on the employee
  • Recent mass resignation or layoffs
  • Lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I)

If a company is pushing you to move up your start date, it most likely means that you will be overworked right off the bat. In my experience, phrases referring to coworkers as a “family” or phrases about working hard are often used to blur the line when it comes to work/life balance — meaning they will expect you to put in extra work. In my opinion, it is a manager’s responsibility to find work for their direct reports because they can see the bigger picture of the projects coming in. It also shows that a manager cares about your growth as much as you do. If you have noticed a large number of professionals leaving a company then it is probably best to avoid starting with them because it will, again, most likely mean you will be overworked as soon as you start. Lastly, as women in a male-dominated field, we want DE&I to have a place within our company. DE&I leads to a feeling of belonging among employees and psychological safety. When we have psychological safety and accountability within a company, then that environment facilitates growth.

Takeaways

Life is too short to spend in a job or career you are not happy with, so the risk is worth it. Remember you are interviewing the company as much as they are interviewing you. It’s okay to job hop — just do it with purpose, whether that purpose is to benefit financially, end up in a company or location you want, or to gain experience you need to further your career. It is okay to use an opportunity as a stepping stone to your next one. Conversely, it is okay to wait for the right opportunity to come along. An increase in pay is an important aspect of job hopping, but not everything. Think about what you want from your career or where you want to be. Finally, I promise you that everything will work out. Admittedly, the constant job hopping took a toll on me mentally and physically (if you count the constant moving), but in the end, I regret nothing.

Author

  • Alyssa Acosta

    Alyssa Acosta graduated from Texas Tech University in 2020 with her bachelor's and master’s degrees in environmental engineering. After graduating, she worked for ExxonMobil at their Joliet Refinery in Illinois as an environmental air advisor for two years. She then made the switch from the oil and gas industry to the water treatment scene by working for Garver at their College Station Water Design Center for a year before accepting a job with Burns and McDonnell. She is now a staff environmental engineer working on wastewater treatment at the Austin office. Alyssa currently serves as the co-lead for the Early Career Professional AG and chair-elect for the Affinity Group Committee. She is also a four-time speaker at the SWE national conference.

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