Is job hopping all that bad? This is how Gen Zs are normalising the '1 year, 1 job' category

Resigning from a job can have its implications – perceived or otherwise.

One common notion is that it's not exactly a good thing to quit a little too early into your job.

But who gets to decide when is too "early", right?

It seems that Gen Zs are tearing up the script by job hopping and normalising the one-year, one-job category.

In the podcast The Science of Work, host Juliana Chan and guest Parin Mehta had a casual chat about the trends of job hopping among young Singaporeans.

Parin is an executive coach and former managing director at Airbnb APAC.

On Monday (May 29), Juliana shared an almost two-minute-long video of the conversation they had on TikTok.

@julianachanphd Are you in the one-year, one-job category? Join me and executive coach Parin Mehta in a conversation about job hoppers. #careerchange #job #careertok ♬ original sound - Juliana Chan 🇸🇬

Upon putting job ads on LinkedIn, Juliana mentioned how she's beginning to observe a "fair number of one-year, one-job candidates".

She sees this as something of a new phenomenon and noted how people from her generation, millennials and before may not partake in job hopping to this degree. 

"Even if their job wasn't perfect, they would try to dig deep and say 'maybe I can make this work out'," Juliana said, in reference to the mindset of those from previous generations.

According to her, Gen Zs seem to be wired differently, and they have fewer qualms about leaving their jobs.

In response, Parin stated that he wasn't surprised by this trend.

He added: "When I'm meeting people in this position, I'm less interested in what the changes are. I'm more interested in why." 

Context matters 

Having conversations with people who have made such career choices, Parin is pleasantly surprised.

He's even met someone who's changed jobs five times in two years.

While that might seem like an immediate red flag to some, Parin chose to listen to their reasons instead of immediately making judgements.

He found that they had a "very robust way of thinking and self-awareness" and was able to "articulate [a] really clear reasoning" behind their job hopping too. 

Another reason put forth by Parin to explain this new phenomenon among Gen Zs is the experience of having survived Covid-19. 

"I think it's [job hopping] amplified by the fact that we've all been through this shared experience of a pandemic," Parin said. 

After hearing his point of view, Juliana thanked Parin for reframing the discussion around job-hopping Gen Zs.

In the comments section, netizens provided their take on the many reasons that people have for leaving a job.

One netizen shared their personal experience of how job hopping helped with her career advancements.

"I used to think staying in a job for years will show that you are very dedicated and good at it. But after I job hopped, I got more opportunities."

Short stints are normal nowadays

According to a survey carried out by LinkedIn on 1,100 Singaporeans aged between 18 and 55, how Singaporeans define success in the office is beginning to shift.

70 per cent cited happiness (which can't be quantified by KPIs, mind you) and health as the barometer for work success.

Having short stints in a particular job isn't specific to just Gen Z but millennials also.

It could be a case of dissatisfaction with the job scope or disliking the work culture.

But if you feel that things may not change, then perhaps it might be time to start cleaning up that resume and have a look around for potential alternatives.

ALSO READ: Woman quits $5,000 job to deal with burnout and self-doubt

amierul@asiaone.com

No part of this story or photos can be reproduced without permission from AsiaOne.