Job-hopping for new opportunities is something many of us do at some point in our career.
But according to one executive’s viral post, job-hopping too much is not something to be proud of on your résumé.
On X, Brett Adcock, CEO of AI robotics company Figure, kicked off a heated debate on Tuesday after he shared that he often sees résumés where someone has worked at six companies over the last 10 years.
And it’s not something he looks upon favorably. Adcock said job-hoppers “usually last a little under [two years] per company on average.”
“If someone has a jumpy resume, it’s the first thing I notice. It’s so blatant to me, yet it continues to fool a lot of people,” Adcock wrote. “Thinking back over the last [15 years] at my companies: I’ve hired thousands of people, and I can’t think of a single person I’ve hired with a jumpy resume who has worked out long-term. Not one.”
Tech mogul Elon Musk replied “100” to Adcock’s post, but he and Adcock were in the minority of people who saw job-hopping negatively. Instead, many used quote-tweets to disagree with Adcock’s position, pointing out how job-hopping helped them get big raises.
The truth is, after a pandemic and mass layoffs in multiple industries, it’s not disloyal to move between companies –– it’s a perfectly reasonable career move to grow your career.
In fact, job-hopping can often be the reason behind your biggest bump in pay.
In a 2022 report, the Pew Research Center found that the majority (60%) of workers who switched jobs between April 2021 and March 2022 saw their wages grow higher than they were the year previous. Meanwhile, among workers who did not change employers during that time, fewer than half reported the same.
Career experts said they found Adcock’s position against job-hopping to be outdated for this reason and more.
“Younger generations, which are early-stage career seekers, will have more chapters in their career journey because both career switching and job-hopping have become acceptable and mainstream. The number of careers that we will have in our lifetime is actually increasing,” said Jenny Fernandez, a leadership coach and startup mentor for the entrepreneur accelerator program Techstars.
Bonnie Dilber, a recruiting manager with app-automation company Zapier, said Adcock’s view was out of touch with the current realities of the market.
“I also think it depends on how you define someone ‘working out,’” she said. “Some companies might be willing to take a risk on someone that’s going to knock it out of the park for 18 months and then move on –– that could be a success to them.“
Dilber also pointed out how employers can often be the reason their employees quickly leave after being hired.
“Many employers have compensation strategies that incentivize job-hopping by capping opportunities for raises and promotions, or they may have poor onboarding and management practices,” Dilber said. “Some of the incentives for staying like retention bonuses, pensions ... no longer exist. And of course layoffs are rampant these days.“
In this way, a “jumpy” résumé may not be because someone did not want to grow their career in one place, but because their employer created conditions where that would be impossible.
This is how hiring managers actually view job-hopping on a résumé.
But despite the real benefits of job-hopping, there are still recruiters and hiring managers who will continue to raise their eyebrows when they see it on a résumé.
“There are certainly those that assume that job hopping is an indication of poor performance or lack of loyalty,” Dilber said. “I think any good recruiter or hiring manager may be curious but wouldn’t hold it against a candidate –– but unfortunately, there are those that do.”
But unlike what Adcock thinks, a job-hopping candidate can be a sign of a strong future hire.
Dilber gave the example of someone who had four jobs in six years early in their career followed by a four-year stint with a promotion into a more senior role. This “tells the story of someone who moved around, built skills, grew into new roles, and then stayed once they were in a level to drive more strategy, which can require a longer-term commitment,” she said.
Too much job-hopping year after year can be a red flag, though.
“Ten years of never staying at a job for more than a year? I might be a bit more nervous about that, especially if my expectation was to hire someone who would stay long-term,” Dilber said.
How to talk about your job-hopping in a job interview.
Ultimately a job interview is an opportunity to sell the story of your career to a future employer, and interviewers can tell the difference between a defensive story and a confident one.
Dilber said you should not describe yourself as a “job-hopper,” but you should be proactive about getting ahead of any questions about your performance or loyalty.
“You’ll often be asked to go through your résumé and highlight anything important in an initial recruiter conversation –– this is a great opportunity to explain career moves proactively to get around any concerns around job-hopping,” she said.
Dilber said she has seen this done well. She recalled one job candidate who had three years of experiences at three different companies.
“They positioned each move as being recruited by a former manager to lead a major initiative or exiting because they were informed layoffs were expected so it actually made a ton of sense and presented them as being really strategic and highly sought-after!” Dilber said.
If a candidate feels like their multiple jobs are the elephant in the room, Fernandez said she advises integrating it into answering why they are the right candidate for the job.
For example, Fernandez said you could say something like: “Early in my career, I chose to pursue a non-linear career path with a greater number of experiences and learning opportunities. These included joining startups and learning how to build a business from scratch. ... I now bring this wealth of experiences to this organization.” Then, you should have a clear story for the “Why this new company?” and “Why now?” questions that will follow.
Ultimately, leaving jobs that no longer serve you is a strength. Adcock may not value job-hopping, but there are many employers who will, if you can frame it as a purposeful and strategic career move.