Here’s how often you should ideally change your job

Previously, changing job frequently was a worrying sign.

It indicated that you can’t seem to hold down a job or mightn’t get on with a team. However, in today’s market and economy, moving job frequently is seen as a desire to learn, develop and embrace new challenges. There are a lot of advantages to changing employers. Firstly, according to Forbes, workers who stay employed in the same company for over two years earn about 50 per cent less. The average annual increase an employee can expect from an employer is about 3 per cent which means if you’re tied into a poorly paid job, you’re probably going to be stuck there for a while. Former chief talent officer for Netflix Patty McCord says:

“You build skills faster when changing companies because of the learning curve." "I think that the most important, critical change in people’s mental outlook is to view employees as smart contributors from the beginning.” "If we changed our perspective and said, ‘Everyone here wants to come in, do a great job, and contribute,’ then they either fit or they don’t.”

The learning curve is created because those who move jobs are constantly placed outside of their comfort zones. As Fast Company states: “They join companies, know they have to learn fast, make great impressions, and improve the bottom line—all within a couple of years before moving on to their next conquest.” Serial Entrepreneur Penelope Trunk says employees that move frequently are worth more to a company.

“I read a lot of research about what makes a good employee . . . and people used to think that the longer you kept an employee, the more worth they are to you, because you train them and they get used to their job and then they do it. But, in fact, an employee who stays on the job and isn’t learning at a really high rate is not as engaged, so they’re not doing as good work. So it turns out, the employee who stays longest, you get the least work out of, and the employees that job hunt are the most receptive of becoming extremely useful, very fast” she says.

According to Trunk the learning curves basically flattens after three years and it is advisable that the best time to move jobs is every 2 to 3 years.