Wednesday, June 27, 2012

To hop or not.

         A headline in Advertising Age got my attention: "Intelligent job hopping now the best way to achieve job security". I guess that depends on how you define "intelligent job".

         My entire career in advertising was based on job hopping, I don't ever remember being secure. I hopped just about every time someone offered me a new job. It always sounded better than where I was at. Suddenly my present job seemed a lot less good than it did the day before.

          It wasn't just the money. It was the scope of the new position. The authority, the budget, the "opportunity".

          According to the piece in Ad Age, there are four big advantages to changing jobs:

          1. Experience. "Every agency works with different brands that require distinctive thinking and ideas." So I guess you get experience but the client doesn't. That's silly.

          2. Networks. "It's all about who you know." I've known a lot of great people in the ad business. Every time you leave an agency, you kiss them goodbye, usually for good. Except for your now-ex-boss, for whom you've created a lot of problems by leaving.

          3. Salary bump. "Probably the best way to increase your pay." And your unhappiness, unless you're very lucky.

         4. Creative fertilizer. "Most people need change and a chance to reinvent themselves." True, most do. The good people are already reinvented.

          By now you get my point. I've job-hopped a lot, and it's a lot like falling in love with anyone who sends you a valentine or asks you to dance. I would've been just as well off staying put all these years. And if you're the type of person who's willing to continue learning all the time, you'll keep learning while staying put.

           I must admit I don't know how job-hopping gets you more security. It's always taken mine away, and taken about a year or two to get it back.

     

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