You Should Change Jobs — Here’s Why

More personal development, fulfillment, and money await

Those of us who grew up in the ‘80s’ and 90s were raised to believe the longer we stayed with a company, the more valuable we would be to that company. It shows dedication and loyalty to an organization and that we were bought into their mission. Essentially, employment tenure was positively correlated with pay, benefits, and job satisfaction.

We were taught this because our parents and teachers were taught this; they were taught it because their parents and teachers lived it. But, is this even true? Or, more likely, is this true anymore? How do companies really feel about loyalty?

What does precedent tell us?

In 2014, Forbes stated the average employee can expect a raise of 3%, while the same employee can expect a 10%-20% pay increase (sometimes upwards of 50%) to move organizations. In addition, employees who moved jobs every 2–3 years would end up making more than 50% more than those who stay loyal to their companies over their careers.

A short description of the findings:

Organizational Loyalty is not rewarded.

But, that was pre-pandemic; things have changed since then…right?

Recent results provide some guidance

Let’s first take a look at what has happened, then take a look at what is planned in 2024.

In 2022, A Pew research study found that workers who changed jobs from April 2021 — March 2022 experienced an increase of 9.7% (or more) over their pay from a year earlier. Contrast this with those who were loyal to their existing jobs — they experienced a loss of 1.7%.

Another study reported on in early 2023 by Zippia Research found that, when employees were changing jobs, the average wage increase was 14.8%, while wage growth was only 5.8%.

What these studies are telling us is all else being equal, there is a high likelihood you’ll make more money (10%+) by using the skills and experience gained from your existing job to move to a new role.

But what about next year? Great question, glad you asked.

In WTW’s July 2023 Salary Budget Planning Report, US organizations reported that they are planning to provide a 4.0% increase, which is actually less than the 4.4% increase of 2023. This seems like a fine number, doesn’t it? At least it’s something, right?

The issue is one key piece of information is not overtly mentioned and it’s all the buzz these days in the finance world.

Inflation.

Inflation measures how much our purchasing power decreases over time. The current inflation rate is 3.7%. This means, on average, the goods, services, and all-around cost of living, have increased 3.7% since last year at this time.

So, the 4% raise planned is barely staving off inflation. Organizations plan on giving us 4% more dollars, but those dollars are worth 3.7% less than they were last year.

This means we really aren’t getting a raise in 2024.

At least, not if we stay in our current jobs.

Job hopping isn’t a sin

The numbers clearly show the best financial decision is for us to move between jobs every few years. If this is the way of the world, why does it feel wrong, like there is a stigma against bouncing between jobs?

The short answer is… companies want us to feel that way.

Knowing what we now know, organizations benefit from employees staying with them for extended periods of time. If we assume you perform well at your job, your raise maybe 4% next year (barely more than inflation). But, what if you left that job and they needed to backfill your spot? If someone new were to be hired into your job, the organization could very likely pay 10%-20% more for someone who will need to be trained, which could take months to get up to speed.

Bouncing from job to job every few months pops up as a red flag, but committing to two years and moving does not reflect negatively on you. After 18–24 months, you know almost everything there is to know about your job and have likely gained every skill required. This makes you valuable to new organizations. You’ve solved issues previously and will bring a fresh set of problem-solving skills and eyes to their organization.

The “stigma” only exists because companies make us believe it exists. It only benefits companies to continue this charade, just like discouraging employees from discussing salary (side note: employees should absolutely talk about their salaries with their coworkers — it promotes pay equality and forces companies to be open about their wage allocations.)

All that matters is that you gain the experience and skills from a role and can clearly articulate those experiences during an interview.

Change jobs

Don’t fall for it. “Job hopping” isn’t a problem. But, as long as you are gaining the skills you need from a role, stay (assuming it isn’t an unhealthy environment).

That being said, don’t feel bad or disloyal for looking for a new job. The learning curve for most jobs is steep in the beginning and improvements gradually level off at around 18–24 months. This is when you should be looking for a new job and preparing for the upcoming interviews.

There are always promises around the corner: that new role, promotion, big raise. Maybe it’s true this time, but keeping employees in their jobs for longer than two years only benefits the companies, and some even treat you worse after staying in-role too long (they call it “Dwell”).

Not only is loyalty not rewarded, it’s exploited.

Spruce up your resume, start practicing your interviewing skills, and take a look for roles or companies you would be interested in; just casually at first. There is only good that can come from it.

Don’t let antiquated ideas of employee loyalty keep you from earning more and gaining more intellectual stimulation from a new job or career.

Fair warning, Author’s pitch below

While it’s clear moving jobs every couple of years is beneficial to our paycheck (as well as mental well-being), there is still some hesitancy for a lot of would-be job searchers.

I believe much of this comes down to a lack of self-confidence about their interview skills. Interviews are very stressful and we were never formally trained on how to prepare for them throughout our lives. They can feel like an insurmountable barrier without a guide.

Because of this, I wrote a guide. Level Up Your Interview is a clear, straightforward plan for interview preparation, regardless of your field. I walk you through how to find stories, build out your Story Bank using the STAR method, improve your Actions with Mechanisms, and impress interviewers with your results using Ripples.

Once you’re confident in your interview skills, you have everything you need to secure those salary bumps and roles that interest you for a much more fulfilling career.