Job
hopping has many merits such as; providing individuals with the opportunity to
achieve a higher salary, grow and develop their careers, change industries and
also find a better cultural fit. A popular trend in recent years as on average
residents in the UK are changing their jobs over 17 times throughout their
working lives.
AppJobs have surveyed over 2,000 people in the UK to reveal the nation’s job hopping habits, which cities have had the highest number of jobs per person, which age group is job hopping the most as well as highlight the industries that are the most and least desirable to work in. You can view the graphic here.
Birmingham
is crowned as the UK’s job hopping capital. The city’s population is recorded to
have changed their jobs, on average, 24 times. Leeds comes into second place
with 23 job changes and the UK’s capital sits in third place at 21, which comes
as no surprise due to the number of jobs the capital has to
offer.
The
most loyal employees are located in Belfast and Glasgow are ranked as both
cities number of job changes averaging at below 12, which is less than half the
figure of the average individual from Birmingham.
How
job hopping changes across generations
The
result supports the claim that millennials are notorious in the workplace for
job hopping with the findings revealing over 16% of millennials to have had over
10 jobs since they started their working career. A percentage that is not far
off their predecessors with 18.68% of people aged 35 and over have had over 10
jobs throughout their working careers.
Considering the younger generations have only just started out in the workplace, these statistics speak volumes on how the nature of job-hopping is on the rise and the negative stigma is on its way out. Research from Akumina reveals that 75% of millennials said that changing their jobs multiple times has helped boost their careers as well as Legal Technology Solution showing that job hopping on average nets an employee an 8% – 10% pay rise.
What’re
the reasons people are job hopping?
The
research highlights the most common reason for changing jobs is down to ‘low
pay’ (22.8%), followed by ‘too much stress’ (15.7%). Of those surveyed, females
were more likely to leave their jobs due to low pay (25.30%) than males
(20.10%). Interestingly, just 4.6% of people chose lack of stability as a reason
to leave their job, highlighting how the nature of the workplace is changing as
job hopping becomes increasingly popular.
What
industries are the most and least desirable to work in?
Amongst
millennials, the Healthcare and Education industry came joint position amongst
millennials, both at 9%. Healthcare also being the preferred profession for
people aged 35-54.
For
individuals aged 55+, the desire to work in a more luxurious industry is more
appealing with 8.9% wishing to work within Travel and Leisure.
The industry ranked the least desirable to work in is Architecture with the HR industry coming in closely behind. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017, despite employment in this field expected to grow by 4% until 2026, this increase is slower than the average for all occupations.
Speaking
on the topic, Iwona Polog, Head of Growth from AppJobs adds:
‘The stigma of job hopping is losing steam, the negative perception it once had is becoming a thing of the past, as more recruiters and HR Managers are looking to the positives of hiring individuals that have had a variety of jobs within different industries.
Job hopping can be effective to accelerate your career, allowing individuals to gain experience across multiple industries, building their skill set on their resumes and also work their way up to higher-paid positions quicker“