18 months job hopper

kp10tang

If u see a candidate with 18 months staying at each job, would you think that this guy is marketable or this guy,got problems?

scaredoftests

It all depends on what the issue is. Was the person layed off (I was)? Maybe it was just a temporary position..(I have been in that situation as well). Don't assume the worst.

ThomasITguy

18 months is a year and 6 months at each job.... there is nothing wrong with that. BUT if they spend 6 months at a job and hop around THEN something is wrong with them... Also you have to factor in the persons job history and industry they were in... or are in.

Cisco Inferno

Many people do 3-6 month project/contractor positions with a specified end date. This is normal in the contractor world. It is advised that people mention it was a contact on the resume to avoid confusion.

Some regions are more or less controlled by contact roles. (S. Florida)

ratbuddy

Depends on the jobs. If the person is moving sideways constantly, yeah, it's a red flag. If they had more responsibilities and the moves show progression, it's not as bad. Just bear in mind they'll probably be leaving you within that same time frame if you hire them.

cknapp78

I've been an independent consultant for over 10 years. In those 10 years I have probably had at least 25 different gigs. If I listed it as separate jobs on my resume it probably be seen as job hopping. Best way I found to avoid this is to list it as follows...

IT Consultant (2001 - Present)
Put a general job description here. Highlight some major project highlights. Keep it under 2 paragraphs. Then list your clients (at least major ones).

Client #1
Client #2
Client #3
etc...

Took my resume from 5 pages down to 1.5. Much more readable. I went from getting maybe 1 to 2 calls a week when I was looking to 4-5 calls a day.

Iristheangel

18 months isn't bad. I don't even think a year is bad. In a lot of cases, people take contracting and consulting gigs that last that long. I typically see the 3-6 month point as the place where most people get comfortable and the honeymoon wears off. If they're staying past that, cool. If not and they never were able to find a longer-term consulting gig in years, I'd question it.

Also... some folks may just get bored after a year because they've felt like they've learned everything they can learn in that job or at least be twitching for another role. Maybe they just aren't getting paid enough and the only way to get paid a good rate is to jump to another company. For me, the 2 year mark is typically the point where I want to go learn something different or explore a new role to prevent myself from being siloed. Maybe some folks do it in a year... A year and a half isn't bad at ALL.

reload@

18 months is a long time. Unless my responsibilities are changing, I wouldn't even stay a year. I'd be bored out of my mind doing the same thing every single day.

jeremywatts2005

I changed job multiple times and I went from making 66K on Mar 2013 to 150K which includes my bonus Mar 2016. So changing jobs every 6 month/3 months/ 1 yr or 18 months can be done if you paint the picture right.

markulous

Every case is different. If they can justify each move, then who cares?

I left my last job after 6 months because they laid a ton of people off and there was no progression towards what I wanted to go to anymore (infosec) and I found a job (I thought) that would be better suited towards my future goals.

My first real IT job also lasted only 3 months because it was a contract job. If that throws up red flags then the person has some weird expectations.

fmitawaps

18 months in a job is considered good now. In our parents' days, there was something wrong with you if you didn't get a job right out of high school and stay there until you retired. Or darn close to that.

How things have changed.

joneno

I have 6 months, 10 months and 1 year employments on my resume.

Remedymp

In the technology operations market, that is a long time. Especially if a person got hired for a position that turned out not to be what they specified in the job description....