Ideal time frame* before looking for a new gig?

I've read in the past that 2 - 3 years is the cutoff, but I personally think they were talking about all jobs and for a business position or management position that would make sense. But for a technology position, with so many work efforts tying out to projects in IT the 2 - 3 seems a little unreasonable, for quite a few situations.

For most people in "normal" situations when are you in the clear in your opinion to look for another job? Basically avoiding the snide comment from the interviewer on why you are leaving so soon. I realize they will ask why are you looking, that fine, but much different than "Why are you looking for a new position, you've only been at your last one for 5 months". Or something like that. Thanks

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dustervoice

There is no such thing as "ideal" time. Look for a new job/role when you've outgrown your position or in need of better pay. My past 5 roles i've set a time for leaving and nothing with make me change my mind. I don't asks for raises, promotions, etc. When im ready, i just move on.

DatabaseHead

Just to make sure I follow correctly. When you take a role you lock in a set date that is considered your cut off and you begin to look then? Can you walk me through this process a little. Thanks.

What is your average time frame approximately for each of your last 5 positions? If you don't mind me asking....

Lexluethar

Seems a bit silly to me. You look for a new job when you are unhappy with your current one or you have outgrown your current company and you want to look for a new opportunity.

I've spend 5 years in my current company, two different roles (Desktop support then system admin) and i don't plan on leaving because i'm happy and i'm still growing in this position. On the flip side if i was at this company for say 4 years, still on the desktop support team and I wanted to grow and growth wasn't available i would have looked.

There is no set time table and to put a hard time line would be a mistake. You may stay at a company too long or you may not stay long enough, every situation is different.

As for when you start looking, you look before hand, get an offer and accept that offer. Once accepted you then tell your current employer of your resignation and put in your notice. Every company is different, 2 weeks is standard in the US but some companies require more.

markulous

It kinda depends. If you can strongly justify the move then 6 months isn't necessarily a bad thing. Usually you'll probably want to stay a year but if you're severely underpaid and can get a huge pay increase or huge promotion somewhere else I wouldn't blame you. That's just my opinion though. Other hiring people may feel differently

dustervoice

DatabaseHead wrote: »

Just to make sure I follow correctly. When you take a role you lock in a set date that is considered your cut off and you begin to look then? Can you walk me through this process a little. Thanks.

What is your average time frame approximately for each of your last 5 positions? If you don't mind me asking....

This is the way i manage my career i'm not recommending you do this but what i do is i set a fix time for a role. 2 years max! and absolutely nothing will convince me to stay. what i find in doing this is you get paid a higher salary and your not constantly trying to impress your manager etc to get a promotion and dealing with office politics. Going to lunch everyday with the same people bores me. having the same old conversations make me wanna fall asleep. so............... I spend one year learning as much as i can about the company and its processes and another year planning my exit.

gespenstern

It's different for different people types. For me it is 3-4 years. After that everything becomes boring and I feel that I'm stuck and do not grow much. From my experience majority of my colleagues actually like it and this status quo is their goal. Get a full-time job and sit on it until retirement. Here on TE we are kind of more inclined to develop ourselves and progress no matter what, so for folks on TE I would guess that it is more common to move forward from positions that suddenly became stale.

I once worked for 6+ years for a single company and later on I realized that it was a mistake. I should have left after 3 or 4 years, after that time I reached my full potential there and just wasted time.

CIO

When I was interviewing for my current gig, the hiring manager thought that i was a job hopper due to the fact that i stayed at my last two jobs 1.5 years & 2 years. I'm currently 1.7 years with that hiring manager and planning my exit once i hit the 2 year mark since it's a dead-end gig. No room for advancements/promotions or an increase in responsibilities.

I agree that it really depends on the situation. Or at least how hiring managers views it. Are you moving up in terms of responsibilities/pay or simply moving sideways to another employer?

scaredoftests

Stay about 2 years if that is your mind set or else interviewers look at you funny. Sometimes, it is just bad luck if the economy is bad or a contract expired. Some employers understand and some, like I said, look at you funny... I am very grateful to be in a position I am now after all the 'interesting' events such as layoffs, contract changing, etc.

DatabaseHead

Great replies thanks for taking time out of your busy day to reply.

@CIO Moving up, only way I am moving on, UP meaning at least more work from home days and dollars. Opportunities mean something to me but not as much as others.

@Gesp Did the same thing stayed at a job for 6 years or close to that and I should of left between 3 - 4, topped out around year 2 or so and it was a big waste. You live and learn.

@Duster sounds like a decent plan to me. 2 years regardless of who says what isn't "bad" at least from my point of view, but even with the 2 year work effort they thoughts you looked like a job hopper. Interesting.

I find this topic fascinating thanks!

fullcrowmoon

I'm obviously going to be the outlier in this conversation, given that I'm currently in my 16th year with my company.

It hasn't all been the same job - I started as a UNIX/Linux Systems Administrator, moved on to help build and run a NOC, then switched over to Network Engineering, and my current position is Cybersecurity Auditor. I'll be finishing my MSISA in June of next year and then I intend to look for another job - preferably within the company doing Incident Response, but I'm willing to leave if that's what it takes.

Each of my job changes were driven by either burning out (60-70 hour weeks as a UNIX Sysadmin) or getting bored with what I was doing. In each case I would have looked outside the company if necessary, but I always found something internally that piqued my interest.

The outlier factor might be because I'm Gen X and I assume a lot of the people on these forums are Gen Y or Millennials.

scaredoftests

Don't assume! Baby Boomer here(and there are some of 'us' here..LOL). At one of my jobs I did have the luxury of switching departments, which was cool. However, on some contracts, it is that particular contract you were hired for and that is it.

DatabaseHead

I'm a generation X as well. After college I held the same jobs for 1 year then 6 years, pre IT. Once I switched to IT is when the hopping began, not really sure why. Lack of opportunity would be the main culprit, maybe the introduction to recruiting services.

I just like to discuss these topics with like minded peers.

kohr-ah

If you are happy and it is helping you and your career there is no limit how long to stay.

I usually say at least a year if possible. If you have to leave before then you leave just explain why your are leaving when it comes up in the interview.

"You have only been there 3 months? What is going on?"
The job wasn't as they described and it is hurting my career more than helping it.
Or in my case "They said it would be a 3 year merger and 2 months later we have completed the merger and they are starting severing workers"

I stayed at one job preIT 6 years, after that the next job was 1.5 years (IT) while I did college.
4 years after that and only left because I was working 60 hour weeks and the stress was hurting my family.
3 months after that one (See merger note above)
2.5 years after that one (I stabilized the network to the point I stabilized myself out of a job. Told me I could become a generalist so I left. Also was 2.5 hours of travel per day so I never saw my kids until the night time)
3 months at current job

dhay13

I have been at my job for almost 1.5 years. I enjoy it but the pay isn't that great and it is definitely a dead-end. I am now looking for a job that I can stay ay for the next 10 years or so, but nothing is set in stone. Ideally this will be a larger company where I will have room to grow and advance. If it happens to be a dead-end or something I'm not happy with then I will make that decision then. But for now my goal is a place I can retire from.