I was interviewed about my thoughts on job hopping by ChannelNewsAsia. You can read the article below.
There is also an accompanying video in that link you might want to check out.
It was also picked up by Channel 8. The mandarin article is just after the English one.
Been in the same position for five years? Might be time to move: Experts
By Dylan Loh, Channel NewsAsia
POSTED: 23 Jun 2015 00:12
URL: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/singapore/been-in-the-same-position/1933652.html
While there are employers who frown upon job-hopping, human resource practitioners say employees who are stuck in the same position for five years could benefit by re-looking their career path.
SINGAPORE: While there are employers who frown upon job-hopping, human resource practitioners have said employees who have been stuck in the same position for five years could benefit by re-looking their career path.
In Singapore’s tight labour market, human resource practitioners have found workers are in a better state to cherry-pick positions to fill, and as such go “job shopping” – a term recently coined to describe the labour market’s state of affairs.
As such, employees shift from one job to another in a relatively short span of time. Human resources practitioners weighed in on its benefits and drawbacks.
Human Capital Singapore Chief Executive Ho Geok Choo said: “It really depends on the track record that this person came with. He could be moving from one job to another job or one industry to another industry, but if the reasons for his move are good reasons, then I think these are considerations when we make our selection.”
Good reasons include being hungry to broaden one’s skill set or employability – using exposure gained from filling a variety of positions.
Experts said the issue of job hopping is viewed differently by different industries and businesses. As such, it is difficult to label the phenomenon as “bad” across the board.
Therefore, human resource practitioners would ask: “Are you growing in your particular position? Or is there some form of progression?” These questions aim to influence whether an employee should stay, or go.
For instance, if one has been in the same role in their company for more than five years and see no positive change, experts said it perhaps is time to move on. But if one gets rotated to other positions and see responsibilities grow as promotions come, then it is not a bad idea to stick with one employer.
After all, Singapore’s national SkillsFuture movement aims to drive development of deep skills in workers. Deep skills are most useful when applied in a specialised area, which naturally involves building upon experience gained in a particular role.
Mr Adrian Tan, a job hunting coach at CareerLadder, said: “As long as you can put across that there has been progression, there’s been differentiation, and you’re doing something slightly different because you are of a senior rank grade – so (maybe) right now you are doing a bit more of mentoring, coaching, training people – that could be seen as a progression, rather than holding on to the same rank grade over the past eight years.”
Hence, it will not be too useful to categorise stayers or quitters as “good” or “bad” employees, experts said. They added that it is more practical for companies to adapt to job hopping as a trend that will persist, and for workers to learn continually, whichever job they are in.
– CNA/dl
本地就业机会多过求职者 跳槽成常态
有人力资源公司指出，如果在同一个工作岗位上超过五年，还在原地踏步，或许应该是思考职业发展道路的时候了。但也有主管认为，频频跳槽的雇员，对公司缺乏归属感。究竟在一个工作岗位待多久最合适？
本地就业机会比求职者多，跳槽似乎成为了新常态。因为求职者可以在相对短的时间内转换工作，或找到更心仪的工作。
觅职培训主管陈志强说：“如果他们是有很合理的原因而跳槽的话，大多数他们在应征的时候，都不会有很大的困难去解释给人事部听。”
合理的原因包括，通过担任不同职位提高自己的能力。人力资源专家也建议，可以通过部门之间的调动，让资深职员也有机会再学习。
新加坡人力资本公司总裁何玉珠说：“当然他的老板要给他一个机会，不要只是做一份工。可是如果两年过了的时候，他有机会给他做另外的工作，可是在一样的公司，我觉得对这个员工是有很多的好处，对老板也是有很多的好处。”
不过在一些专业领域，深化技能和累积经验更为重要。