Time to Look For Another Job

It is said that change is always for good. The younger we are, the more we change our jobs. As we grow above 40, people slowly become less adaptive to change. That is the reason why changing job becomes less frequent. An employee in his 20's changes his job in every 12-18 months. Someone in his 30's changes his job every 18-24 months. Beyond 30's, people feel job hopping is bad for their career. Hence they prefer settling in job well and the question of job change arises only when things get sour at work. However, before this kind of situation arises, a whole phase of adjustments would have passed. Thus the question arises -when should an employee look for a job change? Before finding an answer, we need to understand the various phases in a job.

In any interview, we usually put our best foot forward. With our knowledge, image and interview management skills, we clear the interview and join a new job. That is the time when each one of us needs to adapt to the new working environment. In this adjustment phase, we identify our like-minded and not so-friendly colleagues. We try to make a good equation with our bosses and prove our mettle in the new work. There are cases when we are not able to get along with our boss or a colleague. Stress level may go high and keeping a balance between home and work is difficult. However, comfort level is usually on an increase.

The second phase of our job in any company is usually the phase of comfort. We realise that we have acquired the domain knowledge and skills required to deliver on our part of responsibilities. Our work does not give us big challenges and we have defined our terms with colleagues and superiors. In short, we have settled in our job.

The third phase is a result of transition from comfort to discomfort state. We realize that we have outgrown our responsibilities and work is slowly becoming monotonous. There may not be additional responsibilities to bring fresh wave of challenges in our work life. We do not enjoy our work and fun at work has changed to boredom. Hence there is increase in work related stress.

Most of the people look for a change in job either in the first or the third phase. The major reasons they give for changing job are:

~ Trouble with your boss. 
~ High job related stress 
~ Difficulty in balancing between work and home. 
~ Lack of challenges in existing work.

Job change in the first and the third phases are usually driven by your performance and the company's performance.

Out of the three phases, the best time to look for a change is job is the comfort phase- the time when you have learnt your work well and worked on your relationship with others in the company. Anyone from an executive to a manager usually reaches to this phase in 1.5 -2.5 years after you join a company; the higher you go in hierarchy, the more is the time you need to reach to this phase. You learning usually stop at this stage. This is the best time when you can explore the possibilities and plan your career move carefully, without being impatient.

If you stay longer than this, the dissatisfaction in you rises. The job change becomes a must and hence you might not be in the right state of mind to plan your career move. Not to forget, even an HR manager would not discard your C.V. if you have changed 2-3 jobs in last 5 years. If you overstay in a company, it gives an impression that you are not adaptive to new environment. If you wish to keep yourself fit for the job market, keep moving on in every 2 years.