In the “old days”, you took a job for life. Today’s thinking (and employment reality) seems to support the opposite: many jobs of relatively short tenures.

But is job hopping good or bad? What’s a ‘good’ job transition pattern look like to a hiring professional? How short is too short and how long is too long?

Red Canary asked Heather Holmes, recruitment manager at The Laudi Group a firm that specializes in recruiting for fast-growth technology companies, to share how she evaluates the hundreds of resumes that cross her desk.

Hitting the tech career sweet spot

Underachievers on Workopolis?
An online study by Red Canary found that the average job tenure for technology resumes found on Workopolis was only 2.6 years.

“Across the board, you generally want to spend three to five years at a company,” says Holmes. This timeline gives someone the chance to be successful and “grow through the ranks”, which makes them attractive without being stale.

Sales professionals, for example, are judged on tenure and numbers. “It’s difficult to have good numbers if you only stay at a job for a year.”

Tips for Juniors
For people just coming out of school, more frequent job jumping makes sense. “They should be spending time at different places expanding their knowledge,” says Holmes. Junior people get an idea of what type of career and company they want by switching jobs, as well as rapidly gaining skills.

“But you don’t want to do that for too long,” says Holmes. “There’s something you take away from spending three years at a company. It shows you’re reliable and dependable, so you can take it to the next level. If you’re good, people will see that and you get more flexibility to run with ideas because you’ve proven yourself.”

On the other end of the scale, senior people know that leaving a job too quickly means they have wasted months of relationship building. Holmes encounters executives that will say, “I’ve been here for 15 months. For me to leave, it wouldn’t make sense.” They are just getting ready to capitalize on the groundwork they have laid.

Holmes advises someone who does have a history of frequent jumps to identify the company that he or she has the most industry knowledge in and go for roles that are a little bit junior to get into the organization. “If you get in and you’re committed, you’re going to grow your career.”

When the job leaves you

Even the best people can encounter bad luck. Downsizing or a failed start-up can add a cringe factor to any resume. Holmes advises being straightforward and putting a one-line note in the resume, such as “Start-up did not receive funding” or “Laid off because of restructuring”. “In the tech sector specifically, between 1999 and 2001, a lot of people have choppy backgrounds, so we have to take that into consideration.”

If you do have a short stay at one job, about three to four months, and are not just starting your career, you can leave it off your resume, says Holmes. But she recommends always bringing it up in the first conversation with an employer or recruiter. “Hiding something raises red flags,”.

Saying that a job fit just didn’t work out, you didn’t get the resources needed to do the job, or that the job didn’t match what you were hired to do are all reasonable explanations for a short stint.

Long tenures: The ‘expert’ kiss of death?

Holmes says she has seen people with long experience at a lone (even blue-chip) company have difficulty breaking into something new. Growing their careers in a single company strangled their chances at the early- to mid-stage technology companies that she works with.

“From my standpoint as a headhunter, the longer someone is at a company, the more difficult it is to sell someone into another organization.” Someone who has been at one employer for 20 years “becomes an expert at that company, that technology and that industry. It’s difficult to transfer those skills unless they move to a direct competitor.”

Brendan Courtney posts an argument to that theory on The Big Time blog, stating that “staying with one employer for a long period of time can also be the best non-move of your career … if you receive steady increases in job title and salary, and have shaped your skills and developed a specialty, then there is no need to move on.”

“If you decide to move on after a long time at one company, then you may be limited in the companies you can jump to”, says Holmes. “A person working for a large enterprise for a long period of time is not always appealing for a startup. They are looking for a certain type of DNA that thrives in a fast-paced and forever changing environment. In this situation, a larger company may be more willing to look at someone with longer tenures.”

Move smart and make more?
In 2006, Chicago-based outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas surveyed 3,000 managers and found that 92% won equivalent or better salaries, benefits, and titles after jumping to a new job.

The most appealing job patterns to employers

An ideal resume demonstrates that a person is constantly growing and succeeding.

Brazen Careerist Blogger and author Penelope Trunk has this to say about the subject:

“You will experience more personal growth from changing jobs frequently than staying in one job for extended periods of time. And if you change jobs frequently you build an adaptable skill set and a wide network—which are the keys to being able to find a job whenever you need to.”

That kind of movement looks good to a headhunter, says Heather.

“You look at the company, their tenure, their title, and their duties,” says Holmes. “If you’re seeing someone move, did they move to a company in a similar space? Typically, you want to see them moving for a step up—more senior, more money, more responsibility and greater career growth. Those are the good ones.”