Gen Z are taking a ‘stopgap solution’ approach to their careers but is this a bad thing?
Forget a job for life or working your way up the career ladder in the same company—Gen Z are taking a new approach and deploying a ‘stopgap solution’ instead.
This involves taking on temporary roles or roles in a temporary capacity with no intention of staying longer than a year. They’re using each and every job as a stepping stone to their next job instead of committing to a role long term.
While on the one hand you could argue that the transient nature of hopping from one job to the next hinders professional development and doesn’t look great on your resume, there’s also validity to the argument that taking on a job, even if it doesn’t align with your long-term career goals, has its benefits.
5 roles to apply for
- Intern, Dream Finders Homes, Jacksonville
- Construction Manager Intern, Dream Finders Homes, Chantilly
- Quality Engineer Intern, CommScope, Sunnyvale
- Junior Sales Executive, Randox Laboratories, Seattle
- Entry Level Manager, Wegmans Food Markets, Rockville
For example, working in retail can help to foster sales techniques, while working in hospitality is great for getting experience in teamwork and building customer service skills.
Technology and the gig economy have also influenced and normalised this approach. Gen Z has grown up in a world where career pivots are common, working in a freelance capacity can be more rewarding than working on a permanent basis for one company and remote work is the norm.
Adaptability over stability
In fact, according to recent research conducted by Resume Genius, 56% of Gen Zers say they’re comfortable switching jobs every two to three years, 22% said they believed it was okay to change jobs every six months, and only 33% believe job switching should happen only when there are significant career benefits, the lowest among all generations.
Interestingly, Gen Z men are more likely to job hop than women, with 25% of men saying it is acceptable to job hop compared to 20% of women.
And unsurprisingly, 71% of Boomers believe job switching should happen only when there are significant career benefits.
However, with Boomers, Gen X and Millennials most likely to hold management and leadership positions and as a result, be in the hiring seat. So how can Gen Z job hop without damaging their career or professional reputation?
After all, frequent job changes can make it harder to build deep expertise in a specific field or develop strong professional networks. Some employers might even view a pattern of six months here, and a year there, as a red flag that alludes to a candidate getting fired from jobs after a short period of time instead of leaving them on their own accord.
The first step is to be as honest and transparent as possible. You might be tempted to leave a short stint off your resume instead of having to explain it, but if you frame each job hop as a positive and focus on the skills and experience you picked up, you should be able to side-step any negative assumptions.
Next, you’ll need to prepare for questions about why you switch jobs so much and emphasise that just because you’ve job-hopped in the past, doesn’t mean you won’t stay in a new role for a longer period of time.
For example, have your answer to “where do you see yourself in five years?” nailed. Similarly, you should weave long-term career goals and how they align with the role you’re interviewing for into your answer.
Finally, explain how moving jobs has helped you develop an agile mindset, something that is frequently deployed by high-performing teams to avoid delays, constantly improve processes and output, and achieve the best results.
And as the workplace continues to evolve, this skill along with the ability to adapt and navigate change, will undoubtedly become increasingly valuable.
From entry-level positions to internships, you can browse thousands of opportunities on the SkillReactor Job Board today
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