Self-Imposed Term Limits to Achieve Your Career Goals. (What ?!?!?!?)
People have a variety of career goals, including to earn, to learn, to contribute and make a positive impact on their clients and in their community, to utilize and develop their talents and skills, and to build and grow their social and professional relationships.
So, a key question everyone should ask is: “To consistently achieve the above-mentioned career goals, is it better to stay in one job for a relatively long time (say 9 - 12 years or longer), or to more frequently switch jobs (say every 3 - 6 years), even if within the same company?”
While there are certainly some general benefits to staying in one job for a long period of time (for both individual workers and companies) – institutional knowledge, familiarity with how things work and get done, employment and income “stability,” continuity with stakeholders etc. – there are likely more downsides, including:
2. The golden handcuffs tighten, which makes it more difficult for workers to leave for another job.
3. Routines and habits begin to set in, which makes adapting and changing more difficult – for both individuals and companies.
4. Knowledge gained may be very company-specific and contingent on the training and development opportunities provided by the employer.
5. Potential employers may be wary of hiring long-tenured employees (job clingers).
6. Job clingers block other people from the opportunity to take on the responsibilities of the position they occupy.
7. Organizational succession planning and workforce planning may not be given the requisite attention to ensure a strong bench of high potential employees are developed.
8. An individual’s professional network (their NET WORTH!) may remain too insular or too small if they are interacting with the same people year after year.
9. Motivation in years 9 – 12 may be significantly less than in years 1 – 4, and that affects everyone.
If after careful analysis, there are more downsides – risks – to staying in a particular role for a “relatively long period of time,” you may be well served by self-imposed term limits i.e. committing to not staying in a particular job for more than a certain period of time, say 3 – 6 years (FYI: the median job tenure with an employer is 4.1 years).
Changing roles (though not necessarily companies) every 3 – 6 years, could provide the following benefits:
For individuals:
· Earning market or above market pay
· Learning new information, skills, processes, and procedures more frequently
· Not getting too comfortable; staying motivated; adapting and changing
· Sense of urgency to make a positive impact and finish what you started prior to moving on
· Growing your network by working with more employers/teams
· Staying “marketable” when it comes to your career and job searches
For companies:
· Infusion of new talent and corresponding skills, perspectives, ideas, and experiences
· Forced to be proactive when it comes to succession planning
· Retaining the job clinger, but in a different role, keeps their talents, experiences, and institutional knowledge in-house.
If term limits are good enough for U.S. Presidents, maybe they are good enough for you. Chances are that you are more likely to accomplish your career goals – earn, learn, contribute and make an impact, utilize and develop your talents and skills, grow your network – by changing roles every few years than staying in one job way too long.
Think about it, objectively, in your head.
[Originally published on LinkedIn.com on October 25, 2021: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/self-imposed-term-limits-achieve-your-career-goals-bill-leonard-mhrm/]