Why You Should Frequently Move Jobs

The Story

I’ve been told so many times, that moving jobs frequently is a bad move, especially if you recently started working.

When I started my career, I had no one to speak to, whether I should work in my field of study (i.e. Information Systems) or if I’m to start working in a field in which I accidentally ended up working. (i.e. marketing).

Side Story: How did I end up doing marketing?

I always loved learning, in fact whenever I’m free and have a few bucks to waste, I start doing random courses/paper qualifications. I ended up doing HR at first, but then again I was told by my mother not to, as she believed it had no sense for a guy (honestly, thanks Mom – because I hate HR – honestly, compared to what I am doing today)

Back to the main story…

I ended up doing marketing because a friend told me to & got enrolled in it too because she needed someone to do the course with her. And there started my passion for marketing. I did a qualification in Accounting, which I failed massively (there were instances I failed the Taxation paper 5 times, the Auditing paper 4 times, and so on)

The start of my career…

I started as an intern in Public Relations, delivering cakes for important people which whom the brand was involved & I started doubting myself for the first time in my career, ‘What the hell am I doing?’

I quit from been an intern after 2 months and joined another big conglomerate as an Executive in Branding & Communications. I quit after a while too, asking the same question, ‘What the hell am I doing?’

When things got real…

I joined another travel agency, stayed there for like 3 months as an Executive – Marketing, and then again I quit, asking the same question, ‘What the hell am I doing?’. Then I started doubting if marketing is really my thing, and decided to switch my career stream.

So I joined another multinational as an Executive, being promoted to Assistant Manager of People Operations & Data Specialist. I quit it too, as it involved HR (And I am glad my Mom said NO to HR before because it CLEARLY was not my thing!)

I need a break…

Finally, I took a break from it all and decided to think of what I was going to do. After wasting 3 months, I was still clueless. But I knew marketing is where I am good at, as I can test things out, for good or bad.

And here came my light at the end of the tunnel. I was appointed as Executive – eCommerce, doing all things digital. I loved it because my boss wanted to try out things differently, this time with the help of digital. I learned the ABCs of digital marketing, thanks to my boss & YouTube.

I then left there & joined a Tech Giant, who was having trouble at that time.

Because you can learn things when a company is struggling than when the company is doing great!

Learn or earn…

I literally learned so much more about Digital Marketing from that company than I’ve ever learned thus so far! We did so much, in survival mode of course & made millions over the years.

Then I came to the peak point & decided I need a designation change. I was looking out & came across a multinational cosmetic brand, which everyone started saying is a bad move. So I decided to apply for the job and got in!

In my first week, I gave up so many ideas, the Director said ‘Let’s do it’ even without hesitation. I turned the table around and started doing so much of things, I started developing a team around me.

I often get asked during interviews ‘Why do you frequently move around’ & in fact, a friend I knew from Sri Lanka’s biggest telecommunication provider said ‘You will never find a better job because you have frequently moved around’.

Why changing jobs is good?

From my experience, it has more advantages than disadvantages. Here are my learnings;

I learned to adapt – to every cultural change in any organization, I had to adapt my culture toward it
I became a fast learner – I’ve worked across multiple industries, & have more exposure than anyone ever before. And guess what, I can pitch this in any interview to my liking
My salary is so much higher than people who started their careers at the same time I did.
More network – I built my network with many CEOs and Executives I never had access to before
Rapidly climbing designations – I moved up every time I changed my designation, which sometimes I call lucky

But, if you are not a fast learner, none of this will help you. If you can adapt & learn things faster than anyone, now that means you can easily survive the frequent destination hop.

Also, make sure every time you leave a company, the boss says ‘Find me another you before you leave’, because that’s when you really make an impact. My philosophy with a job is, ‘grow with the brand’. Then you will make an impact without knowing it.

One last piece of advice;

Learn or Earn, if either it’s fine. If neither, leave