| About InfoWorld : Advertise : Subscribe : Contact Us : Awards : Events : Store |
 |
||||
|
||||
 | ||||
 |
|
|||
 | ||||
|
|
|
||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 NEWSJump: Where will they land? By John Kador April 13, 2001 HAS THE DOT-COM meltdown tarnished the prospects of "jumpers?" For many young IT professionals, job hopping is the fastest way to boost a career and/or a salary. But with options going south because of a slowing economy and a loosening IT labor market, there is some question as to whether jumpers will now stay put or keep moving.
 Paul Ziv is an experienced jumper who is beginning to see a change. Ziv, a Web content developer for Atlanta-based ComputerJobs.com, believes that current economic conditions are causing some jumpers to rethink career decisions. "Job choices are no longer based on emotions and excitement. Market conditions are considered, too," Ziv says."People [are taking] more of an analytical approach to how they look at their job and their career as opposed to a more 'feelings' approach. People may now be more inclined to stay or even switch jobs based on company performance and market conditions, as opposed to salary discontent or the opportunity for more stock options," Ziv says. Another jumper, Lisa Jenkins, a lead software engineer for a large, Midwestern telecommunications company, believes professional opportunity and career growth are still the primary motivating factors for jumpers. "Companies talk about career development but implement functional progression, which may make for a more organized corporation, but for a person with many interests, varied skills, and experiences, that kind of 'structure' is very limiting," Jenkins says. For now Jenkins has the challenges she needs. "If I found a company that encouraged me to move around and learn new skills and that saw its employees as something more than just warm bodies or whipping boards ... I'd never leave. Right now, my current employer is the place to be. But whether or not it will be the place to be in five years remains to be seen." Technical recruiters and human resource managers see jumping in a different light: the unsettled economy and looming power shift. "In Seattle, ground zero for the dot-goners, job hopping has zero survival value today," says Kathi Jones, director of employee central at Aventail, an extranet services provider. "The market in almost every technical area is saturated. Companies know it, recruiters know it, and candidates know it. People with jobs feel fortunate and are simply staying put," Jones says. John Sullivan sees a new twist. "With the meltdown of the Net and the rise in unemployment, we'll see a return to punishing job hoppers. That's mostly because when the power shifts back to human resources, HR people with no power seem to get off on deciding what is acceptable," says Sullivan, professor and director of human resource management at San Francisco State University. Yet the punishment prospect and current market conditions won't stop job hoppers, Sullivan says. Jumper Paul Ziv at a Glance Age: 26 Years in IT: 5 Number of Jobs: 6 Born: New York Education: Kennesaw State University, no degree Original career goal: Chiropractor Parent's career: Mother retired from IBM after more than 25 years See Paul jump. Jump, Paul, jump. Paul Ziv is a jumper, a job hopper, a serial job turnover artist. Since he started his career as a systems administrator, he has racked up six full-time jobs in five years. Moreover, Ziv is unrepentant. "Today I am much better off for all that job hopping," he says. "There's no way I'd be making as much money, have as much experience, or enjoy as much responsibility had I stuck with one job." Ziv's resume may read like a train schedule, but an arc of logic runs through it. After two years at Kennesaw State University, he worked part-time as a bench technician repairing computers. Then he was offered a full-time job as a desktop specialist and left his full-time studies. Here's his career, hop-by-hop. March 1996 to April 1997 Remote System Administrator MMI Companies, in Atlanta Starting salary: $8/hour Description: "I provided support for 140+ desktops and 50+ laptops throughout the Southeast Region. The best part was coordinating the Lotus Notes rollout strategy." Reason for leaving: "I wanted to focus more on Lotus Notes, and I needed more money." Ending salary: $32,000 April 1997 to November 1997 Permanent Consultant MA&A Group, in Atlanta Starting salary and bonus: $60,000 Salary change from previous job: +46% Description: "My employer farmed me out as a Lotus Notes administrator to the American Cancer Society where I administered a 4100+ user Lotus Notes network. It was great to move from general desktop support so I could focus on Notes." Reason for leaving: "I was concerned about job security and the need for better benefits. I had started a family and I was worried that if the American Cancer Society cancelled the contract, I'd be out of a job. Being farmed out by a private consulting firm with great pay but lousy benefits was not for me." Ending salary: $70,000 per year November 1997 to October 1999 Network Engineer Windsor Group, in Atlanta Starting salary: $65,000 Salary change from previous job: -7% Description: "I took a small hit in pay for much better benefits. I built another Lotus Notes infrastructure, serving 2,000+ employees. About a year later, Windsor Group merged with another insurance company, and I converted its Exchange servers and built out its Notes installations, as well. Then the Y2K crisis hit, and I found myself working 80-hour weeks." Reason for leaving: "I felt plateaued. Plus I got caught in HR hell. The relatively high salary I started with came back to bite me. Human Resources said I could not receive a decent increment like everyone else on my team because I was already overpaid." Ending salary: $70,000 December 1999 to February 2000 Network Engineer RaceTrack Petroleum, in Atlanta Starting salary: $65,000 Salary change from previous job: -7% Description:"I thought I now wanted a pure technology job and fewer responsibilities. Within a week, I knew I had made a big mistake. I was bored with Lotus Notes and network issues." Reason for leaving: "The job market was hot. After I posted my resume on Computerjobs.com, job recruiters were calling me at the rate of 25 calls per day. It amazed me how unprofessional and silly many of the recruiters were. I thought I could do a better job. I thought about getting into information management, perhaps at a dot-com." Ending salary: $65,000 March 2000 to present Recruiter; then Web Content Developer Computerjobs.com, in Atlanta Salary range: $60, 000 to $70,000 "I used Computerjobs.com to get previous positions, so I know how solid a company it is. My work as a recruiter was fulfilling and I got some important experience out of it, but my goal is now to contribute in the areas of content strategy and business development. I am still making less money than I would if I had maintained a strict technical tract, but I am getting back to where I used to be. I enjoy what I do and believe in the product, and although I may have taken the long way to figure it out, that in itself is worth something." The bottom line Ziv anticipates staying with his current employer as long as the job stays challenging and rewarding. Despite economic conditions, he recommends that anyone stuck in an unrewarding job move on. "Usually those factors -- not being happy -- have a hard time being masked at work and come through in performance. It is much easier to look for a job that would be more rewarding at your own pace than to be laid off and be in a fire drill for any job during an economic slowdown," he says. But Ziv also advises caution. "My experienced colleagues within the IT industry are now more cautious [about jumping] companies. Furthermore, companies are being more discerning in both the skill fit as well as the personality fit. I think the candidate side is now making sure to join a well-funded operation with good growth strategy and a company that the employee can see staying at longer term. In the past, I believe, there was a lot of comfort in knowing that if you did not like your current gig, you could throw your resume up on a board, make a couple of calls, and find a new job in days. Now there is bit more research going into the company they want to work for." John Kador is a business and technology writer in Geneva, Ill. Contact him at jkador@jkador.com.
 RELATED SUBJECTS  Professional DevelopmentSPONSORED WHITE PAPERS 
SPONSORED LINKS
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
