Reasons Industry Hopping Is Common Today

The way people look at their jobs has changed drastically over the last five years, with more and more people switching job sectors to seek greater purpose in their careers.

The Great Resignation has millions of Americans shifting their jobs to go work for different industries. Oftentimes, the workers are looking for better pay, higher flexibility, and more benefits. There are others who change jobs to fast-forward their careers. A sizable chunk of the US workforce is however changing their job fields entirely when they look for new jobs.

McKinsey & Company did a global survey in July 2022 with the participation of around 2,000 workers where they found that 48% of job quitters in the past two years have chosen to start over in a different industry.

Industry hopping has become a job trend today because workers are shifting to different sectors in search of greater purpose, following the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Long working hours and employee burnout are also two big reasons behind job hopping.

Upon close observation, we get better insight into what workers are looking for in a career when we inspect the reasons behind industry hopping. These reasons will indicate how people will choose careers in the future.

Industry hopping has been around for a long time although it had a considerable acceleration after the pandemic. However, there were times when industry hopping was a rare phenomenon. Baby boomers believed that one should stick with the trade they were trained for. The 1980s saw some mass layoffs that created cracks in this belief of employees having to be fixed to one career.

This had the workers shifting all over the job market whenever they realized that they were not treated well by their companies or employers. The generational shift has also had some effect to change the stigma of switching careers.

Today we consider individuals who change industries as those who are showing great drive and self-motivation. Both employees and employers have grown accustomed to job hopping. It is no longer seen as a negative thing but thought of rather as an asset. Today, employers believe that a worker from a different industry will bring a fresh perspective on things. Also, if you apply for a job in a different sector, the recruiters will think of you as a person who wants to challenge themselves.

The pandemic and the associated hiring turbulence have seen an increase in industry hopping in the US labor market. Supply and demand have made it easier for people to find opportunities to change job sectors. Employers are looking for skilled candidates to fill their many vacancies, encouraging people to try their hand at job hopping in search of better benefits.

Employees all over the globe have begun to reassess what they want to feel fulfilled in their careers. As found by the McKinsey survey, 65% of job quitters in finance and insurance are not planning to return to the industries. In other cases, people change industries in search of better flexibility in their career paths.

Job quitters from the corporate sector are moving on to careers in teaching while others embrace their creative sides with their new careers as content creators and illustrators in search of purpose. However, workers from purpose-driven careers are industry hopping due to burnout.

Professionals from the healthcare sector and teaching were put under great strain during the pandemic as they had to perform as frontline workers during the crisis. Although their skill sets are niche, these workers apply for less emotionally draining jobs somewhat related to their initial careers. Transferrable skills are particularly important for industry-hopping workers.

We should be prepared for a future where industry hopping is the norm, as people have gotten accustomed to having the freedom to move through the job market in search of the ideal vocation.