I mostly agree, but I think 2 jobs in 4 years? Probably fine. There's a line, and I don't think it's very clear cut.
Furthermore, the company is rarely/never accountable for swiftly laying people off individuals that may otherwise be excellent workers.
Frankly, if a company is discarding CVs based on perceived loyalty, then I perhaps those same companies to provide candidates with a contract reciprocates that loyalty via generous raises and job security.
You won't even get to the "good questions" phase (i.e., get past the screening) if your resume is full of <1 year stints.
> Furthermore, the company is rarely/never accountable for swiftly laying people off individuals that may otherwise be excellent workers.
I've seen tons of resumes where people have done 12 companies in 10 years. think it's unlikely that was due to constant layoffs.
> Frankly, if a company is discarding CVs based on perceived loyalty, then I perhaps those same companies to provide candidates with a contract reciprocates that loyalty via generous raises and job security.
It's not about a noble ideal of loyalty. A person who leaves companies in 9-12 months is unlikely to have anything significant done in years (due to ramp-up time, etc). Not worth the risk to bring them onto your team, knowing their pattern is to be gone soon.
Leave a job per year for 4 years is at least a yellow flag to me.
"judging individuals without (enough) context" is basically what resume screening is, sadly. There may be 10 resumes that are otherwise equally strong, but one has this "issue". Then that issue might cost the opportunity to give more context. That's just how screening works.
> There's a line, and I don't think it's very clear cut.
is spot on. I would also say 2 jobs in 4 years is ok, but if you have nothing but two year stints - I treat that as a negative.
* Startup ABC: 3 years -> Quit for a job that allowed me to break into a niche.
* Company BigCo: 9 Months -> Got asked to return to ABC as a leader, related to niche. "Great opportunity", didn't have a record of job hopping at the time, took it!
* Startup ABC: (Another) 3 years -> Got tired of the grind and quit for a job at Startup XYZ. Seemed reasonable at the time.
* Startup XYZ: 3 Months -> Toxic work environment, quit for mental health reasons. Requires the most explaining, but I felt totally justified and have since been vindicated by semi-public info about the org.
* Company HugeCo: 6 Months -> Got an offer from Meta that represented a 2x increase in comp (plus prestige of Big Tech). Hard to say no.
* Meta: 1 year -> Saw the writing on the wall my team was going to get crushed in layoffs and opportunistically jumped while I could. Ended up being correct about my team's fate btw.
* Startup JKL -> Been here for 4 months with no plan of leaving.
So all in all, in the last 4 years I've had 4 jobs, the "danger zone" as the OP put it. I don't have any desire to change jobs again soon. How would you view my story? Would you see me as a serial job hopper? Someone who can't commit? Or someone who made a series of reasonable choices in isolation that resulted in a disjointed resume? Most of this took place between 2019-2022 when the job market was on fire, and I don't necessarily regret it (after all, my salary tripled during this time). But I know how it looks.
Also, if you job hop a bit and then spend at least 2-3 years in a single job, you're totally fine. Nobody faults someone for hopping early on.
That said, doing recruiting, I tend to look at the longest stretch. If someone's not chalked up 1.5ish years in one organisation that's definitely a flag.