Can Job-Hopping Become An Endless Loop?

A recent Gallup report on the Millennial generation reveals that 21% of people born between 1980 and 1996 have changed their jobs within the past year. Millennials’ level of engagement in the workplace is the lowest of all generations, and only three in ten are emotionally and behaviorally connected to their jobs and companies. 60% of them admit that they are permanently hunting for new positions. And even within the older generations, the figures are not that different.

This job-hopping behavior reminds me of the difference between being a tourist and a pilgrim. Ordinary tourists are primarily concerned with their experience of the place rather than the destination itself. For tourists, the location hardly matters; they tour -go around in circles — but do not penetrate it. They are primarily concerned with how they feel about the place, not the place itself. Thus, they often quickly fall into disappointment when those locations look less attractive than what they have previously fathomed. On the contrary, a pilgrim’s ultimate goal is the actual destination, and the experience or journey only exists because of the destination, which lights the journey with joy and makes any obstacle or disappointment along the road much more bearable.

This lack of a final purpose in our lives may cause our low level of resilience and tolerance when the first difficulties arise when the job experience is no longer as fulfilling as it was, making job-hopping so pervasive in our culture. But constantly looking for new job opportunities to enrich our life experiences will make us disillusioned tourists caught up in endless loops of disappointment because the reality is never as fascinating as the brochures depict.