Research

LinkedIn: Gen Z Defines Job-Hopping Generation

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 10/12/18

Gen Zers are three times more likely to job hop and even switch industries than Baby Boomers, according to a new LinkedIn survey. While one in five of them had already had four full-time jobs in the short period they've been employed, Baby Boomers have averaged two jobs in the past 10 years. (Generation Z consists of those born after 1995; Baby Boomers are people born between the end of the Second World War and the start of United States combat involvement in Vietnam.)

Half of people under 24 responded that they'd move to accept a different job, and 20 percent would welcome the opportunity to travel. The survey queried about 2,000 professionals in the United States in May 2018.

It isn't simply a higher salary they're after. Culture plays a major force in Gen Z work choices:

• 45 percent said work relationships keep them employed where they are currently (compared to 25 percent for people over 35); and
• 40 percent like their current roles because they have the opportunity to "learn and grow"; 30 percent said this was one of the top factors they most valued in their jobs.

The relationship Gen Zers have with their bosses doesn't resemble the same one older workers have. About a third of respondents under 24 (36 percent) said they'd speak with their managers when considering a career move (compared to 23 percent of those over 45 saying the same). And two-thirds of this youngest workforce generation (65 percent) would want "honest advice" about what to do next as well as "additional learning opportunities" (35 percent).