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Don't miss last 2 Questions...
Some, rather most organizations reject his CV today because he
has changed jobs frequently (10 in 14 years). My friend, the
˜job hopper™ (referred here as Mr. JH), does not mind it. well
he does not need to mind it at all. Having worked full-time
with 10 employer companies in just 14 years gives Mr. JH the
relaxing edge that most of the ˜company loyal™ employees are
struggling for today. Today, Mr. JH too is laid off like some
other 14-15 year experienced guys “ the difference being the
latter have just worked in 2-3 organizations in the same number
of years. Here are the excerpts of an interview with Mr. JH:
Q: Why have you changed 10 jobs in 14 years?
A: To get financially sound and stable before getting laid off
the second time.
Q: So you knew you would be laid off in the year 2009?
A: Well I was laid off first in the year 2002 due to the first
global economic slowdown. I had not got a full-time job before
January 2003 when the economy started looking up; so I had
struggled for almost a year without job and with compromises.
Q: Which number of job was that?
A: That was my third job.
Q: So from Jan 2003 to Jan 2009, in 6 years, you have changed 8
jobs to make the count as 10 jobs in 14 years?
A: I had no other option. In my first 8 years of professional
life, I had worked only for 2 organizations thinking that jobs
are deserved after lot of hard work and one should stay with an
employer company to justify the saying ˜employer loyalty™. But
I was an idiot.
Q: Why do you say so?
A: My salary in the first 8 years went up only marginally. I
could not save enough and also, I had thought that I had a
˜permanent™ job, so I need not worry about ˜what will I do if I
lose my job™. I could never imagine losing a job because of
economic slowdown and not because of my performance. That was
January 2002.
Q: Can you brief on what happened between January 2003 and
2009.
A: Well, I had learnt my lessons of being ˜company loyal™ and
not ˜money earning and saving loyal™. But then you can save
enough only when you earn enough. So I shifted my loyalty
towards money making and saving “ I changed 8 jobs in 6 years
assuring all my interviewers about my stability.
Q: So you lied to your interviewers; you had already planned to
change the job for which you were being interviewed on a
particular day?
A: Yes, you can change jobs only when the market is up and
companies are hiring. You tell me “ can I get a job now because
of the slowdown? No. So one should change jobs for higher
salaries only when the market is up because that is the only
time when companies hire and can afford the expected salaries.
Q: What have you gained by doing such things?
A: That's the question I was waiting for. In Jan 2003, I had a
fixed salary (without variables) of say Rs. X p.a. In January
2009, my salary was 8X. So assuming my salary was Rs.3 lakh
p.a. in Jan 2003, my last drawn salary in Jan 2009 was Rs.24
lakh p.a. (without variable). I never bothered about variable
as I had no intention to stay for 1 year and go through the
appraisal process to wait for the company to give me a hike.
Q: So you decided on your own hike?
A: Yes, in 2003, I could see the slowdown coming again in
future like it had happened in 2001-02. Though I was not sure
by when the next slowdown would come, I was pretty sure I
wanted a ˜debt-free™ life before being laid off again. So I
planned my hike targets on a yearly basis without waiting for
the year to complete.
Q: So are you debt-free now?
A: Yes, I earned so much by virtue of job changes for money and
spent so little that today I have a loan free 2 BR flat (1200
sq.. feet) plus a loan free big car without bothering about any
EMIs. I am laid off too but I do not complain at all. If I have
laid off companies for money, it is OK if a company lays me off
because of lack of money.
Q: Who is complaining?
A: All those guys who are not getting a job to pay their EMIs
off are complaining. They had made fun of me saying I am a job
hopper and do not have any company loyalty. Now I ask them what
they gained by their company loyalty; they too are laid off
like me and pass comments to me “ why will you bother about us,
you are already debt-free. They were still in the bracket of
12-14 lakh p.a. when they were laid off.
Q: What is your advice to professionals?
A: Like Narayan Murthy had said “ love your job and not your
company because you never know when your company will stop
loving you. In the same lines, love yourself and your family
needs more than the company's needs. Companies can keep coming
and going; family will always remain the same. Make
money for yourself first and simultaneously make money for the
company, not the other way around.
Q: What is your biggest pain point with
companies?
A: When a company does well, its CEO will address the entire
company saying, ˜well done guys, it is YOUR company, keep up
the hard work, I am with you. But when the slowdown happens and
the company does not do so well, the same CEO will say, It is
MY company and to save the company, I have to take tough
decisions including asking people to go. So think about your
financial stability first; when you get laid off, your kids
will complain to you and not your boss.
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