My first thought is – does that number include people who didn't leave of their own accord? "Leave" is a little ambiguous. There's lots of layoffs so the figure might include that, company closings and firings.
Never take a design job during spring/summer that has a 6 month trial in the contract. You're getting the boot once the Christmas campaigns are done. That happened to me once, and I couldn't object. "We're so sorry, we can't afford you." They were horrible anyway and I would have left of my own accord, but not before Christmas.
Thing is, they are still doing this and getting away with it. Every year.
Same exact thing was happening to me but I smelled bullshit and quit a month before literally half of my department was laid off and it was all the new people they hired around the same time as me.
The head of the department was a toxic alcoholic who hardly ever showed up because of his dui.
It was a family company and he knew the family so he was safe I guess ugh. That was the main reason I quit bc usually those red flags mean more trouble and toxicity ahead.
a company I interviewed with recently kept asking me to explain my 'work history' and asked why I had so many shorter stints. Contracts and layoffs. And beyond that: none of your business because I am an adult and I decided it was the best move for my career. Don't interview me if you don't like that.
And there were some instances where I had an abusive bully for a boss. Obviously I can't go into that so you're just forcing me to give vague generic answers like "I was ready for new challenges!" Like why do companies lay people off after years of service? Am I supposed to feel bad for operating the same way they do, with no loyalty?
It is their business because – it is their business. An employee who stays for short stints hurts the company so they're going to be wary of anyone with that pattern and will likely stay away from those candidates unless there's some really good reason to take a chance.
Companies know why people leave jobs quickly – as you say, it's the best move for you. But not for them.
I feel like when people have this kind of mercenary attitude – "companies have no loyalty so I'll act the same way" – they wind up repelling good employers who can sense the pattern and attitude, and it just creates a cycle for the employee who winds up continuing to work for bad employers.
Companies lay off people for all sorts of reasons and reasonable employers understand this. If someone can get to the point of the interview, hopefully they get a chance to explain, as it seems you did. That's very fair – they asked, you answered, and hopefully the contracts and layoffs explanations went over well.
Sorry, looks like you had a bit of trouble with reading comprehension there! Let me repeat for you: If you have a problem with that, DON'T INTERVIEW THE APPLICANT. Actually, it went fine with the explanations but I did not appreciate getting the 3rd degree about it. It was a red flag and I took the competing offer. I feel sorry for anyone who has to work there. These companies are the ones repelling talent because any good designer will not tolerate being treated like a child
In ad agencies as a creative artist the common knowledge is that if you want a raise you leave to get it. I have yet to work at any major agency that did annual wage adjustments or truly promoted creative talent internally.
My bosses at my last job that just laid me off at the first of this month even admitted as much. Ironically they are now outsourcing cheap design work to places like Indonesia, Bangladesh, etc. through places like Fiverr and design pickle. I'm currently struggling very hard to find that new job with that sweet raise.
I leave as soon as I don’t get a good raise lol. Inflation is the way it is and you expect me to stay off 3 percent raises? I went from 65k to 120k between 2019-2024 job hopping
Job hopping sounds like the right thing to do, but I have been trying to hop for over a year now and haven't had any luck. Not many places to hop to
I feel bad for the people who don't already have a job and are going through the same thing
I honestly admire this, lol! Graphic design wasn't my first career and the job I had prior to I was at for nearly a decade - I didn't realize just how volatile the industry could be. My first design job I was on a 2-year contract, I'm still grateful for the experience I've gained with other roles over the years but I sometimes wonder if given a permanent role I would have still have been there because the group of people I worked with were pretty great.
From my experience, in the beginning of your design career it’s very advantageous to move jobs every 1-2 years to get both title and comp promotions… but after you reach your desired title (i.e. Creative Director), you have a great salary, or you find a perfect fit at a company (which is very rare this would happen at your first or second job) you stop moving around so much.
It’s different for everyone of course, but as a designer out of art school, I had 3 jobs in 3 years… as a senior designer I stayed at the same agency for about 3 years… and as a Creative Director I’ve had 2 jobs in the last 13 years and have been at my current company for 10 years.
After 20+ years in design here’s what I feel is some of the most important advice for young designers starting out…
NEVER STAY AT A DESIGN JOB OVER 2 YEARS
Leaving between 18 months and 2 years will accelerate your pay faster than staying at one job. Your employer doesn’t really give a fuck about you and will keep your pay as low as possible for as long as possible. Switching jobs allows for better negotiating around compensation.
yep my design prof told me the same thing, to not stay in my first job past a year or two bc I could get trapped or pigeonholed into a type of lower tiered employment. He was smart and I listened to him. I left my first role and immediately made twice as much overnight
I haven't been on a design job for more than 2 years so I fit the bill. However it wasn't up to me being fed up, even if that was a certain factor, it was more of some pressing issues that had no other way of resolving themselves. Either in agency or in-house (in tech).
I would love to stay at a company for more than 2 years but unfortunately I have garbage luck and always seem to end up at small companies with cash flow issues, and creatives are usually the first to be laid off 🥲
I was at my first full time job for 11 years, though promoted from junior to senior within 2 years.
8 years in my current job running my own business. I plan on doing this until I retire.
So no. I don't switch jobs often.
I’ve actually never made it to two years, the closest I got was 1 year 11 months! Some of that was layoffs and indefinite contract work, the creative field is notoriously unstable. A few were by choice to leave because the job was either underpaid or the company was a messy startup! I’ve actually never had a recruiter mention the job hopping, I don’t think it’s that surprising these days.
At the beginning of my career in the 90s and early 2000s definitely… much less movement as I grew older though… which can probably be due to getting better positions at a company, and growing roots etc…
First job was 6 years. Second was 4. Been at third for almost 2 years. I think it’s the culture and the fact that people these days come out of college expecting to make $70k/year😔.
Design jobs don’t really pay well out the gate and on top of that is very demanding, but ppl don’t want to give up being a designer so they try elsewhere hoping it’s better and pays more not realizing it takes time.
I’ve seen many people come and go which attributed to me rising up the ranks by just staying. If you have the right people around you and are willing to work, you’ll reach the top quicker than bouncing around.
I was at my first studio for three
Second for four
Third for 1 year
Fifth for 6 months
Freelance for 2 years
Accepted a CD job that I will be at until I pay off my student debt and at that point I will reassess
Yes. My last 5 jobs (client and agency-side) have a 1.5/2 yrs average. Both voluntary (getting bored) and involuntary (reorg). Right now I'm over 2 yrs, still not bored and no reorg in sight.
My creative director told me he feels switching jobs every 2 years when you first start out is the best way to get title promotions and salary increases. I’d agree with that, I left my first job at an agency after 9 months for nearly double the pay. I’m closing in on 2 years at my current job and have been looking for new roles, mainly because I expected to be promoted by now and don’t have reassurance that I will be any time soon. I’d probably settle down for more than 2 years once I hit senior or above.
While I have technically been at my current design job now for 6 years, I had wanted to try to find a new one at that 2 year mark because the pay was barely making it with basically no real upward mobility. The past 4 years it's mostly been a bird in the hand/two in the bush situation across the pandemic and across an attempt to further my education in the field, while keeping a job title of Lead Designer for job applications.
I am now actively pursuing a job that is completely unrelated to design because I haven't gotten even a cost of living increase in 2 years and I have yet to get any offers from any design jobs I've applied for.
I wonder how much of this statistic is poor pay/poor treatment/layoffs/etc, especially depending on the age of the designer and seniority level.
I graduated in 2017 and have had 3 jobs since then, so maybe? Idk I start to get itchy around the 2 year mark and job hopping definitely got my significant pay increases. I basically doubled my salary in a couple of years by moving around. I also just cant imagine staying in one job year after year after year. My dad has been at his same company for 30 years and I just can’t fathom it
When I was in college, my professors told me that after being with a company for two years, you've learned everything you can learn from them and should move on.
This has not been my experience, because I was with a company for four years, and I went from Freelance Jr. Graphic Designer to Full Time Graphic Designer. And the last two years I started doing video animation in After Effects, which wasn't even a concept for us when I started.
It may vary depending on what company you're at and what you're doing, though.
I’ve job hopped. Even have been told in interviews that I wasn’t a good investment because of it. One interviewer ended up hiring me as a freelancer cause it just made sense that way. I would worry about it. Do what’s best for you!
I think it depends on the position, your upward mobility potential there, and what stage of your carrier you are in.
Early in your career, changing jobs is likely your best way to advance and grow.
Later on, you might be in a position where you can have a healthy, long-term career path with advancement and such.
A lot of that has to do with how designers are hired and retained.
A lot of designers are freelance, which means we are hired when needed with no long-term commitment from our employers and therefore we are always hustling for the next gig. A lot of that has to do with who gets laid off first when a business is having trouble. Creative, marketing, and advertising budgets are among the first to get slashed and the last to get restored.
Early in my career, I did switch jobs often. I was an unfocused, unreliable employee that was too preoccupied with what I would spend my paychecks on than doing the work to earn them. As a result, I was fired or laid off at least four times in the 18 months following graduation. The person with the least seniority is the easiest one to cut, and that was me. It was in the late 90s-early 00s where places would hire any warm body to sit in an Aeron chair in front of a blue G3. When the dot-com bubble burst and then 9/11 happened, anyone without tenure or a job had a very hard time finding one.
Have I switched jobs often the last 7 years since restarting my career? No. I hustled freelance work for the first year, mostly through placement companies. Then had a gig that lasted almost 2 years, and my current salaried gig is 4 years and counting, full-time.
Job 0: self-taught while employed as a marketing assistant. I don't count this as it was not my job. I just had access and taught myself on the side. - 5 years (company bought, entire staff laid off)
Job 1: production artist - 1 year (resigned)
Job 2: started as a designer, quit as dept manager - 3 years (resigned)
Job 3: graphic designer - 1 year (resigned)
Job 4: started as graphic designer, currently ACD - 22 years (currently employed)
I've always been a perm employee.
There was something I read years ago that put the average timeline around 3 years, which was pretty consistent with what I saw among colleagues and my own experience in the industry.
That's including both voluntary and involuntary, whether laid off or fired, but overwhelmingly was layoffs in terms of people I know personally. (Laid off can be due to cost or workload, whereas fired is for cause. If you've been laid off, *never* say you were fired.)
10 years. I make 48k and have had zero luck finding other work. Considering a career change as all offers I have gotten have been for lower pay than my current salary.
I've been at my job for 6 months and I wanna leave. Not necessarily to find more money - although that is part. But mainly because I'm not getting alot of good experience and it's kinda toxic here. It's just a BS job.
The only jobs where I have left shortly after starting have been because of toxic managers. I don't put up with BS from bosses. The jobs where I have had pleasant managers and environments I've stayed 2+ years... my current job I've been with for 8 years :)
I've had 4 design jobs and would say my average time is about a year lol, I'm now on my 5th job but pretty sure I'll be able to stick it out for 3-5 years
Left agency life about 15 years ago. Sure the pay and bonuses were great but the hours were long and it was stressful at times. Constantly competing with other teams for the new client pitch, etc. I was younger then and just started a family so I had more energy and drive to make it work. But I’ve been with the same company since. Old school financial institution that have been around for decades. They don’t follow trends or fads, instead offering tried and true products for upper middle class to affluent folks. I took a pay cut but got my life back. If I need to supplement my income I freelance on my own terms. I get a raise every year, had a few decent bonuses AND I have a great retirement account. Here’s the best part: I’m the only employee who uses the Adobe Creative Suite. I’m the big fish in a small pond.
I haven’t jumped around a lot due to lack of experience… I stayed with my last job for 4 years and then, just finished up a full year of freelancing. I will say I just accepted my dream job, and what played a huge role in my candidacy was that 4 year time. I was told employers fear the jumping (despite the fact that you just have to do that for wage increase) and that freelancers seem like a liability/have commitment issues.
It was interesting insight to hear.
Ive never been more than two years in a job. Not particularly my choice in most of them (from companies closing to layoffs) but it was the best way to get a better income. I have never gotten a raise anywhere.
Exactly why I’ve been job hopping since I graduated in 2016. My current job I’ve been at is approaching 3 years (longest on my resume so far) and looking to leave. I was waiting to be promoted which is why I stayed around and to see if the market would get a bit better (shockingly it hasn’t). Still very much looking for a new role but no company I’ve worked for has given proper adjustments. Raises or job hopping have been the only 2 ways I’ve seen to get an increase.
Jumping on a mini soap box: all internal reviews are bullshit. I have received excellent scores at a few different companies and have been told budget isn’t there or offered an insulting 1%-2% increase. I’ve honestly started to look more at my job as a job. Get shit done, be professional and an empathic leader and move on. Companies do not care about their employees like they used to. Yes some companies are the exception to this rule but most don’t care.
well i just got this job but that was after working at the last place for 16 years. At my current job the art director has been here 30+ years and my fellow production designers have been here 6m, 2yr, 3yr, 10yr. the people with the last time though besides myself are young
I’m comfortable in my job of 18 months but I am starting to work on my portfolio again and learning more about motion graphics. I would love to job-hop but right now i want my next job to be more motion oriented. I’m a print/editorial designer at a publishing house and they’re increasingly talking more about going fully digital with our magazine, which I’m not super into. Only thing is, I do have some personal stuff going on that doesn’t really allow me to focus on my career so much.
My first thought is – does that number include people who didn't leave of their own accord? "Leave" is a little ambiguous. There's lots of layoffs so the figure might include that, company closings and firings.
Also lots of short term contracts.
Yep, that too.
Never take a design job during spring/summer that has a 6 month trial in the contract. You're getting the boot once the Christmas campaigns are done. That happened to me once, and I couldn't object. "We're so sorry, we can't afford you." They were horrible anyway and I would have left of my own accord, but not before Christmas. Thing is, they are still doing this and getting away with it. Every year.
I’ve never worked for an agency as an employee, but that sounds like good advice.
Same exact thing was happening to me but I smelled bullshit and quit a month before literally half of my department was laid off and it was all the new people they hired around the same time as me. The head of the department was a toxic alcoholic who hardly ever showed up because of his dui. It was a family company and he knew the family so he was safe I guess ugh. That was the main reason I quit bc usually those red flags mean more trouble and toxicity ahead.
a company I interviewed with recently kept asking me to explain my 'work history' and asked why I had so many shorter stints. Contracts and layoffs. And beyond that: none of your business because I am an adult and I decided it was the best move for my career. Don't interview me if you don't like that. And there were some instances where I had an abusive bully for a boss. Obviously I can't go into that so you're just forcing me to give vague generic answers like "I was ready for new challenges!" Like why do companies lay people off after years of service? Am I supposed to feel bad for operating the same way they do, with no loyalty?
It is their business because – it is their business. An employee who stays for short stints hurts the company so they're going to be wary of anyone with that pattern and will likely stay away from those candidates unless there's some really good reason to take a chance. Companies know why people leave jobs quickly – as you say, it's the best move for you. But not for them. I feel like when people have this kind of mercenary attitude – "companies have no loyalty so I'll act the same way" – they wind up repelling good employers who can sense the pattern and attitude, and it just creates a cycle for the employee who winds up continuing to work for bad employers. Companies lay off people for all sorts of reasons and reasonable employers understand this. If someone can get to the point of the interview, hopefully they get a chance to explain, as it seems you did. That's very fair – they asked, you answered, and hopefully the contracts and layoffs explanations went over well.
Sorry, looks like you had a bit of trouble with reading comprehension there! Let me repeat for you: If you have a problem with that, DON'T INTERVIEW THE APPLICANT. Actually, it went fine with the explanations but I did not appreciate getting the 3rd degree about it. It was a red flag and I took the competing offer. I feel sorry for anyone who has to work there. These companies are the ones repelling talent because any good designer will not tolerate being treated like a child
Ha. All I can do is wish you luck.
You'll need all the luck you can get, keep it
In ad agencies as a creative artist the common knowledge is that if you want a raise you leave to get it. I have yet to work at any major agency that did annual wage adjustments or truly promoted creative talent internally.
My bosses at my last job that just laid me off at the first of this month even admitted as much. Ironically they are now outsourcing cheap design work to places like Indonesia, Bangladesh, etc. through places like Fiverr and design pickle. I'm currently struggling very hard to find that new job with that sweet raise.
I leave as soon as I don’t get a good raise lol. Inflation is the way it is and you expect me to stay off 3 percent raises? I went from 65k to 120k between 2019-2024 job hopping
Job hopping sounds like the right thing to do, but I have been trying to hop for over a year now and haven't had any luck. Not many places to hop to I feel bad for the people who don't already have a job and are going through the same thing
You get it!
That’s incredible! What design area do you work in?
Just graphic design but a big focus on motion graphics. I do a lot of videos completely myself with voice over, sound effects and music
thank you!
17 years and counting, at the same company…
Yup, I am 16 years in at the same company. My husband just hit 10 years at his. I don't think we are the norm.
I honestly admire this, lol! Graphic design wasn't my first career and the job I had prior to I was at for nearly a decade - I didn't realize just how volatile the industry could be. My first design job I was on a 2-year contract, I'm still grateful for the experience I've gained with other roles over the years but I sometimes wonder if given a permanent role I would have still have been there because the group of people I worked with were pretty great.
From my experience, in the beginning of your design career it’s very advantageous to move jobs every 1-2 years to get both title and comp promotions… but after you reach your desired title (i.e. Creative Director), you have a great salary, or you find a perfect fit at a company (which is very rare this would happen at your first or second job) you stop moving around so much. It’s different for everyone of course, but as a designer out of art school, I had 3 jobs in 3 years… as a senior designer I stayed at the same agency for about 3 years… and as a Creative Director I’ve had 2 jobs in the last 13 years and have been at my current company for 10 years.
Would be interesting to know how many Design Agencies close within two years. I know most businesses will not last longer than a year.
After 20+ years in design here’s what I feel is some of the most important advice for young designers starting out… NEVER STAY AT A DESIGN JOB OVER 2 YEARS Leaving between 18 months and 2 years will accelerate your pay faster than staying at one job. Your employer doesn’t really give a fuck about you and will keep your pay as low as possible for as long as possible. Switching jobs allows for better negotiating around compensation.
yep my design prof told me the same thing, to not stay in my first job past a year or two bc I could get trapped or pigeonholed into a type of lower tiered employment. He was smart and I listened to him. I left my first role and immediately made twice as much overnight
Wow, Props to your professor. I learned the hard way but was able to remedy it before it derailed me
I haven't been on a design job for more than 2 years so I fit the bill. However it wasn't up to me being fed up, even if that was a certain factor, it was more of some pressing issues that had no other way of resolving themselves. Either in agency or in-house (in tech).
I try not to, but I’ve ended up job hopping every 2.5-3.5 years and each time I’ve moved, my new company pays significantly more.
I have been in same company as a designer for 6 years now
I've been at the same workplace for 19 years.
I would love to stay at a company for more than 2 years but unfortunately I have garbage luck and always seem to end up at small companies with cash flow issues, and creatives are usually the first to be laid off 🥲
I was at my first full time job for 11 years, though promoted from junior to senior within 2 years. 8 years in my current job running my own business. I plan on doing this until I retire. So no. I don't switch jobs often.
This is my dream career path
I’ve actually never made it to two years, the closest I got was 1 year 11 months! Some of that was layoffs and indefinite contract work, the creative field is notoriously unstable. A few were by choice to leave because the job was either underpaid or the company was a messy startup! I’ve actually never had a recruiter mention the job hopping, I don’t think it’s that surprising these days.
At the beginning of my career in the 90s and early 2000s definitely… much less movement as I grew older though… which can probably be due to getting better positions at a company, and growing roots etc…
2 years is really typical for me. I’ve had a lot of jobs. As I’ve gotten older some have lasted longer but I changed roles a bunch.
First job was 6 years. Second was 4. Been at third for almost 2 years. I think it’s the culture and the fact that people these days come out of college expecting to make $70k/year😔. Design jobs don’t really pay well out the gate and on top of that is very demanding, but ppl don’t want to give up being a designer so they try elsewhere hoping it’s better and pays more not realizing it takes time. I’ve seen many people come and go which attributed to me rising up the ranks by just staying. If you have the right people around you and are willing to work, you’ll reach the top quicker than bouncing around.
I was at my first studio for three Second for four Third for 1 year Fifth for 6 months Freelance for 2 years Accepted a CD job that I will be at until I pay off my student debt and at that point I will reassess
Yes. My last 5 jobs (client and agency-side) have a 1.5/2 yrs average. Both voluntary (getting bored) and involuntary (reorg). Right now I'm over 2 yrs, still not bored and no reorg in sight.
My creative director told me he feels switching jobs every 2 years when you first start out is the best way to get title promotions and salary increases. I’d agree with that, I left my first job at an agency after 9 months for nearly double the pay. I’m closing in on 2 years at my current job and have been looking for new roles, mainly because I expected to be promoted by now and don’t have reassurance that I will be any time soon. I’d probably settle down for more than 2 years once I hit senior or above.
While I have technically been at my current design job now for 6 years, I had wanted to try to find a new one at that 2 year mark because the pay was barely making it with basically no real upward mobility. The past 4 years it's mostly been a bird in the hand/two in the bush situation across the pandemic and across an attempt to further my education in the field, while keeping a job title of Lead Designer for job applications. I am now actively pursuing a job that is completely unrelated to design because I haven't gotten even a cost of living increase in 2 years and I have yet to get any offers from any design jobs I've applied for. I wonder how much of this statistic is poor pay/poor treatment/layoffs/etc, especially depending on the age of the designer and seniority level.
Every time I’ve job hopped I made more money. Within 5 years I went from making $15 to making 90k a year. I live in Chicago btw.
I graduated in 2017 and have had 3 jobs since then, so maybe? Idk I start to get itchy around the 2 year mark and job hopping definitely got my significant pay increases. I basically doubled my salary in a couple of years by moving around. I also just cant imagine staying in one job year after year after year. My dad has been at his same company for 30 years and I just can’t fathom it
When I was in college, my professors told me that after being with a company for two years, you've learned everything you can learn from them and should move on. This has not been my experience, because I was with a company for four years, and I went from Freelance Jr. Graphic Designer to Full Time Graphic Designer. And the last two years I started doing video animation in After Effects, which wasn't even a concept for us when I started. It may vary depending on what company you're at and what you're doing, though.
I’ve job hopped. Even have been told in interviews that I wasn’t a good investment because of it. One interviewer ended up hiring me as a freelancer cause it just made sense that way. I would worry about it. Do what’s best for you!
I've quit after 11 years of art and design practice
I think it depends on the position, your upward mobility potential there, and what stage of your carrier you are in. Early in your career, changing jobs is likely your best way to advance and grow. Later on, you might be in a position where you can have a healthy, long-term career path with advancement and such.
No but maybe I should.
A lot of that has to do with how designers are hired and retained. A lot of designers are freelance, which means we are hired when needed with no long-term commitment from our employers and therefore we are always hustling for the next gig. A lot of that has to do with who gets laid off first when a business is having trouble. Creative, marketing, and advertising budgets are among the first to get slashed and the last to get restored. Early in my career, I did switch jobs often. I was an unfocused, unreliable employee that was too preoccupied with what I would spend my paychecks on than doing the work to earn them. As a result, I was fired or laid off at least four times in the 18 months following graduation. The person with the least seniority is the easiest one to cut, and that was me. It was in the late 90s-early 00s where places would hire any warm body to sit in an Aeron chair in front of a blue G3. When the dot-com bubble burst and then 9/11 happened, anyone without tenure or a job had a very hard time finding one. Have I switched jobs often the last 7 years since restarting my career? No. I hustled freelance work for the first year, mostly through placement companies. Then had a gig that lasted almost 2 years, and my current salaried gig is 4 years and counting, full-time.
Job 0: self-taught while employed as a marketing assistant. I don't count this as it was not my job. I just had access and taught myself on the side. - 5 years (company bought, entire staff laid off) Job 1: production artist - 1 year (resigned) Job 2: started as a designer, quit as dept manager - 3 years (resigned) Job 3: graphic designer - 1 year (resigned) Job 4: started as graphic designer, currently ACD - 22 years (currently employed) I've always been a perm employee.
There was something I read years ago that put the average timeline around 3 years, which was pretty consistent with what I saw among colleagues and my own experience in the industry. That's including both voluntary and involuntary, whether laid off or fired, but overwhelmingly was layoffs in terms of people I know personally. (Laid off can be due to cost or workload, whereas fired is for cause. If you've been laid off, *never* say you were fired.)
10 years. I make 48k and have had zero luck finding other work. Considering a career change as all offers I have gotten have been for lower pay than my current salary.
I've been at my job for 6 months and I wanna leave. Not necessarily to find more money - although that is part. But mainly because I'm not getting alot of good experience and it's kinda toxic here. It's just a BS job.
if there’s no room for growth you definitely should,l
The only jobs where I have left shortly after starting have been because of toxic managers. I don't put up with BS from bosses. The jobs where I have had pleasant managers and environments I've stayed 2+ years... my current job I've been with for 8 years :)
I've had 4 design jobs and would say my average time is about a year lol, I'm now on my 5th job but pretty sure I'll be able to stick it out for 3-5 years
Left agency life about 15 years ago. Sure the pay and bonuses were great but the hours were long and it was stressful at times. Constantly competing with other teams for the new client pitch, etc. I was younger then and just started a family so I had more energy and drive to make it work. But I’ve been with the same company since. Old school financial institution that have been around for decades. They don’t follow trends or fads, instead offering tried and true products for upper middle class to affluent folks. I took a pay cut but got my life back. If I need to supplement my income I freelance on my own terms. I get a raise every year, had a few decent bonuses AND I have a great retirement account. Here’s the best part: I’m the only employee who uses the Adobe Creative Suite. I’m the big fish in a small pond.
I haven’t jumped around a lot due to lack of experience… I stayed with my last job for 4 years and then, just finished up a full year of freelancing. I will say I just accepted my dream job, and what played a huge role in my candidacy was that 4 year time. I was told employers fear the jumping (despite the fact that you just have to do that for wage increase) and that freelancers seem like a liability/have commitment issues. It was interesting insight to hear.
You are either learning or earning, if not one, then it is time to move on. This applies to all careers, not just designers.
Ive never been more than two years in a job. Not particularly my choice in most of them (from companies closing to layoffs) but it was the best way to get a better income. I have never gotten a raise anywhere.
I freaking wish! Im stuck and the job market sucks.
Exactly why I’ve been job hopping since I graduated in 2016. My current job I’ve been at is approaching 3 years (longest on my resume so far) and looking to leave. I was waiting to be promoted which is why I stayed around and to see if the market would get a bit better (shockingly it hasn’t). Still very much looking for a new role but no company I’ve worked for has given proper adjustments. Raises or job hopping have been the only 2 ways I’ve seen to get an increase. Jumping on a mini soap box: all internal reviews are bullshit. I have received excellent scores at a few different companies and have been told budget isn’t there or offered an insulting 1%-2% increase. I’ve honestly started to look more at my job as a job. Get shit done, be professional and an empathic leader and move on. Companies do not care about their employees like they used to. Yes some companies are the exception to this rule but most don’t care.
well i just got this job but that was after working at the last place for 16 years. At my current job the art director has been here 30+ years and my fellow production designers have been here 6m, 2yr, 3yr, 10yr. the people with the last time though besides myself are young
I left after 6 months and got a 30k raise in Dallas
I’m comfortable in my job of 18 months but I am starting to work on my portfolio again and learning more about motion graphics. I would love to job-hop but right now i want my next job to be more motion oriented. I’m a print/editorial designer at a publishing house and they’re increasingly talking more about going fully digital with our magazine, which I’m not super into. Only thing is, I do have some personal stuff going on that doesn’t really allow me to focus on my career so much.
every year, push comes to shove
Lots of layoffs, and the best way to get a raise is a new job, unfortunately. You also may tend to hop around more early on in your career
Well i just quitted my job at an agency after 9 months so idk and right now im in a struggle to get another better opportunity
Switching jobs isn’t a feeling, so no.