College Student Job Term Expectations Match Actual Executive Tenure
What do college students have in common with senior-level executives? No, not an affinity for Facebook. They are both committing to short stays in their jobs.
The majority of the 247 college students surveyed by Right Management expect to remain with their first employers for fewer than three years, while ExecuNet-surveyed senior executives are actually staying in their jobs for around the same length of time.
According to Right’s survey:
- 61% of college students expect to remain with their first employers for less than 3 years
- 16% anticipate continuing to change jobs as quickly throughout their careers
- 34% said they plan to change jobs every 3 to 4 years
- 50% expect to switch employers every 5 years or longer
In response to ExecuNet’s 15th annual Executive Job Market Intelligence survey, senior-level executives routinely change jobs, companies and industries over their career-span, matching the movement that the college students anticipate. The two survey groups diverge at the expectation point: despite their experiences, executives are still casting loyalty as the ideal, with high hopes of remaining twice as long in jobs and organizations than they currently are.
The respective survey results suggest that college students have few loyalty behaviors to model, having seen parents voluntarily and involuntarily change jobs and companies with regularity. With the next generation entering the workforce with this transient mindset, it becomes more incumbent upon senior leaders to inspire managerial loyalty, in the absence of organizational loyalty.
