I don’t remember as much from high school as I would have liked but for some reason I recall a stat I learned in sophomore sociology —“The average person will attempt 3.5 careers in their lifetime.” It probably struck a chord because at that age we were all panicking that we would pick the wrong path and end up desperately unhappy (oh the drama). Little did we know that fear sticks with you long into your twenties, most likely your thirties, and for some, much longer than that.

I grew up in a generation that was happy to job-hop. Hop. Hop. Hippity. Hop.  Reliability? What is that? We were all about the now. Can I get paid more? Can I work some place more exciting? Can I snag a more alluring job title? Can I? Can I? Can I? This job-hopping approach to career planning was only supported by the liberal arts education I received, in which I was required to fine tune skills across the board. When I graduated from college, my education set the groundwork for me to be a journalist, an economist, an artist, a minister, and—of course—a ballerina.  We were encouraged to apply to jobs knowing it was not meant to be the be-all end-all of our professional existence, it was just the first listing on our resume, then the second, okay maybe the third.

We are a generation of job-hoppers. 

Then…a recession hits.

The allusive door of opportunity isn’t offering as many knocks. All of a sudden we see limits to the industries that are hiring. We see caps on the number of applicants companies are willing to take a chance on and train. We are, in short, curious as to what happened to all the hopping we were told we could do.

I read an article the other day in which the author offered this advice to job seekers, “Make sure you are ready to commit to at least a five-year learning and working stint...Pick an industry that is growing (medical devices, computer security, financial planning, auditing, and government services) and learn the technical side of that business.” That doesn’t sound very encouraging for the personal exploration I had planned for my mid-to-late twenties. Not.very.promising.at.all.

This is where you are all hoping I throw out a silver lining. Well actually there is one. I see a long-desired benefit from the shrinking of options and the lack of job-hopping—a return to loyalty. Now I know I just caused an entire generation a small heart palpitation with that last word - but really - now is the time to gut check yourself. You know all of those questions you avoided before? Now is the time to revisit them. Ask yourself what type of company you want to be associated with? What type of person do you want to call your boss? Most importantly, as times get tougher, what people do you want to be braving the storm with?

In the meantime, we must learn what we can and commit ourselves to the project at hand. Eventually the waters will calm and our generation can (unfortunately in my opinion) return to a life of job-hopping. Hop. Hop. Hippity, Hop.