More than half of Singapore's CFO are willing to hire ‘job hoppers': poll

Job hopping is more prevalent in the finance and accounting industry.

More than half or 56% of Singapore’s CFOs would be willing to hire a candidate who is a job hopper, or someone who has made an average of four job changes within a 10-year period, according to recruiter Robert Half’s latest research.

Job hopping is overwhelmingly more prevalent amongst Singapore’s millennials as almost two-thirds or 63% of Singaporean CFOs think millennial-aged finance workers are job hoppers. This compares to more than one in three or 39% CFOs who think Singapore’s Generation X workers in finance and accounting are job hoppers and one in four (25%) who consider Baby Boomer professionals to be job hoppers.

Also read: Over half of Singapore's workforce unsatisfied with their current job: report

“Whilst many employment changes in a short time span can give hiring managers cause for concern, Singaporean employers understand there are also advantages linked to changing jobs frequently,” the firm said in a statement.

According to Robert Half, the positive consequences of job hopping for employees, as identified by Singaporean CFOs, include higher salary progression (64%), more experience in different industries (43%), ability to learn faster (35%), resilience to change (32%) and learning more skills (31%).

“Despite the fact that job hopping has become more common in the finance and accounting industry, hiring managers should still be cautious when considering job hoppers for a vacant role,” Matthieu Imbert-Bouchard, managing director for Robert Half Singapore, said in a statement.

“Employers need to balance the costs of the recruitment process against a candidate who may be seen as disloyal and end up leaving after a short period of time. This doesn’t suggest that job hopping should be disregarded entirely, but like any career move, changing jobs must have happened for the right reason,” he concluded.