[MUCPA]

My current boss, and every boss or colleague I’ve ever had, derides “job hoppers”. Career counselors have also warned against job hopping. However, of the friends I have that could be considered as such, most of them are doing better than I am financially.

By job hopping, I don’t mean less than a year on the job – I think that would probably be pretty harmful to your career if done consistently. But holding positions for 1-2 year stints then moving on seems to be a pretty good plan for a lot of people I know. Anyone have any experiences with this?

If companies hate it so much – why do they continue to reward job hoppers? I would almost equate it to the “bad boy” phenomenon with women. All women I know claim to want “nice guys”, but for some unknown reason they consistently date meat-heads.

Note: Nothing in this post should be construed to be chauvinistic in any way, simply anecdotal observation.

- 2.5 years experience in Public Accounting (Audit)
- 2.0 years experience in corporate accounting
- All 4 CPA Exam sections passed first time
- Currently CPA & Controller at a small manufacturing company

[Anonymous]

I think the standard has changed. My parent's generation were all about staying at the same place for 30 years and getting a sweet pension. Those don't really exist anymore. A director at my old job told me that at my age (26), I would be doing myself a disservice if I stayed anywhere for longer than three years. I'm on my third job and have doubled my salary since graduating college. If I had stayed at my first job, I don't think I would be where I am today.

[MUCPA]

@ Beach – pretty impressive! Thanks for the response. I'm 27 and I make about 50% more than I made when I started working. I've also had 3 jobs, but one of them was a brief change- I thought I wanted to go into pure financial analyst type work for a major energy company. I soon realized that was a huge mistake at my current experience level, and left about 9 months later to pursue corporate accounting. I'm way, way happier and I feel like I'm on the right track, but I think that 9 months outside of accounting did some damage to my short-term earnings trend.

- 2.5 years experience in Public Accounting (Audit)
- 2.0 years experience in corporate accounting
- All 4 CPA Exam sections passed first time
- Currently CPA & Controller at a small manufacturing company

[StephAV]

I've stayed put and can tell you it hasn't paid off. Lol. I worked in public accounting for 2.5 years then came to my current NPO and my 6 year work anniversary is coming up. My pay, has increased 44% in 9 years… I guess it doesn't sound too bad, but 10% of that was after 6 months in public accounting. And only 19% over the last 6 years, 12.5% after I complained that I was underpaid around this time last year.

On the Brightside I know everything here. I get to train my boss, literally. I feel valued, just not monetarily (very conflicted about that). They are paying for me to get my CPA license and paid for all my classes needed, etc. Oh and they are giving time at work to study. Awesome.

FAR - 7/13 - 72, 11/13- 74, 2/14- 82!!! Best score ever (for me)!!!
BEC - 1/14 - 75!!! Perfect score! First Pass! YAY!!!
AUD - 8/14 - 80!!!
REG - 5/14 - 72, 10/14 - 66, 1/15 - 78 - DONE FOREVER!!!
I did 5 of the UNA and CPAExcel classes to earn units.

[TNCPA16]

Everyone always warns against job hopping, but the truth is that's how you get the big bumps in pay, since it seems like most companies won't do big pay raises anymore (or offer pensions). There really isn't much incentive to stay places. I'm also in my 20s and on my 2nd job. I left my first job after 5 years pretty much because of salary. Those 2% raises weren't cutting it for me anymore, so when I was offered a position that came with a 40% pay increase and 10% bonus every year, I just couldn't turn it down (and that was a lateral move).

[yourmomsaCPA]

I've had 5 jobs in the 10 years since I've graduated. I've tripled my salary — and that's without a license. Hopefully after this score release, I'll have one and that will continue my good fortune. 🙂

FAR - 87 2/18/14
AUD - 84 4/2/14
REG - 87 7/23/14
BEC - 78 8/26/14

I'm finally an *official* CPA - TX

[MUCPA]

Unfortunately, I'm starting to see a trend here…

I guess my next thread will be, “Do I need to answer the prospective employers question regarding my current compensation?”, haha.

- 2.5 years experience in Public Accounting (Audit)
- 2.0 years experience in corporate accounting
- All 4 CPA Exam sections passed first time
- Currently CPA & Controller at a small manufacturing company

[taxman89]

i have stayed at the same job that i got out of school. been here (industry not big 4) 3 years and am making about 24% more than when i started (tho it started about 20% higher than big 4 so have to consider that also) including a 15% promotion after 2.5 years….depends on the company you work for…..that being said i am thinking of trying to switch to financial analyst/cost accounting position because i hate tax

AUD - 75
BEC - 77
FAR - 78
REG - 82

AUD: 61-67-75 (Thanks ninja aud)
BEC: 77
FAR: 78
REG:69-73-70-82

Aud-75 3x I knew i never liked you
Bec-77 1x being in the bubble is stressful
Reg-82 4x its not me its you...and no we cant be friends
Far-78 1x easiest section

[StephAV]

@yourmomsacpa – Wow, tripled since graduation! That sounds amazing! Let me day dream about what I would do with all that $$ if I was making it… When I graduated that is what I thought would happen. What area of the country are you in if you don't mind sharing?

FAR - 7/13 - 72, 11/13- 74, 2/14- 82!!! Best score ever (for me)!!!
BEC - 1/14 - 75!!! Perfect score! First Pass! YAY!!!
AUD - 8/14 - 80!!!
REG - 5/14 - 72, 10/14 - 66, 1/15 - 78 - DONE FOREVER!!!
I did 5 of the UNA and CPAExcel classes to earn units.

[yourmomsaCPA]

Houston. I moved from a smaller town so that does account for *some* of the bump – but not much. I started at a smaller CPA firm making $36,000 (by the way, what are starting salaries these days? Large and small firms? Big cities vs small cities?) at 21 years old. Just a tangent really quick, my first offer was for another firm and $29,000 with a required 54 hour work week during busy season and NO OVERTIME. Man, CPA's are some cheap SOB's sometimes. Can you imagine someone taking the job and staying? They may have hit the $40k mark now!

Anyways, I went into private shortly after starting with the CPA firm (what a tortuous experience) and have been in private ever since. Very fortunate along the way.

Houston is the place to be for industry. 😉 But then you have to live in Houston. Ha!

FAR - 87 2/18/14
AUD - 84 4/2/14
REG - 87 7/23/14
BEC - 78 8/26/14

I'm finally an *official* CPA - TX

[StephAV]

Interesting… I graduated in 2005 and started at $40k as a staff auditor. I'm interested in knowing what the starting pay is now also. I remember my aunt telling me she calculated my hourly rate at $15 per hour back then. That was depressing. I'm in Sacramento. I've heard the CPA firms have to pay staff hourly now… That is probably a California thing.

FAR - 7/13 - 72, 11/13- 74, 2/14- 82!!! Best score ever (for me)!!!
BEC - 1/14 - 75!!! Perfect score! First Pass! YAY!!!
AUD - 8/14 - 80!!!
REG - 5/14 - 72, 10/14 - 66, 1/15 - 78 - DONE FOREVER!!!
I did 5 of the UNA and CPAExcel classes to earn units.

[Mjganier]

@yourmomsaCPA That's awesome! My fiance and I are looking to move to Houston within the next year or so once we have our CPAs. We're in Lafayette, Louisiana and I'm in government and she's with a firm. The only thing here really is either firms or oilfield companies and, with Lafayette named the happiest city in the nation, hardly anyone retires/leaves the area. Definitely looking forward to a city with more opportunity and greater pay vs the stagnant job market here.

FAR 8/18/2014--87
AUD 10/18/2014--78
REG 11/24/2014--76
BEC 2/28/2015--76

"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough"-Albert Einstein

Study Mats: Cpaexcel study text and EQ, Ninja MCQ, Ninja notes

[Vern -No what I mean]

The old rule of thumb use to be that you should/could double your salary in 7 years.

I think it depends on some variables. I've changed jobs 4 times since college (3 years, 2 years, 5 years, 3 years at current job) and I've been able to nearly triple my salary. The thing to remember is you won't increase your salary very much over the long term with lateral jobs becuase at some point you will top out and only see a COLA. If your thinking about moving, you have to weigh your options for advancement and develope leadership skills to help you move up.

AUD - 90
FAR - 71, 76
REG - 75
BEC - 76 (bubble sucks)

Becker + Ninja MCQ's

[tomq04]

I started doing bookkeeping right out of college @ $14/hour or something sad. Quit, found another job @ $40k even (first “real” job, I'm still here) and have had 2 raises after 3 years —> $44k and just this summer $47.5

I'm definitely falling WAY behind my friends that have had 2+ job hops (3 total employers or more) and are all ~ $60k, not all are in public either…in fact they are doing better than the one that are still in public.

We are all in Spokane WA

REG- (1) 76
FAR- (2) 64, (5)74, (7)83 (Over achiever!)
AUD- (3) 70, (4) 75
BEC- (6) 75

[stoleway]

I have hopped a lot simply because Ive not gotten the chance to do real accounting stuff. My salary increase anytime I hop but I find myself doing the same things I hate. For instance, I had my MBA in 2012 and worked in AP for 2 years at a starting salary of $40,000 and then I moved to my current position as a cost analyst with a starting salary of $50,000.

I have been at my current job for only 6 months and just got a job offer from a telecom firm for a base salary of 60k + benefits(pending on background check clearance).

Surprisingly, my new position will still NOT be a full fledged accounting position but I'm think I'm going to stick with this one for a long time and master the new field I'm entering( Revenue Assurance). Hopping around helps you determine how much you're actually worth in the market.

REG -63│ 84!!
BEC- 59│70│ 71 │78!
AUD- 75!
FAR- 87!

Mass-CPA

[Anonymous]

The longest job I have had has been 2 years, and that was during college. I graduated 2 years ago and so far have held 2 accounting jobs for a year each. First job started at a pitiful wage (I live in a low COL area, but still, getting hired in at $8/hr is an insult) – starting so low means that even though I'm still getting paid much lower than I should be as a CPA, I've had a very nice percentage-wise increase – got 1 small raise at the $8/hr job, then about a 50% raise moving to the 2nd job, and a small raise at the second job. I don't like job-hopping, but have to admit it would've taken me 10 years at the first job to be making what I am now. I live in a small-town area without a lot of options, so I expect that my job progression will be slower, but it's worth it to be in this area.

The plus side of hopping around, though, is that it gives you varied experience. If my job history continues how it has been so far, then by the time I'm 30, I'll have seen every side of accounting there is to see. 😛 However, I'd really like to settle down somewhere instead of continuing to hop. It gets tiring to always be new, always be learning, and just when you get established enough to relax and take some vacation, it's time to go again. First accounting job I finally got to 1 year to take my 1 week of vacation…and spent most of it talking to my new job prospect, going to the dentist, etc. This job I've had a few hours of PTO here and there for doctors etc., but been trying to save up PTO. I'm close to my 1 yr anniversary here and just last weekend took a 4-day weekend as my “vacation” for the year. If I follow my prior pattern and jump ship soon, I'll once again have no vacation and likely a year getting established at a new job before I'd feel secure taking a vacation. This jumping around isn't really my cup o' tea – I hope to spend several years at a job soon! 🙂

@Vern – I hope to triple my starting pay within 7 years – that sounds like a good goal…should be attainable too given where I started out!

[Author]

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