It’s while in your twenties that you land yourself a career, slowly start paying your own bills, get your own place and perhaps start making decisions in regard to marriage and family, but most importantly it’s a point in your life where you will probably land yourself your first job.

Most 20 something year olds join the job market, fresh from college,  with high expectations of high pay and favourable working conditions. Once in the job market, all their expectations are shattered, this being a motivating factor to quit and move on to the next job.

When’s the ideal time to quit your first job and move on to next?

Switching jobs has been known to come with many benefits. As myworkinglife.com puts it, it is an opportunity to get a pay rise outside the typical pay review period. It’s also been known to be an avenue of getting a promotion when working for an organization that has restrictive ‘job bands’. Switching jobs might also introduces you to an environment will teach you new ways of doing things. It has been known as a way of alleviating boredom that is experienced from a routine job, of if your skills are under-utilized.

In as much as the above might make the idea of switching jobs seem so inviting, Miriam Caldwell, a freelance writer with a specialty in personal finance, advices that unless conditions are absolutely unacceptable you should stay at your first job for at least a year, two or three. Switching jobs within a short period has countless short term benefits, but according to myworkinglife.co.uk, it also has a negative impact on long term career prospects.

Some of the long term consequences associated with switching jobs within a short time is that you will be denying yourself an opportunity to fully learn how to do your job or deepen your technical knowledge. You might be thinking, “Won’t switching jobs present me with an opportunity to learn new things?” As much as this is the case, jack of all trades is a master of none. There are certain jobs that call for more experience in order to be fully competent.

Consider being an expert in driving a manual car, and how long it takes to be one. In as much as most driving schools in Kenya train using manual cars, if you switch to automatic cars and fail to frequently drive a manual car, there’s a high possibility that you will find it difficult to driving a manual car later on in life. It’s the same thing in some careers.

To be an expert at certain jobs at times entails a repeat of what might seem like a quite routine task. In as much as another job offering might come with a promotion plus a pay rise, it might deny you an opportunity to learn to do your current job instinctively, with very few errors.

According to myworkinglife.com, potential employers, and recruiters, often equate job hopping with lack of commitment and dedication to an organization, or career. They might also consider the potential cost of hiring someone who might leave before they become fully operational in their role. As Miriam Caldwell puts it, if you do choose to quit your fist job within a short time, be prepared to explain your reason for doing so.

In as much as there is no definite answer to when you should quit your first job and move on to the next, try to at least gain adequate knowledge and experience from your first job.