Why job hopping isn’t the resume red flag you think it is

“You can find your way around a new building after a day or two,” Bentley said. “But the social dynamics, the small talk, meeting people, introducing yourself, that’s what’s really taxing on us.”

Where job hoppers have an edge

If social integration is the real challenge, Bentley explained, then people who’ve already gone through it repeatedly should adjust to it more quickly the next time around. The data backed that up. Employees with more job changes on their resume recovered faster in situations that tend to be hardest on new hires, including collaborative roles, workplaces with many long-tenured employees, and moves to an entirely new geographic region.

Collaborative roles leave little room for a slow start, since new hires have to coordinate with colleagues right away rather than easing in on their own. Long-tenured teams present a different kind of challenge, with entrenched routines and less patience for anyone who tries to do things differently. And a move to a new geographic region often means adjusting to an unfamiliar professional culture, not just a new office.

“Their brains still don’t like the uncertainty and unpredictability, but they know how to better navigate it,” Bentley said.

Bentley attributes much of that advantage to a dual skill, the ability to pick up new norms quickly and the ability to let go of old ones that no longer apply.