Three men seen at the same time, at the same crosswalk, in Malmö:
- one wearing a full dress tuxedo tails riding a bicycle standing on the pedals with flowers in the front basket
- one walking, wearing a bright green tracksuit, holding a large globe of the Earth
- one leaning on a bike, waiting for the light to turn, with a HUGE blonde afro (at least a foot out from his head or more) and a ginger beard
When we were at our friends’ Mats’ birthday party some weeks ago, his nephew Jon, who is now 32 but whom we’ve known since he was quite young, was sitting at our table chatting with us. We hadn’t seen him in quite some time so it was nice to not only catch up with him, but to finally meet his wife. They married during the pandemic, and are now expecting their first child.
Anyway, during the course of the conversation, Anders was telling Jon about the new job he started in September, and it came up that Anders had been at his previous job for 15 years. Jon was flabbergasted. When I said, “that’s nothing, I’ve been at mine for 18,” his jaw hit the floor, and when Anders said he’d actually been at Tetra Pak for 36 years, albeit in a variety of positions in different departments, I thought Jon was going to fall off his chair. He was seriously horrified at the idea that anyone would stay at the same job, much less the same company, for so long.
According to the top result when I Googled, the average person in 2020 stayed in their job for only 4.1 years. And that was DOWN slightly from a high in 2014 of 4.6 years. In the mid-nineties, people only averaged 3.5 years at the same job. According to the same article, employees in management or professional positions average closer to 5 years, while those in service positions only average 2, which doesn’t surprise me, especially in the US, where service jobs often pay only minimum wage. And of course, how old the employee is plays a big role, with younger employees moving more often than older ones. The article goes on to talk about how many jobs people have during the lifetime. Interestingly, both men and women average around 12 jobs over their lifetime.
I’m honestly not sure I can remember all the jobs I had before my first “real” job, but I’m going to try.
- Babysitting (from age 12 to 18, approximately)
- Summer camp counselor, Ramstein, Germany (summer after high school junior year)
- Daycare aide (during college but can’t remember exactly when)
- Maryland Bureau of Permits & Forms, Baltimore, MD (I can’t remember the exact name and it’s probably changed, summer after college freshman year)
- MSU laundry, E. Lansing, MI (college freshman year)
- MSU Akers dorm snackshop & pizzeria, E. Lansing, MI (college sophomore year)
- MSU Akers dorm cleaning and painting crew, E. Lansing, MI (college summers after sophomore and junior years)
- Bagel Fragel Deli, E. Lansing, MI (college junior and senior years)
- Kroch’s & Brentano’s bookstore, Chicago, IL (early 1987)
- Account Coordinator, WRP Advertising, Des Plaines, IL (April 87 – Aug 90)
- Marketing Coordinator/Administrative Manager/Training Coordinator, First Chicago Bank, Chicago, IL (Aug 90 – Dec 96)
- Internship for SFI, Amnesty International boutique, Malmö, Sweden (Jun-Sep 96)
- Marketing Communications Coordinator, Ericsson Technology Licensing, Lund, Sweden (March 2000 – October 2004)
- Marketing Coordinator/Graphic Designer/Senior Corporate Graphic Designer, Axis Communications, Lund, Sweden (October 2004 – present)
Although, now I’m not sure how you classify “real jobs”. I got paid for all of those except the internship at Amnesty’s boutique, which was specifically designed as a way to practice speaking Swedish in a job setting. I applied for and interviewed for all of them except babysitting and Amnesty, and those were the only two where I didn’t receive a salary and/or paychecks. The last actual resumé I put together back in 2004 lists the WRP Advertising job as the oldest one, but since I was then using it to apply for my current company, it’s not surprising that I didn’t list the short-timer jobs or jobs I had during school.
So, if you count everything on that list, I’ve had 14 jobs, or at least, worked for 14 different companies (and that’s counting all my babysitting gigs as one, even though it was many families over many years). I’ve been promoted twice at my current company, so technically, I’ve held 3 different positions, though the last one was a formality title change from “regular” to “senior”. If you count babysitting as my first job, I’ve been working (on and off during school) since I was 12. If you count the camp counselor job as the first one since it was the first one that provided a paycheck, I was 16. That’s a lot of years working. And that list of up there doesn’t include my other volunteer gigs for AIC Malmö, FAWCO, or various freelancing design jobs.
I don’t plan on changing jobs or companies again. I expect to continue at my current company, doing this same job, which I love, until I retire or they drag me away, kicking and screaming. Maybe in the next 7 years or so, if they don’t keep raising the retirement age, I’ll be ready to stop working, but I can’t imagine it now. What would I do with myself all day?!
Mood: contemplative
Music: Helicopter Girl—Angel City