It’s not your job to fit the image of a perfect employee. It’s to be you and do you.

20-somethings, don’t be afraid to be perceived as flippant, not too sure of the path you want to take, and a bit of a risk to hire.

Who is it about, you or your employer?

Too far? Ok, who is it more about, you or your employer?

It’s definitely not about the average employer who wants you to be average too and to fit his image of a perfect employee.

In other words, if you don’t suck (by his measure) in your 20s, because you’re a job hopper and your CV is not a perfect sequence of related jobs/ positions you will regret it later in your life.

The most common advice for young people is “Don’t hop jobs because that sends a wrong message to the potential employer. It reveals that you’re not too sure of the path you want to take in life and thus a risk to hire.”

That’s, of course, in line with the conventional approach to career building.

Young adults should know in their 20s (according to some people even in their teenage years) what they want to be in their lives. They’re grownups and everybody knows that grownups should know what they want to be, right? They were asked this question as teenagers so by now we expect them to be sure/ not be job hoppers.

This is a ludicrous expectation yet few adults realize this because they didn’t get their chance to be unsure in their 20s either. Everyone expected from them that as soon as they’re out of educational institutions they should have this certainty about what it is that they want to do in their lives.

Even today only few people would assume that young adults could actually change their minds or decide after a few years of pursuing one career that they want to do something else.

Just like in the case of those adults, if your belief is that your job is to accommodate the preferences of your next employer, i.e. radiate this certainty about what it is that you want to do in your life, most probably you will do just that. You will deny yourself the right to be uncertain and to keep searching.

And just like the majority of Baby Boomers and Generation X people you will end up in a job that you don’t even like and work will become a drudgery.

Anyone who expects from 20-somethings that they will know their place in this world and their career path is being unreasonable or has been brainwashed into believing that it’s how 20-somethings should approach their career.

Either way, young adults shouldn’t care to accommodate such person’s expectations, unless they want to regret it later in their lives.