How bad does it look to be on your 3rd firm after 3rd year our of ug?

Pretty bad since you’ll be seen as a flight risk. How does the next company know you won’t leave after a year? I’m normally all about hopping for salary but this is a little too frequent

My salary is about to double after I move AGAIN. If you are hopping around for an increase in salary, 👍

There are 1000s of reasons to switch firms frequently and when hiring managers look at candidates, a good narrative will tell me them the person makes smart decisions. The ONLY reason that is not acceptable is chasing salary increases. It's fine to pursue greater compensation, but making jumps early on in your career to get a 10% bump or even a 20% bump certainly feels good. However it tells hiring managers that this is not someone who can think strategically and understand the longer-term big picture. This behavior is the real-world example of the Stanford Marshmallow study. Someone willing to jump at a 10% increase today lacks the patience and fortitude to get to an opportunity where there may be a 100% increase tomorrow. By all means, jump for better roles, better companies, better responsibilities, etc. However, if employers sense you are jumping for better comp, your chances of finding new roles in the future will decrease dramatically... to a point where nobody will even want to interview you.

Everyone here is way or overthinking it. You’re all of 2-3 years out of undergrad. You’ll be totally fine with a good narrative. This pandemic is also a really great excuse.

It’s always about the narrative

In my opinion it looks fine if you are moving up in responsibility or type of consulting, etc. it would look bad to me if you are moving firms each year and doing the same thing. I’d probably assume (which I know is wrong) that you were coached out or couldn’t get promoted ie a low performer.

It’s fine if you’re getting good roles with a nice trajectory, not just hopping around ainlessly

I mean if you’re able to find another role that takes you regardless of your jumps then what’s the problem? If they don’t take you, stay long enough until they do

It’s all about the story you tell. If I’m an hm and I see a young professional taking the risk jumping firms to seek more challenges, gain new experiences and go after what you want, I’d be totally ok with that. It shows me you take control of your situation and not conform to these unwritten BS rules that you have to stay at firm for min 2 years even if it that makes you unhappy.

I once was asked how come I change firms every 2 years or so...I think it's fine as long as you have a good narrative..

for career freshmen it’s understandable to step into few roles and bowls to figure out your trajectory, but hopefully on your 3rd you’re able to get more clarity on what you like, while prove the recent move was a careful consideration

Same boat - left consulting after 1 year to work in strategy in industry, but was laid off 6 months in due to covid. On my 3rd job but the role is very pigeonholed and I want to jump into a role similar to my previous position, but I feel the pivots would look bad. I took my most recent job because it was the first offer I could get. Any advice?

Depends of the story. If you are going from Consulting to Industry / PE that would make sense. If you did that because of family reasons it would make sense too. You’d need a good reasoning if it’s all consulting changes.