Only one road

While you may think job hopping is imperative for better pay and wider experience, many hot-shot managers have made it to the top by sticking around in one company for many years

Satya Nadella, the recently appointed CEO of Microsoft, has worked in the company since 1992, when he joined as a programme manager in the Windows Developer Relations group. Rajeev Suri, the leading man for Nokia, has served his company for over two decades. Xerox's chairman and CEO Ursula Burns climbed the success ladder over a period of 30 years. Nestle's chief executive Paul Bulcke joined the company as a salesman but drew the attention of his peers and seniors with his style of working. Not to forget the legendary Jack Welch, the retired CEO of General Electric, who joined the company as a junior engineer in 1960.

Get the drift?

As the insider versus outsider debate gathers steam with Vishal Sikka's appointment as Infosys CEO, this is as good a time as any to try and answer a simple question: Is there such a thing as staying in a job too long? Conversely, does working in the same company for very long raise any red flags?

But first get this straight. Whether or not to stay in a job depends to a large extent on your age and career goals. Younger people, those who have just entered the workforce, may be confused for their first few years and tend to job hop more frequently as they try to find a job that suits them. Such introspection is acceptable if you are 25 or may be even 30, say experts. But most employers are uncomfortable if they meet a 35-year-old who has changed six companies in, say, 10 years. "It might mean you are not committed or just not good enough to hold a job," says a senior HR hand in a Noida-based technology company.

Amit Shukla, chief executive, Strat Advisors, says that typically people who do not job hop are those who are either clear about their long-term career graph or have been careful to choose the first job placement in such a manner that they find little reason to leave and are uniquely suited to frequent promotions. In his view, to progress faster, employees who choose to stay on in one company should vigorously chase job rotation, so that they have thorough knowledge of many different aspects of the company.

So what would you do to get noticed having decided that job hopping is not your scene?

The first thing you need to do is keep on learning, keep updating your skills to change with the changing times and with the changing demands on the company. The Tata group, for instance, has a huge majority of employees who have served the company for decades and have made it to the top management list. Says

Mukund Rajan, the Tata brand custodian and chief ethics officer of Tata Sons, "There has to be an alignment between your personal moral compass and the value system of the organisation you serve. This has always been the case for me at the Tata group, and also explains why so many executives return to the Tata group even after exiting to explore new opportunities."

Experts say employers too have a role in keeping back their best people - they should ensure there is never a dull moment in the employee's professional life at the company. Nishchae Suri, partner and head of people and change, KPMG in India, says, "Leading organisations do not believe in functional or business unit rotations. They identify the riskiest and the most challenging positions for high performers. This is a sure way to engage any top talent. Many organisations create individual development plans for performers, but the real benefit realisation takes place when a structure is put into place to follow these plans."