Answer by Michael O. Church

    It depends how much you’re learning and what the job is doing for your career. In general, the numbers you want to remember are 8, 18, 48 and 72.

    Under 8 months

    This is perceived to be terrible, unless you can point to an objective reason (such as a large corporate action). It suggests that you didn’t pass your 6-month review or the first performance cycle. You may want to omit the job and move any accomplishments to your freelance section, or include the job but say it was a project-specific contract role, and that you were offered more projects but declined. Yes I’m advocating that you omit something on your resume. Some things are so bad that you should drop them, and jobs under 8 months almost always qualify. As long as you don’t make accomplishments up, it’s not the deceptive and unethical type of lie. You’re not trying to mislead anyone about yourself; you’re cleaning your past to avoid wasting the interviewer’s time on irrelevant issues about things that have happened to you.

    One exception is if you’re affected by a news-making layoff in the first year, or ever. An unannounced small layoff (under 5% of your division) will be assumed to be performance-related and you should hide it, but when you’re affected by a known layoff (such as a plant closing) that everyone knows about, there’s no shame in it. With, say, a 7-month job that ended due to a large-scale, non-performance layoff you are better off to list it than hide it.

    18 months

    This is the socially accepted minimum. It suggests that you survived at least one review cycle — reviews are presumed to be annual, and people aren’t reviewed until 6 months old; that’s where the 18-month derivation comes from — and had to achieve something to be retained for that long. You can go down to 9 if you have a really good explanation, like a corporate action (i.e. merger, upper management change) that affected the nature of your work, or a family-related reason.

    If you come in under 18 months for some reason, it helps if you can establish that you did pass at least one performance review. (A bonus, or a round of layoffs that you survived, would suffice.) Even then, you can’t have too many of those, however. If you had one job where you were (possibly unintentionally) bait-and-switched and left at 8 months, that’s understandable. If you have five, it looks like the problem is you. Similarly, if you leave every time the nature of the work changes, HR cynics will be skeptical. (I see that as an admirable selectiveness in the work one does, but I don’t make the rules.) If your story is that you keep getting bait-and-switched (because it is, well, common) the HR cynics will think that you go into jobs with unreasonable expectations.

    Unless the job is terrible, you should try to make it span, at the minimum, 15 months spanning three calendar years (e.g. Oct. ’14 to Jan. ’16) or 18 months spanning two. I don’t like these rules, and a lot of companies abuse people during the 6 to 17-month spell (before the 6-month mark, the job can just be taken off the resume) because they are captive, but that’s how it is.

    All else being equal, two years is better than 18 months, and three years is better than two, and four is better than three. The advantage gained each month isn’t enough to merit passing up obviously superior opportunities, but it does mean that you’re best off to avoid movements that don’t have an obvious benefit.

    迈克尔•O•切齐的回答

    这取决于你从工作中学到了多少，以及这份工作对你的职业生涯有何助益。一般而言，你应该记住几个数字：8、18、48和72。

    8个月以内

    这是很糟糕的，除非你能找出客观的理由（例如一场大规模的公司行为）。这表明你没有通过6个月的评估或第一个绩效周期。你最好在履历中省略这份工作，将任何成就算入自由职业部分，或者即便包括了这份工作，也要指出这是基于具体项目的合同雇工，虽然对方提供了更多项目，但被你拒绝。没错，我建议你在简历中省略某些内容。有些东西太糟糕了，只能被抛弃，其中就包括低于8个月的工作。只要你没有编造自己的成就，这样的处理便不能算是欺诈和不道德的谎言。你没有试图误导人们对你的看法；你在清理自己的过去，帮助面试官避免因为你经历过的无关议题而浪费时间。

    有一种例外，你在第一年受到被媒体关注的裁员事件影响。未公布的小规模裁员（低于部门的5%）会被视为与绩效有关，你应该隐瞒这样的事实，但如果你受到众所周知的裁员（如工厂关闭）的影响，就没有必要感到难为情。比如，如果一份仅从事了7个月时间的工作，因为与绩效无关的大规模裁员而被迫结束，你最好在简历中列出，没有必要隐瞒。

    18个月

    这是社会公认的下限。这意味着你至少安然度过了一个评估周期——绩效评估通常应该按年进行，而且公司只会对工作满6个月的员工进行评估；这正是18个月这个数字的由来——你必须取得一定的成绩，才能留在这家公司那么长时间。如果有好的解释，比如公司行为（并购、管理层变动等）影响了你的工作性质，或者因为家庭因素，9个月也可以接受。

    如果因为某些原因工作时间不足18个月，只要你能证明自己经历过一次绩效评估，也会对求职有所帮助。（获得过一笔奖金或在一轮裁员后留了下来，就足够了。）尽管如此，这样的短期工作不能太多。如果你在一份工作中（可能是无意地）“被诱骗”，工作仅8个月就离职是可以理解的。但如果有五份工作均是如此，这似乎就是你的问题了。同样，如果你每一次离职都是因为工作性质变化，愤世嫉俗的人力资源部会对你产生怀疑。（我个人倒觉得对工作的这种挑剔令人钦佩，只可惜我不是规则制定者。）如果你说自己总是被骗（因为这很常见），人力资源部门会认为，你接受那些工作的时候没有合理预期。

    除非这份工作非常糟糕，否则你应该至少将这份工作做满15个月，跨越3个日历年（例如10月14日至1月16日），或者做满18个月，跨越2个日历年。我也不喜欢这些规则，不过许多公司非常不待见前一份工作只干了6至17个月的员工（不足6个月的工作可以不写入简历），因为他们无处可逃，但这就是现实。

    在其他方面相同的情况下，两年好于18个月，三年好于两年，四年好于三年。虽然多一个月所带来的优势并不值得你放弃显然更好的发展机会，但它却意味着你很好地避免了没有明显好处的跳槽行为。

    Four years (48 months)

    This will get you ‘full credit’ for working there, unless something makes it clear that you were an under performer or stagnating. If you had increasing scope of accomplishment and preferably at least one title change, you’re fine. If you haven’t been promoted and your projects aren’t getting better, you’re still OK at this point but you have two years in which to make your next move.

    Six years (72 months)

    This is the point at which it starts to hurt you if you’re not getting promoted or better projects. Four years with an on-boarding year and then a flat trend or lateral moves for three is fine. Four years means you did your job, gave the company a thorough chance, didn’t piss too many people off, and moved on. After 6 years without an obvious record of promotions, it suggests that a person is unambitious and, while not so terrible as to be unable to keep a job, thoroughly mediocre. If you keep getting promoted, however, there’s no upper limit on how long you can stay at a job.

    Answer by Stefan Von Imhof

    If you don’t like your job you should leave. Period. Attempting to define a “minimum” amount of time to stay at a job is a joke.

    There are a few answers here attempting to establish complex rules for when it’s okay to leave. It’s all baloney. This is your life, and you don’t have to live by anyone’s rules but your own.

    “Under 8 months is perceived to be terrible!”

    “18 months is the socially accepted minimum!”

    “2 years is better than 18 months, and 3 years is better than 2, and 4 is better than 3″

    Don’t listen to any of that. If a job isn’t right for you, you leave whenever you want. Have full confidence in your decision. If a future employer asks you why you left after 2 years, 2 months, or 2 days, you tell them.

    Tell them the truth. Tell them what you’re looking for. Tell them why your old job was terrible, what you learned, and why this new job is different. Stay strong. Have confidence.

    Nobody should be forced to suffer at a job they hate just because it ‘might look bad’ later, because it pays well, or for any other reason. Life is a journey, not a destination. If you don’t like the journey, what’s the point? Hop on another train and keep moving.

    You only live once. You owe it to yourself.

    四年（48个月）

    你可以得到在那里工作的“全部学分”，除非有明显的证据证明你表现不佳或停滞不前。成就增加，最好至少有过一次升职，是最理想的情况。如果你没有得到过升职，你负责的项目也没有变得更好，你的境遇尚可以接受，但在未来两年你必须有所作为。

    六年（72个月）

    此时，如果你没有得到升职或更好的项目，这份工作将开始给你带来伤害。工作满四年时间，除去入职后的第一年，其他三年没有起伏，或者有平级调动，这种情形还是可以接受的。四年意味着你做好了自己的工作，给了公司充分的机会，没有让太多人厌烦，现在选择继续前进。如果你6年之后依旧没有明显的升职记录，这就会让人觉得你胸无大志，虽然你还不至于糟糕到连工作都保不住的程度，但你也只能算是平庸之辈。但如果你能不断获得升迁，这份工作可以做多长时间呢？答案是——没有上限。

    斯蒂芬•冯•伊莫霍夫的回答

    如果你真的不喜欢自己的工作，那就应该离开。就是这么回事。试图定义做一份工作的“最短”时间，根本是在开玩笑。

    关于何时离职最合适，许多答案在试图确立一些复杂的规则。这纯粹是无稽之谈。这是你的生活，你只需要按照自己的规则生活，其他人的规则与你无关。

    “不满8个月被认为非常糟糕！”

    “18个月是社会公认的下限！”

    “2年好于18个月，3年好于2年，4年好于3年”

    别听这些。如果一份工作不适合你，只要你想离开随时都可以离开。要对自己的决定充满信心。如果未来的雇主问你为什么在2年、2个月或2天后离开之前的公司，你就告诉他们原因。

    告诉他们实情。告诉他们你在寻找什么。告诉他们为什么之前的工作非常糟糕，你学到了什么，为什么新工作与之前不同。要坚强。要自信。

    没有人应该被迫在一份他们厌恶的工作上受罪，仅仅因为离职“可能是个糟糕的决定”，这份工作待遇丰厚，或者其他什么原因。生活是一场旅行，而不是终点。如果你不喜欢这次旅程，它的意义何在？跳上另一列火车，继续前行吧。

    生命只有一次。你要对自己负责。

    Answer by Matt Mickiewicz

    I’m assuming you’re talking about jobs in the tech industry paying $80,000-plus per year, and not something in the service sector (restaurants, retail, etc.) where turnover is infinitely higher.

    The answer would be 18 months as a bare minimum, unless the company gets acquired/merged/does layoffs. Even then, if you were one of the people laid off, it would be a red flag: a company is unlikely to let go of their most productive and valuable team members.

    There are few things that sound alarm bells more for a CEO or hiring manager than seeing someone with three jobs in 4 years, or similar. Either you get bored really quickly, are fired for underperformance, or are disloyal and willing to jump ship at a moment’s notice, which is incredibly disruptive to the company team culture and productivity – especially on smaller teams.

    If you have a spate of short stints on your resume be prepared to talk about it in detail about what lessons you learned, and how you’re not going to rush into the next job, and exactly what process you’re going to follow to determine what will be a better long-term fit going forward.

    马特•密兹凯维奇的回答

    我假设你说的是年薪80,000美元以上的科技类工作，而不是流动率明显更高的服务行业（餐厅、零售业等）。

    答案是18个月，这是最低限度，除非公司被收购/合并/进行裁员。即便如此，如果你上了裁员名单，这将是一个危险信号：一家公司不可能裁掉最有成效、最有价值的团队成员。

    如果一个人在4年内换了3份工作，这会引起CEO或招聘经理的警惕。你要么太快变得厌烦，要么因为绩效不佳被辞退，或者因为你不够忠诚，随时准备跳槽，最后一点会对公司团队文化和生产率造成极大的破坏，尤其是小型团队。

    如果你的简历中有一连串的短期任职，你要准备好详细谈论一下自己从中学到了什么，如何保证自己未来不会仓促选择下一份工作，以及从长期来看，你将如何确定一份更适合自己的工作。（财富中文网）

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓