Everyone says job hop every 2 years, but hitting my 7 year mark at one company got me a $19k raise
I know the common advice is to jump ship every 18 to 24 months if you want real salary growth. But I stayed put at a mid-size insurance company in Columbus and when I hit 7 years last March my boss pulled me into a room and bumped me from $58k to $77k without me even asking. The thing nobody mentions is that my 401k match went from 3% to 6% at year 5 and my vacation jumped to 25 days, stuff you lose when you restart somewhere new. Has anyone else actually done better by staying than by jumping, or did I just get lucky with a decent manager?
Who says you have to pick one or the other? A good manager who rewards loyalty is worth way more than a job hop, but that setup is rare and most folks never find it. You got lucky, and there's nothing wrong with riding that out.