The Right Time To Jump Ship

Inspired or suicidal depends on when you jump

Standing on the viewing platform of a cruise liner, gazing out at the seagulls, azure blue skies, and snowy white clouds, you’d have to be seriously mental to consider jumping ship.  Where you land could be shark infested waters.   You might think differently about jumping if the ship had just been hit by a torpedo and was sinking faster than your chances of getting into a lifeboat.

In life, jumping ship refers to abandoning a job or activity rather suddenly, usually when an opportunity perceived to be much better comes along.  There’s also this idea that the jumper is leaving a position of some importance or responsibility from which there is no turning back.  A cashier at McDonald’s quitting without prior warning would not be seen by any as jumping ship.  The person is not indispensible, and the quitter could almost certainly get rehired in a similar position at a similar salary elsewhere with very little difficulty.

In my grandparents’ generation, jumping ship wasn’t commonly done.  One graduated college, got a job at a company, and stayed there for most or all of his career.  This salaryman-type of employment is still common in East Asia, though not as common as it once was in a world of corporate downsizing and outsourcing.  Today’s young job seekers have no expectations of staying with one company for the length of their careers.  It’s not even an option for most.   Jumping ship is expected for one to advance.  Moves can be made laterally, via a competitor’s business, to better position oneself later for a vertical move.  Career experts advocate that you should be planning your next ship jump the day you start your new job.

But when to make the jump?  In the real world, it’s rare that your ship will be sinking so rapidly that you’ll receive ample forewarning when to stage your move.  You have to jump before the downsides fully show themselves.   However, if you jump too early, you’ll be stranded in the water and possibly drown in the Sea of Desperation.  And if you jump too late, you go down with the sinking ship and drown in a lack of future career prospects.

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