I changed jobs 10 times in 10 years to get the career I wanted

Brittany Harris-Nelson describes her career journey so far as being like "a frog moving across lily pads".

"Each step brought me closer to where I ultimately wanted to be, even if the path wasn't always linear," says the 32-year-old.

Today, Harris-Nelson works in a mid-level administrative position at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, a role she had long coveted.

She says that to get there, she leapt from one college job to another for close to a decade, using each new role to gain specialised skills that would help with her career advancement.

Overall, she has had 10 different jobs at six different universities over the past decade, starting with several positions when she was still a student, and then three full-time roles.

Harris-Nelson has been an office manager, an admissions counsellor and a student advisor, before reaching her current position as assistant director of student engagement.

While she does not wish to reveal how much she now earns, she says that as she changed jobs her salary didn't increase much. But she got more benefits, such as extra paid leave and bigger pension contributions from her employer.

"Each role helped me build skills and perspectives that I didn't yet have, and together those experiences prepared me for the work I do today," she says.

And she's not alone.

Industry professionals have identified the emergence of a new work trend among members of Gen Z (those born from 1997–2012), called "lily padding".

It refers to young adults hopping from job to job to try to improve their skills and chances of getting more senior roles and higher pay, rather than staying put in one role at one company. The idea is that they supercharge their employability.

The data seems to back up the phenomenon. The average tenure of a Gen Z employee in the first five years of their career is just 1.1 years, compared with 1.8 years for millennials (those born between 1981 and 1996), and almost three years for older generations. That is according to a 2024 global survey of 11,250 workers by recruitment agency Randstad.

This increased mobility in the job market leads to increased salaries, at least in the UK, one 2025 report found. The study by financial company Wealthify said that people who changed jobs four or more times over the previous decade earned an average of £39,276 versus £30,088 for other workers - a 31% premium.

Those who describe their career strategies as "lily padding" are always on the lookout for the next opportunity.

That's the case of Adam Smiley Poswolsky, who is now a 42-year-old public speaker and author who talks and writes about how to improve workplace cultures.

Based in San Francisco, he says that the traditional career ladder mindset of staying at one company and working your way up didn't apply to him. Instead, he adds that he was looking for "meaning and purpose" in his work and life.

He says that to achieve this he moved between government, non-profit, creative and corporate work, and had a host of jobs in 15 years.

His gigs have included – project leader for Peace Corps, the US government agency that allows young Americans to do voluntary work overseas; and being an English teacher at Harvard University.

Poswolsky has also been a location scout for Warner Bros, a film producer in New York City, worked on Barack Obama's successful 2008 presidential election campaign, a public speaker at the youth-leadership programme, and the fellow of a think tank.

Throughout his career, he says he's sought interesting work and developed skills that helped him get to where he is now - writing books and being a well-paid public speaker.

"In each of my jumps, I was very clear on being ready for something new, but I also knew the skillset I was taking from one experience to the next," he says.

Poswolsky concludes that he's glad he's found flexibility and happiness through this career evolution rather than via a vertical corporate structure. He adds that he has also eventually managed to match the $70,000 (£52,000) he earned at the Peace Corps back when he was 28.

"The skills I learned in that government job helped me as a writer, which then led to me writing a book, which led to my current career as a professional keynote speaker."

Nicola Grant, chief people officer at UK insurance provider Hiscox, says she's noticed a broader shift in how people think about their careers.

Increasingly, individuals – particularly earlier in their careers, she says - want to build a breadth of experience faster, rather than follow a single, linear path. They are building a portfolio of skills.

She's also found there's a greater willingness among younger employees to move if they feel their development is slowing, or their options are limited.

"Expectations have changed; people want variety, pace and to build skills that will remain relevant," she says, "It's about a desire for growth."

"That ultimately benefits both the individual and the organisation," she adds.

Lucy Kemp, a strategic brand and communications leader at the IT company La Fosse and an employee experience specialist, agrees.

To her, lily padding is the future of work, not just a trend, as people who follow the tactic try to reach more senior roles and higher pay.

"Younger people have seen that loyalty doesn't pay off," says Kemp. "They want to shape their own careers, based on skills they value.

"There's a different sense of achievement compared to older generations, a completely different experience of work," she says.

Kemp also points out that learning in the office from peers isn't occurring as much since the pandemic, with people working from home and AI taking over basic tasks.

Instead, people are looking at skills that will be relevant in five years' time. And they'll get them by switching to a project on another team, a switch to another sector, or a job at another company, Kemp says. "People just want to learn something new and have a purpose."

That's how Harris-Nelson feels. "I see my career as an ongoing journey rather than a destination," she says. "I'm always learning and growing."