Ingrid Govan, 34, is a work wanderer. Originally from the French island of New Caledonia, she started her career in 2008 in Laos. Five years later, she moved to Singapore and last December, she accepted a position as Allianz’s Group Privacy Counsel in Munich. She’s not convinced Munich is her last destination.
Ingrid’s willingness to move for work hints at a trend that will gain more ground going forward as millennials show comfort with the idea of wandering the world for employment opportunities.
According to an upcoming Allianz survey on millennials and work, over half the respondents aged 18 to 36 follow such job-hopping career paths in Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom and India, and 48 percent in China. Depending on the country, up to a third embrace the opportunities offered by a mobile lifestyle but others are forced to job-hop due to circumstances. The conditions that often drove previous generations to move – urbanization and the slow death of rural communities and regional industries – are still present. But to this has been added the changing nature of work.
Ingrid was lucky. All her opportunities were within one company, Allianz, and they have so far provided a seamless career path. Many others are not so fortunate. Millennials are coming of age at a time when work is dramatically changing. Gone are the days when a career was defined by employment with one or two firms. Changing companies and professions frequently is no longer considered unusual, but much of this behavior relates to the nature of employment, which is becoming less secure.