Career Shifts Revealed: Analyzing Career Changes Based on Indeed's Employment Information

In the post-pandemic era, job transitions have been a prominent phenomenon, with approximately 2.6% of Indeed users switching into a new job every month. This shift in careers has been observed across several sectors, including hospitality & tourism, arts & entertainment, childcare, logistic support, and personal care & home health, where more than 80% of those who moved to another job left their respective fields.

The data, based on the start and end dates of work experiences communicated on individual resumes, reveals some interesting insights. For instance, occupations with lower pay, such as retail, loading & stocking, and food preparation & service, have higher job switching rates. On the other hand, nursing and software development have the lowest proportion of job-to-job movers coming from another occupation.

Career moves can reflect a wide range of motivations, including limited growth opportunities or job insecurity. In the case of nursing, fewer than one in three nursing professionals moved to another job category when switching jobs. Conversely, almost two-thirds (64%) of job switchers change occupations.

Interestingly, four in five former chief nursing officers left for another occupational category, while 93% of former family nurse practitioners stayed in nursing when switching jobs. This suggests a high level of job mobility in nursing leadership roles compared to the rank and file.

Within hospitality & tourism, 98% of park attendants who moved directly into new jobs from 2022 to 2024 left the hospitality sector altogether, compared to only 66% of casino dealers. This could be due to the nature of the work and the opportunities available in each role.

Occupations with lower average posted salaries were more likely to see job switchers moving into a different occupational category. This trend is particularly noticeable in sectors like retail, where the share of workers coming in from another occupation each month exceeds 2.2%.

Employers in high-mobility occupations may need to focus on attraction and onboarding, while those in low-mobility occupations may benefit more from internal development and retention strategies. High levels of job-to-job transitions can indicate strong hiring activity, economic momentum, high demand, and/or low barriers to mobility within certain job categories.

Job-to-job moves account for most new hires and play a crucial role in reallocating talent to where it's most needed. Examples of occupations with low job switching rates include healthcare-related jobs and regulated white-collar jobs like accounting and legal occupations. In occupations requiring formal credentials, occupational licenses, and/or highly specialized skills, the share of jobs resulting from a switch from a different occupation tends to be low.

Switching jobs can serve as a stepping stone to better employment opportunities, often associated with a pay bump. The average career length in a childcare role before a worker switches is just 4 1/2 years, compared to slightly under 10 years for an accountant. This demonstrates the need for continuous learning and development in various fields to maintain job satisfaction and career growth.

Career Shifts Revealed: Analyzing Career Changes Based on Indeed's Employment Information