Why Changing Jobs Is Risky Right Now

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

For many workers, that well-worn bit of folk wisdom might be the best advice for deciding whether to switch jobs in 2025.

If you have a job and aren’t in a hot field like artificial intelligence, it’s likely smart to stay put unless you’re worried about getting cut — or are simply miserable, labor market observers told Business Insider.

In the third installment of BI’s six-part series on making major life decisions in periods of immense policy-driven change, we’re looking at whether now is a good time to change jobs. We’ve already covered best practices for starting a business and buying a house.

There are some key reasons you might want to stick it out in your current role. Among the biggies: Overall job openings are down, hiring is happening at the slowest pace in about a decade, and some employers feel jittery.

That’s partly because many are facing major questions about what will happen with tariffs and interest rates. The uncertainty has spilled into financial markets, whose swings have at times been like a check engine light for the US economy.

It all adds up to a labor market that’s “paralyzed,” Cory Stahle, an economist at the Indeed Hiring Lab, told BI.

“Employers are not sure if they can commit to certain hiring plans,” he said.

That means if you’re thinking about handing in your two weeks’ notice, you likely have more to consider than only a few months ago — including how robust your network is, how many job postings there are in your field, and how well your employer is doing, Susan Peppercorn, an executive coach, told BI.

“It’s not the strongest job market, but then again, it’s not the weakest,” she said.

Overall, job postings in the US have dropped by 5 percentage points in 2025, Stahle said.

It’s not the same job market it was

Postings for white-collar roles fell by 12.7% from the first quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2025, according to Revelio Labs, which examines employment trends. In the same period, openings for blue-collar jobs dropped by 11.9%.

Taking a longer view, opportunities for some desk jobs are far less prevalent than during the job-hopping bonanza of a few years ago. From the Great Resignation era in early 2022 through the first quarter of 2025, postings for software developers and business analysts each fell by about 76%, while openings for market research work dropped by about 80%, Revelio found.

Yet, it’s not all bad news. Stahle said that demand for workers in areas including healthcare and construction has held up. On top of that, he said, many employers that struggled to attract workers just a few years ago aren’t eager to lay them off now, especially as it’s unclear how long factors like the tariff morass might persist.

To know whether it’s a good time to make a move, you might only need to ask someone out of work. On average, people are spending more time looking.

As of April, the median time job seekers were unemployed was a seasonally adjusted 10.4 weeks, according to the Labor Department. That’s up from eight weeks in June 2022.

Switching might take time

You might be tempted to jump because, broadly, fewer of us are dialed into what we do. In 2024, the global share of engaged employees dropped to 21% from 23%, recent figures from Gallup show. That’s only the second annual drop since 2009; the other was 2020, during pandemic lockdowns.

Stahle said that if you don’t like your job and there aren’t other options at your employer, you should be prepared for the search to take longer.

If you’re unhappy in your role, you might focus on growing by adding skills or looking for other spots at your employer, Jennifer Dulski, CEO and founder of Rising Team, a team-performance platform, told BI.

If your job is at risk, or you think it might be, start searching, she said.

How to start looking for a job

Dulski said that your search should involve more than scrolling through openings. You’ll need to contact people and start connecting — a term she prefers over networking.

With fewer openings and employers taking longer to bring people aboard, any edge can help.

“People need to work harder now to stand out,” said Dulski, who’s spent some 25 years in tech, including leadership positions at Yahoo, Google, and Facebook.

Peppercorn offered similar advice, saying that if you’re in the market, you have to be able to show what makes you “unique and compelling.”

How successful you’re likely to be in your job search — and how quickly it plays out — will have a lot to do with your skills, she said.

Those abilities have to be well-suited for what employers want, Peppercorn said. A job change might not be hard if you’re a nurse or someone developing AI tools, for example.

Ultimately, the jobs have to be there. Peppercorn said you should hope to see at least 10 open roles you could apply for and would have a reasonable shot at landing.

It also makes more sense, she said, to put in well-crafted job applications rather than go after loads of openings in hopes of getting a bite. Peppercorn also said that if a posting has more than 50 applicants, it might be worth looking elsewhere.

Perhaps above all, she said, forging ties with others will remain essential.

“What it takes to get another job is strong network connections, not what you see posted online,” Peppercorn said.

Do you have a story to share about your job hunt? Contact this reporter at tparadis@businessinsider.com.