Stick around, kid, you're going places

Remember company loyalty? The economic forces that wore it down and gave rise to a free-agent workforce are now being felt way down at the entry level.

According to a first job poll by the online job-listing company Jobtrak.com, more than three-quarters of new employees feel they will stay with their first employer for less than three years.

The plan is to build up their rsums with experience from multiple employers and a variety of different positions.

More than 2,500 college students and recent graduates were polled on the intended duration of their first jobs.

Here are the findings:

One year - 27%

Two years - 31%

Three years - 20%

Four years - 5%

Five or more years - 17%

Are the responses a result of a cushy economy and a tight labor market? Perhaps. But it also "implies that students no longer think about things like job loyalty," says Jobtrak spokeswoman Keri Relsh. "People of our parent's generation were told to find a job after college and stick with it."

(c) Copyright 2000. The Christian Science Publishing Society