How long have you been able to hold a job?

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When I look back at my life, I have a 2 year pattern going. When I were a kid, I did football for 2 years, I did school marching band for 2 years, I did swimming for 2 years. In my adult life, I worked at a storage facility for 2 years, then I worked in the industry sector for 2 years.

How long are you able to hold on to a job before you get fired/quit/go on sickleave/get a new job?

My longest job before I quit was 5 weeks. The other one I quit after 2 weeks. I only had two.

I have not held a SINGLE job longer than a year since 2007 (my Resume says otherwise but that is a different topic). I tend to get bored and lose focus very very quickly in the traditional office cubicle type of job.

I've long said that I would never be able to have a typical cubicle job. It just sounds so incredibly boring and repetitive. I'd feel trapped in a little cell. The idea just repulses me! Not to mention, I hate the idea of 9-5 jobs in themselves. "Living for the weekend" means that when you look back on your life months/years later, it's like a huge chunk was spent just waiting around miserably. I never want a life like that.

My first real job lasted three years. At first I loved it. I felt a sense of accomplishment and self-worth that I never received before. My hard work was actually appreciated, it was great. But then everybody's attitudes started getting me down. Everyone else was miserable. They talked about how they hated their job, gossiped about each other, and other negative things that I couldn't escape from hearing. I eventually got sick of it and made a very wild decision that most people would never do (I quit during this recession, packed everything I owned into a van, and drove 1000 miles away. Yes, very random, but maybe I'll discuss that elsewhere later.) Since then, I've held three other jobs. One lasted a year. The other lasted 5 months. Now I'm about 2 months into one.

I've found that I very quickly get bored with my jobs now. I start off excited, but sometimes even on the first day I start having doubts as to its longevity. Within weeks I start feeling the normal flow and sometimes get bored even then. It's causing me a lot of strife, because I worry if I'll ever find a job I could be happy with for the rest of my life. A lot of people say they understand, but I don't know if they really see it the way I do. Most of the time it's just, "Oh, you haven't found it yet. You'll find something!" or, from the pessimists, "Yep. There are always morons in charge. Nothing you can do." Lately I've had people tell me to just start my own business. My boyfriend's a business owner, so I have hope, but I'm so self-critical that I can't find the strength to actually believe I can do it. I know it would involve a lot of work, and that doesn't scare me. I'm scared because I know I'm impatient and if I don't see positive reinforcement very soon, I get discouraged (with everything I do, not just jobs.)

So yes, jobs seem very hard to hold. I'm very jealous of people that can take a job, do it all their lives, and be happy about it. I wish I could have that, but I'm fairly certain that that will never happen. I just get bored of jobs too quickly. I think the only way I can be happy is if it's entirely on my own terms, with no idiotic boss, like a freelance photographer for a magazine that gets to go on adventures all her days...

I think 4 years is the longest I have been at one company, that was Rainbow Studios in Phoenix, then almost 4 years with Sega in San Francisco.

Four months was my longest but that was a city hall job working in the vault collecting data and out of the ordinary. Most jobs I lasted a day up to about two weeks.

9 years is the longest I've held a job. I tend to dig my teeth into a job and hold on no matter how hard it tries to shake me loose. I'm hoping to hang onto my current jor for 25 more years.

So far all my jobs have mostly just been to save money for travel, so pretty short term. I was not content with my life and location.
I know where I want to be and what I want to do now, so once I have all that I can see myself sticking with it indefinitely.

The longest job I had was this one I was just fired from two weeks ago, I was there for 5 months. Other jobs I only had for summer and winter breaks while I was doing college. I want to find one that I'm welcome to stay longer and that I actually enjoy, good luck with that.

8 years. But my current job (in retail) with my current boss is becoming unbearable and I may have to hand in my notice after a year and a half.

About a year. I want so badly to hold a job far longer to make my family proud, and show them I was the girl they raised for once. Instead, every job turns into a disaster one way or another, while the women in my family get to look at me with pity.

Technically just over 3 years, since I still get shift offers every now and then, but at my "real" job, two years and counting.

The longest that I've held was about a year and a half.

The longest I ever held a job was for 2 yrs, for 2 jobs. But that was more cause I was in HS and the other I was in college. Then I finished HS and college and I had to move. It wasnt cause they wanted to fire me. However with this job I currently have, I've been rather shaky and afraid I could get fired. I really want to quit, however I just need to suck it up and switch out once I get the opportunity to. I'm in the process of applying and waiting on some potential programs/internships so its not a good idea to have some strange gap in your work history with no logistical reason for it.

My longest job that I had was 9 months at a daycare centre. I quit properly with two weeks notice. My shortest job was one day at a donut drive thru place. I just called up the boss and quit that evening. I have a habit of not showing up for interviews and quitting by either not showing up ever again or quitting by leaving a message on the answering machine all due to horrible anxiety. I get so exausted and anxious when I'm working. Actually I run a home daycare now and I've been doing that for 6 months but it's at home and I work with my mother.

Longest job: 10yrs. 2 mos. working as a Handyman/Maintenance worker for an agency that ran 4 residential treatment facilities. I did everything from automotive to irrigation repair to furniture repair.

Shortest job: 4 hrs. (orientation shift) Dishwasher at a casual dining restaurant. Couldn't stand the people and all the social interaction required. Quit upon leaving the premises.
I think I made about $12 USD, this was "back in the day" .

My current job requires you have verythick skin in regard to other employees.
Also, I must be and remain very "malleable, this is a dynamic situation" according to my superiors .

Hats off to you all trying to get a job in this economy and with very little experience (I've been in your shoes, believe me). It's tough out there. Have a good friend or professional do your resume. It takes a real "outside the box" view to write a good one, it took me yearsto complete a good one.

Don't give up, OK?