In a recent post, Stanley Bing of The Bing Blog compared job switching with the shelf life of a perishable good, such as the milk or cheese that we buy in a grocery store. When we move from an old job to a new one, it is like being repackaged with a future “sell by” date and returned to the aisle. This is an interesting comparison, with the only difference being our continued resale value (until we retire), unlike a food item.

To take this analogy (or the difference) a little further, we change jobs either to move up the career ladder, or because our old boss showed us the door. The second case is what the Bing post has talked about. In contrast, the first scenario is like being upgraded and priced higher before going back to aisle (I can’t think of a suitable example yet).

Or, maybe the time in between the “sell by” and “use by” dates is analogous to our entire work life. Before being sold in the job market, we develop our career and get priced accordingly. And after being used in the job market, we retire from public life.