Survey Reveals Lateral Job Changes Are More Widely Accepted By Executives An ascent up the corporate ladder is apparently no longer the only acceptable route to success In a recent survey 80 percent percent percent per per- cent of executives think lateral job changes bear far less of a than they did five years ago In contrast only six percent believe such changes carry more of a stigma today The survey was developed by the worlds world's largest temporary staffing service for accounting finance and ing It was conducted by an independent independent independent dent research firm which polled executives from the nations nation's 1000 largest companies Today career success is not con- con upon steady upward mobility said Max chairman of In recent years several several several sev sev- eral factors have combined to make lateral job changes more commonplace commonplace commonplace common common- place and therefore more widely accepted noted that lateral job changes within a company often occur as a result of restructuring or training cross-training efforts The most flexible and skilled multi-skilled workers often find that internal lateral moves help increase their value in an organization organization organization orga orga- he said He added that similar similar similar sim sim- ilar moves from one company to another can be driven candidate-driven based on either a shift in career emphasis or on quality-of-life quality issues Lodge branch manager for Utah advised job seekers who may be concerned about having too many lateral moves on their resumes to emphasize the new skills and responsibilities they've acquired in each position This will reflect the advanced experience experience experience you have gained despite the fact that your job title did not change Lodge added If youve you've held a series of temporary positions the same approach should apply