Define "Job Hopper" Please!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Tele, Dialysis, Hospice.

I am currently seeking a nursing job. I have been an RN for over 22 years and have 10+ years of Med/Surg under my belt from the '90s and early "00s, then took seven years off to stay home with our kids, then returned to work in 2010. Since then, I have worked for three different companies, the first one for 10 months and left because I needed more hours than they were able to give me, the second one for only five months (it was a terrible LTC job where I felt that my license was in danger everytime I worked), and the third for fifteen months, and I just resigned from there because I have a physical condition that prevented me from being able to work at a full-time Med/Surg position without being in pain for most of each shift and because I want to get back into a specific type of nursing that I did for the company that I worked 10 months for in 2010. I have been applying for jobs left and right, and I have had some interviews that are still pending, but I am afraid that my work history over the past two years makes me look unstable and like a job hopper. I mean, it is what it is, but when I worked Med/Surg in my earlier years as a nurse, I worked for the same company for eight years. Also, I recently became certified in the type of nursing that I am now seeking employment in, and I have good work records with all of my recent employers and left each of them on good terms.

So, if you were to interview me for a contingent position in my specialized area of nursing, would you consider me for a job or would you think that I'm a job hopper and have reservations based on the above work history? Also, what is your definition of a job hopper, exactly? IOW, how long does someone need to work somewhere to NOT be considered a job hopper?

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