In most professions, it seems that when you change jobs, you are eligible for a pay hike (at least up to a certain ceiling amount). My questions are:
Is this a viable long term strategy to become rich? If not, why not? After all, if you change jobs every 2 yrs, and over a 20 yrs period, get an average 3 % hike for every change, if you start at age 23 with starting salary of $60K, by 50, you would have earned quite a good sum.
From an employer point of view, why does an employer agree to pay someone a raise simply because he is changing? Let us say for position X, there is an employee (#1) working in company A earning $80K. Employee #2 comes from company B and says: I already earn $80K in company B for position X. I am willing to switch but for $100K. Why would company A entertain a request like that? From employer A's POV, employee #1 and employee #2 both work for position X, but one would earn more.
EDIT:Chaging jobs every 2 years LOOKS bad I agree. But from HR POV, if every change is associated with moving up the ladder role wise, then I think it can be excused. No?
EDIT#2: Some of the responses points to the idea of switching at the right time to command a higher slary. What magazines/journals/websites does one follow that gives a best idea of salary trends? i.e. if this is a good time to switch?