I'm an undergrad at University of Waterloo and the co-op program here gives each student 5 work terms, 4 months each, spread out over a 5 year degree plan. I don't know much about co-op at other universities but I would imagine that this is a contributor to the phenomenon you're seeing.
Parent is specifically talking about full time positions. No one is concerned about short stints that are clearly internships. That's just how they work.
I think chongli is wondering if the job-hopping mindset is forged in an academic career in which you work for 4-5 different companies in a short amount of time.
Do you have the option to re-up at the same firm each time?
I'm just observing from an ex-boyfriend of my kiddo (so no questions haha), but University of Cincinnati's engineering program alternates co-op and academics every semester. So you're looking at 6-8 work terms of 3 months each by the time you graduate. However, as far as I can tell most interns re-up to the same company. He's been at the same one since the beginning. It's a great program.
For an intern, I think that doing several different things is a positive sign.
However, I expect professionals to stay at companies long enough to accomplish "interesting" things. A series of unrelated 3-4 month projects does not give me confidence, and indeed, sends a message about lack of focus and resolve.
If you are putting each individual work term as an item, make sure to note the co-op program. I did something similar and it was never seen as a negative.
What do you think about that?