“Good Advice: Do not Job Hop.
You may not hear this often from Recruiters because they have an incentive for you to switch jobs: they get paid if you do. However, I want to be speak the truth. The truth adds value more than any sales pitch.
Two of my clients just today told me they do not want candidates that job hop.
I totally understand that sometimes employees leave because of downsizing or because they made mistakes that got them fired. Or large reasons such as health or moving to a new location. Understood. However, a lot of the time employees quit for trivial reasons such as $5k more in salary or 10 minutes closer to home etc.
If you can help it, stay. Show loyalty to what you started. Future employers notice it. Loyalty is a sign of character. That you do not give up easily. Develop your character. Your future self will Thank you. “ – Dmitry Nulman
I believe Dmitry’s intentions are in the right place, but I disagree with the client company’s stance. As a recruiter, I think we should be educating our clients on the realities of the current market.
Current Recruiting Market
First, the longevity of employees is shorter (than what?). Millennial’s on average stay within a position for 2-5 years, which is almost half of what you would have seen 10 years ago. This change in tenure is due largely to Millennial’s watching their parents work for companies 8-10+ years, only to be laid off. Workers quickly realized that working the same position for 15 years meant that you were generally going to be over qualified and at the top of the pay bracket for the role they knew how to do. Unfortunately, it also meant that they would be under qualified to change positions, or sometimes even careers. Of course some studies have even shown a 50%+ less earnings over an employee’s lifetime
As a result of the aforementioned, the work force has moved heavily into a gig economy. More and more workers are opting into temporary or contract roles as a tradeoff for other benefits like working from home, role diversity, etc. Currently Intuit has estimated that “gig” workers make up 34% of the current workforce, and is expected to grow by 43% by 2020.
The trust and security an employee has had with their employer has changed drastically. The reason people stay with a job has changed, and the benefits of moving more frequently have started to outweigh the benefits of staying with a company for a long period of time.
What to tell Clients & Candidates about “Job Hopping”.
If your client is already worried about longevity, you should be digging in on retention.
- Why are people leaving the client company?
- What is the client company doing to attract and retain candidates?
- What level of training will the client company be providing incoming employees?
Odds are these questions will flush out a lot more about why the Hiring Manager or Client Company is worried about hiring job hoppers. In my experience, most hiring managers will simply say that it cost a lot of time and money to train incoming employees. That loaded statement isn’t wrong but thinking they can avoid what’s happening in the market is wrong. If they understand this, they can better prepare to train and retain employees. It may also give recruiters a better idea of what they should be screening candidates for, as it will often show what parts of training and retaining are most important to the company and longevity.
Hiring a Job Hopper
Then should companies consider all “Job Hoppers”? The short answer is no. Companies can and should protect themselves from bad candidate investments by understanding candidate motivation. Recruiters and Hiring Managers can do this by evaluating a candidate’s current motivation, and their history of motivations.
When screening a candidate, good recruiters will ask about the last few moves on their resume. They will ask the candidates questions such as;
- Why did you start looking?
- Why did you end up leaving the previous company?
- What made you move to XYZ company?
- Why are you looking now?
- What would be the ideal position for you to move into?
The important thing to look for is sound business reasoning. If a person left company XYZ to go to company ABC for a promotion, better salary, and expanded responsibilities, and a chance to work with an industry leader, would you blame them? I would not, as most would not pass up such a golden opportunity. A candidate with a history of climbing the proverbial ladder moving to greater opportunities or a better personal fit could provide an indicator of what they can (or will) be to your company.
