Job Retention

HCCADC

Have you noticed on resumes that people have switched jobs every year or two? What is your take on this? What has your experience been with hiring these employees?

marc

That is one of the items on my mental 'checklist' when I review resumes. I beleive you must pay close attention to dates of employment and any significant gaps in those dates. If the resume makes it into my final cut group, then I try to look at this persons 'story', and tying employment experience into education and any other facts shown on the resume. If I am still interested, we explore this area in an interview. I base any decisions about job hopping on their answers and other factors that come out of the interview.

My experience has not been markedly different with these recruits compared to any others.

Leslie

We use that as a part of background. And before it is used as a criteria for elimination we try to seek out why - promotional opportunities, bored, fired, what's the deal. But it certainly is a consideration. If we get stuck into hiring live bodies (sometimes happens in season) they usually have another one year or less position to add to their resume.

Parabeagle

When I first went into HR, I followed the guidelines recommended by my prof. in recruitment and selection classes: The only real indicator of an employee's future stability is their past stability. Consequently, I wouldn't even look at candidates who had been at their current or most recent employer for less than four years - that was the rule I put out to all my recruitment sources. Don't send me any resume where they've left voluntarily within four years. Fast forward 15 years to 2000 and I'm struggling to find ANYONE regardless of how long they've been with their previous employer!

moneyman

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 12-01-03 AT 11:24AM (CST)[/font][br][br]Something else to be aware of is industry standards. I knew someone who worked in the advertising world and I found that most of them moved around every 2-3 years. This was the only way for advancement. I am sure that there are other industries where more frequent moves are not necessarily detrimental.

I used to think that gaps in employment listed was a very suspicious item on a resume, but as I go into my 3rd month of being laid off, I am getting a different view on it. x:-)

Human Resources Manager

I know what you mean. I used to reject resumes from people I saw as "job hoppers." Then I was laid off after 3 months, had the company sold after 1 year, and was down sized after 15 months. Before this run, I was at the same employer for more than 6 years. If someone's qualifications and experience are what we're looking for, I'll give them a chance to explain short tenures or gaps in history, you never know, there may be a perfectly reasonable explanation.

HRsage

For quite a few years, many college professors have been telling students that it's a good idea to job hop before they really get settled into a career.
This way they gain experience at many different employers and they can find out what they really want to do with their lives.
I think we as employers are seeing some of the fruits of this misguided philosophy.
I'm sure there are many more reasons why we are seeing this trend. This is just one example.
I get a little teary-eyed now whenever I see an applicant with more than 2-3 years at the same employer.

Whatever

I, too, have found that over the years the number of applicants who have held many jobs for only one or two years has increased. I have found it helpful to talk to the applicant about it (in a few cases, the ees were unlucky to be hired by firm(s)that downsized or went bankrupt). It is a factor, certainly not the only or most important factor, in deciding whether or not to hire. As with anything, some stay a year or two and some much longer. Experience has shown that generally ees who stay with us three years will be with us for 15-20 years or longer.

mwild31

I usually don't mind seeing an employee jump around every 1-2 years - it's the month to month deal that's really strange x:-)

If I am interested in an applicant with 1-2 year job switches, I really focus on the types of job the person held. If their previous jobs listed on the resume were all over the map, for example customer service rep. 1998-1999, plumber 2000-2001, truck driver 2002-2003, then they go into the no-file. If, however, the jobs held are in the same 'career field' or show some type of progression (for example: customer service rep, account executive, sales rep.) then their resume stays in the 'interested' stack.

HCCADC

I am having a hard time finding good employees, which in itself is amazing considering the unemployment rate in PA. I also have a gap in my resume from when my company went out of business. I was a smart aleck and thought, oh I will take a month or two off and then look for employment. Was that ever a mistake! I was off for about 5 months, found a job that was AWFUL, so I couldn't stay. Did the temp thing and found a job. The problem was that that job was grant funded so I ended up in my current position. I guess I realize that changing jobs has been a common thing of late. Several of the employees here have been here for over 10 years! At times that can be a downfall also. Thanks for your experience, I guess I was just wondering if employees that stay long term are better hires.

mdm

I agree with Whatever and mwild31. There are possibly good reasons for gaps and/or switching jobs every few years. Good reasons (job progression)or reasons out of the person's control (company went bankrupt, etc.) are understandable. I am one of those people who has switched jobs periodically. I have been out of college for 9 years and spent 2 1/2 years at my first job, 8 months at 2nd job, 13 months at 3rd job, about 1 1/2 years at 4th job and have been at my current job for almost 3 years. I have moved mostly for job progression in accounting (now into hr) and only left one job due to personality conflicts with supervisor (8 month position). I progressed in my positions almost every time I switched jobs.

My finace was out of work recently for 3 months. He did not have a lot of job hopping on his resume, but it still took him a while to find a job. It's a tough market and I realize that good help is hard to find.

Moneyman-good luck with your search. You will find something.

blw

I'm with mwild - I don't get the month to month stuff. We hire a lot of entry level employees and some applications have big holes in them. 2 months at McDonald's; unemployed for 7 months; 4 months at Sea World; unemployed 1 1/2 years; 4 months at Sears, etc.....

But what really cracks me up is someone listing their reason as quitting as not enough hours...and they have been unemployed for the 5 months since! Hello! Isn't 25 hours a week better than nothing while you look? Go figure!

sonny

Similarly, I like the ones that state "left for more $" and then you look at the salary history and they took a $2.00 hour pay cut. #-o

safety

And what about the ones that state “disagreement with management” uh, hello, but what makes a person put something like this on paper? :-? True or not why not put better opportunity or a similar statement? Go figure.

rad

The trends are definitely changing. Back in the day, employees expected to get a job and keep it until they die. There are lots of people like that in my company, although many have retired over the past few years with 30+ years. But I think that the latest generation of workers, those a little younger than I, are always looking for more, something different and are, as mentioned in a previous post, actually encouraged to move around and get as much diverse experience as possible.