Pongo Resume

I read a blog post recently that posed a rather simple question: Would you hire a job hopper? Put another way: If you had two finalists for a position, would you go with the one who stayed five years at her last job? Or the "job hopper" who worked five jobs in the last five years?

The topic generated more than the usual number of comments, with some valuing loyalty and others arguing that many of today's workers are simply more apt to bolt if their jobs are not serving their careers or lives well.

Any job hopper would cause a bit of concern with a hiring manager, which is only natural. But what amuses me - or maybe more accurately, ticks me off - is a hiring manager who would reject a job hopper while his or her own company shows no loyalty to its own staff by always taking "layoffs" as a path to profitability, or that doesn't invest sufficiently in employee training and development (if at all), or both. Such a hiring manager would be a shining example of corporate hypocrisy.

If I were a hiring manager, I would admittedly be concerned about hiring the job hopper. But at the same time, I would be compelled to ask myself these questions:

• Would the applicant fill a critical role for us, and fill it well?
• Do we have an employee training and professional development program that might turn this "job hopper" into a high-level contributor and long-term employee?
• Are the applicant's long-term (i.e., three to five years out) career goals ones we could feasibly help him or her reach through professional development?
• Does this person want professional development?
• If this person were to leave after a year or so, could the work be redistributed easily?
• If the job-hopping was related to salary or benefits issues, how do we stack up against our competitors or companies of similar size?

Hiring managers need not fear job hoppers unless they have no clear career goals in mind. I'd be concerned about hiring a person who cannot clearly state that in a resume or articulate it in an interview. Yes, job hopping may be a regular practice among the Millennial/Generation Y set, but anyone - at any stage in life - can hop from job to job without a purpose. That's why, as an applicant, you should chart your career course before you search for a company you believe would be a good stop along the way.

I welcome thoughts from both job seekers and hiring managers. Does this topic bring out more than just a little bit of emotion in you?

Knowing why the person hopped makes a difference. If someone had 5 jobs in 5 years and was laid off from all of them, that is very different from the person who quit all the jobs. Trying to relay this in a cover letter is important. I once mentioned in a cover letter, "I am sorry to be writing this letter because I really loved my former position as ..." I used the same job title for which I was applying and explained that the company had relocated and therefore I had to move on. I explained that I was looking for longevity and the attributes I would bring to their organization. Having moved frequently, I knew how to adjust to a change easier and the ramp up time was less because I had perfected it after 4 jobs in 5 years.

Hi Tricia!

I like the points you raise. I suppose that if someone had, say, three or four jobs in five years, lost all of them because of workforce reductions or company relocations, and alluded to them in the cover letter WITHOUT it coming off as desperate, negative, or sad, it just might blunt any misgivings a hiring manager could have about scheduling an interview. As long as you place the focus on the company's needs rather than your own, you can sell yourself effectively.

And it's hard to disagree with your point about being expert at ramping up into a new job.

Best, Rick

I am very much a job hopper - why you wonder do I hop around never staying more than a year or two?

The answer is blindingly simple.

I work on fast track construction projects where the pace is relentless and the rewards are commensurately much higher. There is no time for time wasting committee meetings or long drawn out discussions, act now, make a decision, live the consequences, as a delay simply puts money into the contractors hands or back to the client as LD's.

Does that endear me to people who have worked a lifetime for one company, risen through the ranks filling dead mens shoes? NO WAY. But then would they need to hire me if they kept their own staff on during low order book periods. Silly question really, no they dont want to carry the overhead, so people get laid off, the company gets a hire and fire reputation, they cannot easily hire people they want, no-one in a staff job wants to risk being paid off in a year or so.

Job hoppers know the hire and fire companies and negotiate higher salries and completion bonuses, they know they will be the first out of the door at the company choice when the project is complete. I have been called back after termination to handle claims and arbitration, but then my day-rate goes up like an express elevator.

The hire and fire companies get just what they deserve.

Dont moan because the job hoppers know their value in a rising job market brought on by a glut of oil money chasing fewer and fewer skilled and experienced expatriates prepared to put in long hours in really bad locations for tax-free salaries of 18,000 to 20,000 a month.

In the legal field it's not uncommon to stay at a firm for only a year or two. Having had a number of short term positions throughout my 15 year career, I am perceived by potential new employers as a "job hopper" although it has never been my intention. Reasons range from being laid off twice to my boss retiring to wanting a more challenging position to my boss leaving the firm I was with. Still, I am having great difficulty finding a job and am still unemployed after one month of diligent searching. I have had 5 interviews so far and I believe that is their main concern and is probably the reason I have not been hired. I have even gone so far as to ask for feedback from my interview but have received no responses back.

How can I possibly convince an interviewer that I am the right person for the job and will stay if allowed and not laid off or fired, when they seem to already have a preconceived notion and make their decision simply based on my work record?

Hi Darlene, and thanks for writing!

Your comment actually left me with two questions of my own:

* Did anyone mention in the interviews that they had concerns about your work history? * Could you point to speciific accomplishments at any of your previous employers and emphasize something outstanding so that they might overlook whether you had so many short stints?

I think the fact that you've had 5 interviews in a month is certainly commendable, which leads me to believe that the right job at the right firm is probably not that far away. I think what you need to place more emphasis on is what you did rather than how many positions you've held. If someone has actually said your "job hopping" scared them, I would make a sincere case that your intention is to stay for several years and grow with the firm. If they address the job hopping, I don't think it would hurt for you to mention that some of your departures were out of your control and they had to reduce staff for business reasons. Mention it as a fact without passing judgment on the ex-employer.

Hope this helps! Good luck! ~ Rick

Very good article and take on the whole subject. Well done!!!!