Changing jobs should be more like investing than day trading.
Job hopping = day trading
Career move = investing
It’s frustrating for an employer to invest time and money to get a great new employee who leaves after a year or two, before the company has a chance to get a real return on that investment.
Job hoppers think that they can learn a lot quickly, put a lot of experience on a resume and demand higher salaries by moving to the next job than by staying in one job for a while.
I recently spoke to a person in his mid-twenties who spent 14 months in his first job, 9 months in his current job and just accepted an offer at a new company. He said that neither of the first two companies was a good fit for him for different reasons. He said that the new offer had a signing bonus, but that he’d have to stay for 3 years or he’d have to pay it back. He was leaning toward not taking the bonus because he wasn’t sure he’d be there that long. This struck me as strange.
My advice to him was
- take the signing bonus, and
- change your mindset.
First, take the bonus – why leave money on the table? Even if you have to put it in a CD, you’ll be better off than not taking it. The more important second part of that decision is the message to the employer. By not taking the signing bonus, the message received is, “I don’t plan on being here for 3 years.”
This leads me to #2. My advice was to look at the decision not for the short term benefit, but as the long term relationship. If a relationship is going to last, it takes work on both sides. Hopefully the employer will invest in the relationship, and the employee needs to as well.
(By the way, he took the job, and he said he will take the bonus and try hard to stay 3 years+.)
Whether you see job hopping as dating, renting or day trading, it all means that the employee is taking a short term view regarding the company. There has to be a change in mindset, and the employer can affect that.
As an employer, you need to help the candidate make a strategic decision, not a tactical decision. The tactical decision is to take the position with the highest pay and best title. The strategic decision is to choose the job that advances you to your end goal best.
The new employer needs to understand where the candidate wants to go, and why she wants to get there. Once that is known, then explain how your industry, company and this position are the perfect way to achieve that result. Without doing this, even great offers will not be enough to capture the candidate if another great offer comes along that aligns with her perceived career direction.
So even if the candidate is perfect and you think she would accept your offer, don’t give an offer until you have explained how the position is perfect for reaching her ultimate career goals.