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How long is a “long time”? You hear it said frequently, “Oh, Dave’s been with us a long time,” or “She hasn’t been here very long.” What does this “long time” really mean?
If you’re Liz Taylor, being married for five years is a long time. If you’re in my family, try 50! If you’re waiting for the results of an MRI, one week can feel like a year. If, however, you’re on the beach at St. Bart’s, one week is not nearly long enough!
You get the picture. It all depends on two things:
What the SITUATION is and
What our own PERCEPTIONS are.
Our Perceptions
Let’s tackle the second point first (It’s easier!). You probably can’t change your personal perceptions of what is a “long time.” This tends to be cultural and pretty well embedded. When I was a kid, Sunday Mass felt like it lasted three hours. Now I’m amazed at how short it is. Many of us have fathers who spent their entire careers in one or (maybe) two companies. Even though we know the job and career model has changed, we may compare our careers or jobs to our parent’s time. That’s only natural.
So, here’s my personal perception of what long and short job tenure is in this day and age:
I think a long time in a job is anywhere between 5 and 6 years.
And, I think a short time in a job is anything less than 3 years.
The Situation
Recently a hiring manager instructed us, “don’t send me any candidates with 2 years, 2 years, 2 years on their resume. We need people who have some longevity in their career.” I know what he means. There are a number of candidates who have jumped from job to job. If these candidates can’t provide you with good, solid reasons for their moves, these are the candidates you want to weed out.
So, how can you do just that? Here’s my patented (well, not quite!) three-step process:
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Annotate the Resume
Read the resume chronologically starting with the oldest job. In the left margin, mark the time of each job entry. It’s good if it looks something like this: 5 years, 4 years, 6 years, 3 years. It’s bad if it’s something like: 2 years, 2 years, 18 months, 1 year–you get the picture. This is a clear visual that’s extremely helpful in making that first determination of whether to interview a candidate.
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Get Exact Times
If you have a suspicion that a candidate may be a “hopper” do a phone screen to get the exact times of his job tenure. And remember – there are still twelve months in a year!
Have you noticed the new trend towards not putting in the exact month when a job was started and the exact month when the candidate left? Resumes can be very deceiving–and tenure in a job can be the MOST deceiving entry on the resume. Here’s something we see every day:
2001–2002 Young Turks IT Consulting Group
There’s a pretty wide berth in this listing. If the candidate was hired on January 2, 2001 and left the company on December 31, 2002, he’s got almost two years in the job. If, on the other hand, he was hired on December 15, 2001 and left the company on January 15, 2002, he only has one month! You get the point. Get specific with the candidate. If the candidate is reluctant or “squirmy” to offer the details, take this as a clear sign that you may have a hopper.
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Get Clear Reasons for Leaving
Let’s face it. The past few years have been unkind to many good candidates as well as bad. There may be some short stints on a resume that are understandable. You’ll find that out in your phone screen when you get clear reasons why the candidate left his positions.
Put on your Sherlock Holmes cap and dig down deep in your questioning. For example, if the candidate was laid off, find out how many people were laid off at the same time. Was he the only one? That’s quite a different picture than everyone in a department being laid off. Did the company go out of business? Was your candidate the lead salesperson or was he the only one who didn't make any sales?
And remember, one good way of determining if your candidate is truly a victim of circumstance or a job hopper is to ask for a reference (managers only please) from each company.
Do you agree or disagree with my perception of a long (5-6 years) time and a short (less than 3 years) tenure? Email me now to let me know! (Click thru to contactus@smsearch.com here)
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