Should You Hire a Job Hopper?

Posted on by Tiffany Appleton

In today’s job market, the thought of staying with one employer over the course of your career is pretty outdated. Slowly over time, people are building resumes which list more employers than the previous single company. In the recent past, it has started to become more routine to see good employees with resume stints of only 1-2 years at each employer. Leaving us with the big question…should you hire a job hopper?

Pros

  1. They know how to hit the ground running quickly because they have experience doing this with all their previous employers. They are usually pretty good at jumping in and figuring things out on their own and sometimes need minimal direction.
  2. A job hopper can bring a variety of new ideas to the table. They have seen both the good and the bad from all their previous employers and they can bring this knowledge to you.
  3. They are not afraid of change and many times will embrace it. They could be exactly the right person to spearhead a big implementation project.
  4. They tend to be hard working, driven, and highly motivated by continued learning, growth, and success.
  5. They usually can get along with multiple personality types and function well with any given type of management situation. They have experienced it all before.

Cons

  1. The salary requirements may be a little higher than other candidates (changing jobs is commonly known as the fastest way to accomplish a promotion and bump in salary).
  2. They may not be job hoppers by their choice – therefore you may be unintentionally hiring a “problem employee.”
  3. They probably will only stay with you for a short amount of time too. If you are really looking for someone you want to invest in for the long term to move up the ladder, this may not be your person.
  4. It is possible they keep changing jobs because they really don’t know what they want out of their career. So, this may be just another opportunity for them to test out and/or rule out.

Based upon your short term and long-term needs, a job hopper may be a very smart option for your team. It could be a risk worth taking – or not.

Written by Tiffany Appleton
Director, Accounting & Finance Division