January 4, 2022
January 4, 2022
With talent shortages not seen by businesses since the Y2K Days, employers find themselves being forced to change and pivot how they find and hire critical talent in order for their organization's growth and survival.
One of those changes, inspired by the latest generation to arrive on the job market is that job-hopping will no longer be frowned upon as it was in the past. In fact it may even be embraced as a competitive advantage as organizations massively struggle to keep up in the "hiring game". A world living in a pandemic we have not seen in over a century for the unforeseeable future means organizations - in order to survive - must also change. This means pivoting their values and beliefs around how they hire and evaluate talent. Todays employee is not only asking but demanding flexible working schedules, freelancing, new technology-led communication, and entirely new industries to work in with lower barriers to entry.
A career path is no longer a in-depth process like in the past. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shared reports finding that workers are staying in a job for a median time frame of just over 4 years. Millennials although not the only reason for this trend are a big driving factor behind this due to work/life balance being at the top of their priority list.
HR departments and recruiters have in the past looked at jobseekers who have had multiple short-term jobs negatively. Even employers would go on record saying they wouldn’t hire a job-hopper for fear of training employees that have no intention or commitment to staying with them long-term. However that was during pre-pandemic times and perhaps now is the time to take a breath and re-evaluate. There are many advantages to both employer and employee in a short-term hire.
The disadvantages of changing roles frequently are more familiar to many, but still worth bearing in mind because they can be avoided.
In today’s talent-short job market the focus on job retention should no longer matter most, it’s engagement. It is quite possible to create workplaces that encourage people to be their best whether they are long or short-term workers. An agile workforce creates an agile company that is more likely to survive whatever is going to come their way next. None of us including me knows what that will be.
However here is what I know for sure from being a recruiter for over 20 years. For the most part businesses hire human beings with human feelings living in an unpredictable world (aka the Corona virus) that effects our life decisions and career choices we make. Therefore casting judgement is something all of need to make a more concerted effort to "put the brakes on". If we (hiring managers) keep that in mind this will not only expand a desperately depleted talent pool for us, but increase the skill level of the people we have to choose from.