Short-term Perspective

As recruiters and managers we have seen hundreds and thousand of resumes. When we are hiring entry to mid-level candidates, we see a lot of resumes with shorter tenure. We roll our eyes and move on to the next one, but why do we do that? Let me tell you about my work history. It’s been over 3 years since I graduated college and in that time I have held 4 jobs. If you look at my job history there is a lot of hopping around, but if you dig deeper, there is a reason for me leaving these jobs. While, I was in college, I was a server and right after I graduated I moved to AZ. I didn’t have a job when I moved here, so I moved and found a job within 2 weeks. I stayed there for a little over a year. After that I was approached by another company for a position. I had heard great things about this new company, so I went for the interview. Post interviewing there I knew I would learn a lot and grow tremendously. So I left my job that I was good at, where my colleagues and managers loved me to new waters. I was at this next company for a year. My plan was to stay there for the long term. Possibly get into management and grow like I knew I could within that environment. However, the company was going downhill. It was being projected that they didn’t have a need for two IT recruiters and so they let me go. I appreciated the way they conducted themselves during this process. I was given time to look over the paperwork, given excellent recommendations and references. So, off I went on a job hunt. I was interviewing for two weeks before getting an offer that I liked. I had received multiple offers during that two weeks but nothing seemed right. I even tried to go back to my old company where I had left a year ago. But after interviewing within a different department , they let me know that they didn’t have a spot for me at the time. I wasn’t heartbroken but was disappointed. After interviewing for two weeks, I finally found an offer that I wanted with a smaller company. I had decided I wanted this position right after meeting with the manager and owners. Not only was it a huge pay bump for me, but it would also give me a chance to create and implement processes. I took that position, without hesitation. Again my plan was to stay there for a long time, I loved my boss(who is still awesome) and my coworkers/upper management. But my boss stepped down for personal reasons and a new boss was brought in. This person and I had personal differences, I think they are a good person, but sometimes you know when two personalities just innately crash? That’s what was going on. I stayed for a few months, tried to work things out, but it just wasn’t going to work. And life works in weird ways sometimes because just when I had decided it wasn’t going to workout, someone approached me with a position. I interviewed and thought about it over and over again for an entire weekend. I knew that I had to take this position, not just because I wasn’t in a good place but this company was my next step. I took the offer, said my goodbyes without burning any bridges and joined the new company. If you are looking at my profile or resume from a traditional perspective, yes I have job hopped a lot. However, I have learned so much and grown so much that one can argue that another person in the same position for this entire time wouldn’t have been able to. I started my own blog, have knowledge and can handle situations that I didn’t think I would have ever been prepared for. So, next time before you roll your eyes at someone’s tenure and move along, take a few minutes and call them. Find out what they know and why they left. We all have stories to tell, we just need someone who will listen to us, and give us a shot.