Benefits June 3, 2014

Shorter Stints with Companies More Accepted

June 3, 2014 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – The practice of job-hopping carries less of a stigma with employers than it used to, says a recent CareerBuilder survey.
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Results of the survey show that employers are less concerned about job-hopping (i.e., working for various employers for a short period of time), with 55% of employers saying they have hired a job-hopper and 32% saying they now expect workers to job-hop.

“More workers are pursuing opportunities with various companies to expose themselves to a wider range of experiences, build their skill sets, or take a step up the ladder in pay or title,” says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of Human Resources at CareerBuilder, based in Chicago.

While building up a wealth of experience is a good thing, says Haefner, a worker needs to ensure they are staying with a company long enough to make an impact, as well as providing a return on the investment that the company’s made in that worker.

The survey results show that by the age of 35, 25% of workers have held five jobs or more. For workers ages 55 and older, 20% have held 10 jobs or more.

And while employers may now be more accepting of job-hoppers, their expectations still tend to vary based on the candidate’s age. Forty-one percent of employers said that job-hopping becomes less acceptable when a worker reaches their early to mid-30s. Twenty-eight percent find job-hopping less acceptable after the age of 40.

Employers expect a higher rate of job-hopping among younger workers who are still trying to find their footing for their long-term career, according the survey findings. When hiring a new college graduate, 45% of employers expect the new hire to stay with the organization for two years or less, while 27% of employers expect new graduates to stay five years or longer.

In terms of industries where job-hopping is most frequent, the list includes:

  • Information technology (42%);
  • Leisure and hospitality (41%);
  • Transportation (37%);
  • Retail (36%); and
  • Manufacturing (32%).

Some employers see advantages to hiring people who have worked for numerous companies. More than half (53%) of employers said job-hoppers tend to have a wide range of expertise and can adapt quickly (51%). However, a significant number of employers (43%) will not consider a job candidate who has had short tenures with several employers.

Overall, employers who say they have hired a job-hopper (55%), find that such workers left their company after a tenure of:

  • A short period of time (34%);
  • At least two years (40%);
  • At least three years (17%).

This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll, on behalf of CareerBuilder, among 2,138 hiring managers and human resource professionals and 3,022 full-time workers ages 18 and over. The survey took place between February 10 and March 4.

CareerBuilder is a provider of human capital solutions, helping companies target and attract great talent. For more information, visit http://www.careerbuilder.com.

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