Would you hire a job hopper?

[purbeast0]

I work for a consulting company and we are quite small. I've only been there a year and they gave me a 12% raise plus a hefty bonus. They flat out said the understood the value of good employees and want me to continue with them.

Big companies can afford to have 3-5 year turnover though, so they don't bother investing in employees.

Yeah, where I work, I also work with a lot of people who work for some huge companies. The majority of them are clearly not happy with their companies and complain about it fairly often. Their benefits suck ass and they never help you out if you need it.

 

[CraKaJaX]

Yeah I'd never ever work for a "major" company. I don't want to just be a statistic for a company. My current company is like 150 employees or so, but we're spread out over like 20+ different projects that aren't even related, so it's always a small team you're on and you actually can see an impact on what you do. It feels good, and the company I work for is great and has really taught me what it is like to work for a great company. I've been at my current company 4 years and make $24k more no than I did when I started amd 5 more PTO days a year.

Alright, so that's 5k/yr give or take... No? Of course PTO is another monster, and I'll leave that to the side now. A 5k raise/yr is not that much at all. If you jump ship, you're likely to gain a solid 15-20k just from taking the new position. Not to mention signing/relocation money. That's your 25k in a single year. Even with no raise at the new job, you still gained 25k from the old one in a single jump. This is the problem.

 

[RY62]

For a maintenance mechanic, with that record, if he's no more than early 30's and is very qualified, I might take a chance. If they're much more than 30, and still job jumping, I wouldn't waste my time.

Good maintenance techs are hard to find. Loyal and dependable are extremely rare. If you find these guys you really have to make sure you learn what makes them tick. Keep them happy and don't let them get bored.

 

[purbeast0]

Alright, so that's 5k/yr give or take... No? Of course PTO is another monster, and I'll leave that to the side now. A 5k raise/yr is not that much at all. If you jump ship, you're likely to gain a solid 15-20k just from taking the new position. Not to mention signing/relocation money. That's your 25k in a single year. Even with no raise at the new job, you still gained 25k from the old one in a single jump. This is the problem.

No that's $6k/yr. When I started at my current job I was already making well over $100k as well, and I'm at the point now where jumping jobs won't necessarily increase salary much. It would be pretty tough for me to leave and find a job simply making $25k more than I make right now. I'm sure it's doable but it wouldn't be easy. It surely will be hard to get better benefits - 27 days PTO, 7% 401k without me even contributing, free health insurance for my family, flex hours (i go in around 6 and leave at 2). I will be getting my next raise first check in January too so I'll see where it goes this year.

This doesn't include any bonuses either.

Considering my first job out of school I was there for 5 years and my salary raised like $12k or $14k, going up $24k in 4 years is pretty solid to me.

 

[CraKaJaX]

That's definitely solid. I'm still at the bottom of the totem pole - 6 years out of school. The jumping job thing is necessary for me at this point. Not only does it allow for bettering myself, but it allows me to get my feet wet in different industries. It also allows for just plain old change. The same commute, same routine, every day just gets boring to me. There's some guys I work with who have been here for 45 years. There's no way on God's green earth that I would -ever- do that. I need change. I started at 60k out of school and now am low 90's. I think that's pretty good in this day and age. Of course I've got student loans and all that bullshit, but still not bad. PTO just comes with age/experience .... we'll all get there.

 

[PricklyPete]

Totally depends on the person and the industry. As many have mentioned, job hopping in some industries is a somewhat expected way to advance. I'm not a job hopper myself (3 jobs in the 15 years I have been out of school. Vi have been lucky in that the companies I have worked for have been good at seeing my worth. If my current company stopped doing that...I certainly would move on.

 

[DrunkenSano]

What the OP also needs to consider is what are his needs right now when he is trying to hire someone. Does he want someone long term like 5-10 years? If so, this guy won't fit the bill, he will most likely leave in 2 years after gaining enough experience.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

2 Years is an acceptable timeframe and isnt job hopping in my opinion. If he was bettering himself at each move then good for him. Pay him well and treat him well and he wont have reason to leave.

 

[Fritzo]

works 2 years at each job? job hopper not found.

I was in charge of hiring at my last position. I'd consider anything under 3 years a job hopper.

 

[shortylickens]

As someone who has had a hell of a time getting employed: I'd ask you to be less suspicious and give the fucker a chance!

 

[DrunkenSano]

Giving the wrong person a chance can cost a company a lot of money, especially a smaller company.

 

[Ruptga]

Giving the wrong person a chance can cost a company a lot of money, especially a smaller company.

Yeah, hiring decisions shouldn't be made lightly. People tend to fixate on a lot of crap that just doesn't matter though, and they cost their companies money with missed opportunities.

 

[Fritzo]

As someone who has had a hell of a time getting employed: I'd ask you to be less suspicious and give the fucker a chance!

What do you think your roadblocks were to getting employed?

 

[microAmp]

Maintenance technician myself, at my previous job, I was there for 8 years before being laid off. Currently at new job for a bit over a year and learned not too long ago no raises here. So, not much desire to stay here.

 

[Ferzerp]

Perhaps if your company provides pay increases commensurate with what one can make by changing jobs relatively frequently you can expect lifers, otherwise you're just hoping to exploit some poor schmuck who doesn't know any better.

Any time a company or representative of a company mentions the word loyalty, my response is that I am precisely as loyal to a given organization as that organization is to me. If they take that as a negative, well, that speaks more of their organization than it does of me.

All these things said, I've actually been at the same place the last 10 years. In that time I've had various jobs, and bizarrely, the organization listed on my pay check has changed 4 times and is about to for a 5th time. I've stayed because I've been able to increase in pay as well as I would have been able to by changing jobs.

 

[LevelSea]

7 years at current job. I'll probably stay until I retire.

 

[SearchMaster]

IMO, the workplace has changed. There used to be a sort of loyalty from both sides - employers would try to help their employees get better and employees would stick with their employer even through bad times. Now each side just wants what is best for them.

My wife is currently with a shitty employer. There is an implied expectation of 70+ hours per week (piling more and more time-sensitive work on everyone's plate), and while she came into her job at under market value, her 70+ hours netted her a laughable raise after her first year (less than 5%). She billed over 8x her salary during that year so it's not like there was no room for a decent bump. But she won't look for another job right now because she doesn't want to be seen as a "job-hopper". She used to be a recruiter and still has that mentality. She has done such a good job for her clients that she has received 6 job offers from them. She has promised to start looking in mid-November but she really needs to be looking now.

Funny side-note: they just handed out revised employee agreements, asking them to sign a document that says the employee owes the employer $35,000 if they leave for any reason - including being terminated. I may blow that place up after she finally quits.

To answer the OP...it really depends how much time it takes for someone to be productive in your environment. If it's a multi-month learning curve then you can't afford a guy who's leaving in 2 years. If they can come in and be productive in a week and it won't take a ton of your time to train him, then if he's good and has excellent references, I'd give him a shot.

 

[purbeast0]

LMAO @ staying somewhere for more than a year working 70+ hours a week and not getting paid for it.

 

[brianmanahan]

all things being equal, i give precedence to people who spent at least 5 years at a job

 

[brianmanahan]

LMAO @ staying somewhere for more than a year working 70+ hours a week and not getting paid for it.

the only possible benefit is that it can get you a lot of experience fast

my first job was like that, 70-80 hours with no overtime for 8-9 months on this horrible project. but i went from fresh out of college to getting put in charge of all the web service development and running 3 hour meetings with the client and assigning work to other people.

i quit right before the 1 year mark and got a job somewhere else that normally required 3-5 years of experience.

i wouldn't ever want to do it again though

 

[purbeast0]

the only possible benefit is that it can get you a lot of experience fast

my first job was like that, 70-80 hours with no overtime for 8-9 months on this horrible project. but i went from fresh out of college to getting put in charge of all the web service development and running 3 hour meetings with the client and assigning work to other people.

i quit right before the 1 year mark and got a job somewhere else that normally required 3-5 years of experience.

i wouldn't ever want to do it again though

If you're good enough, you can get jobs that require stuff that you don't have, I wouldn't chalk it up to necessarily working retarded hours and getting taken advantage of by a shitty company.

At least good companies realize this, but since most companies are terribly ran, they stick to their guns with requirements and miss up on great candidates because of that.

 

[Sheep221]

Yes I would hire a job hopper, I had 3 jobs in 6 years, why? Companies I worked for were not worth staying for much longer. Some will cut your pay just like that, or are abusive and so on. No one like to change jobs, they have to, once it becomes unbearable.

 

[highland145]

2 years...meh. I would like to know why he really switched. More $$/benefits/vacation/etc...O.K. But because he's an abrasive asshole...no thanks. That job's already filled.

 

[Stopsignhank]

Just for some closure we decided to pass on this guy. The job hopping (Yes I still think he is a job hopper) is one thing, but he also lives 90 miles away. The maint. mechanic job is not something that you drive 90 miles for.

You all have made me realize that I must work for a good company. I am pretty well paid for my position and the company works me when I need time off for my family. In fact they have made a job for me twice.

 

[highland145]

90 miles? WTH?