From the 50’s through the 90’s, it was commonplace for individuals to graduate from College, High School, or Trade School, land their first job and spend their entire adult life working for the same employer. Organizations would pride themselves on the life-long employee, the tenure of the organization, and the ability to create a family-like culture. Many times, those tenured employees’ children would also join the organization when they were of employment age.  Society applauds both employees and organizations with a long tenure. These companies gain a great reputation and go above and beyond to retain those employees that have shown loyalty for so many years.

However, in the modern era, the perception of employment has dramatically changed, and individuals are more apt to working on a “contract” basis or making a move to a new opportunity. This allows for continued education, the ability to learn different industries and expand their knowledge base, and an increase in their overall wealth, securing higher paying opportunities.

As the workforce evolves, the hiring leaders need to evolve with it.  Too many times we hear hiring teams say:

• “This candidate has only been at XYZ for 6 months”
• “I don’t feel the candidate has a stable work history”
• “She isn’t a fit, she just has too many jobs in her career we don’t feel like she will be here for the long term”
• “He is too jumpy”

Though these could all be reasons as to why a candidate might not be a good fit for the position, more steps need to be taken to truly understand a candidates employment history in the modern era.

Hiring leaders must take a non-objective view of a candidate’s work history to extract information pertinent to the job they are being hired for and how the skills learned across many opportunities can lead to the growth and expansion of their own organization.  Dig deeper on the reasons that employee’s have left their current organization and why they are interested in joining your organization for their next opportunity.

If you are interested in working with ESPO and our top recruiters, be sure to contact us at the form below or give us a call at 630-789-2525.