FYI Candidates November 2007
Gambling on the “Sticky” Employee:
Why A Longer Tenure is a Good Investment
by Orrick Nepomuceno, CPC
Vice President of Development, Dick Wray Executive Search
There’s a great line in “The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers that says, “You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em; know when to walk away and know when to run.” What was intended for card sharks still rings true for today’s savvy job candidates: Do you know when to hold ‘em – or when to run?
In other words, when did job tenure – sticking it out – become so last year? Today’s market is competitive, that much is clear. I see many candidates who select jobs like investors picking out stocks for their portfolio: how many can they stack up before profits start to gain? Clearly, job satisfaction is important, but before hopping from one job to the next, consider what impression your “gamble” is making on future employers.
No doubt, job-hopping costs companies money. Writes Ilana DeBare on behalf of the
San Francisco Chronicle, “For employers, job hopping can be costly and frustrating.
Personnel experts estimate that every departing employee costs a company 1.5 times his or
her salary – a combination of recruiting costs, training time and lost productivity as coworkers
and supervisors pitch in during the transition.”
How long is too long? How short is too short? Lynn Ware, an employee retention expert with Integral Talent Systems, explains, “Two to three years used to raise a red flag. Now, depending on the industry, it's one to 1.5 years.”
It’s important to measure your time at a job in quality, not quantity. In other words, it’s not how long you stayed but how much you did. Cautions Ware, “But what employers are really looking at is, did the person complete the project or commitment that they made?”
At the end of the day, how long – or how short – a time you spend at one job before the next is up to you. Just be sure that no matter how long you stick around, do the job you’re getting paid to do every time.
That’s my advice for a winning hand!
In my new book, The Hitchhiker in the Corner Office, I show employers the value of a quality job tenure. See what I’ve told them when you check out the book’s website at www.hitchhikerinthecorneroffice.com.
Orrick Nepomuceno, CPC is Vice President of Development at Dick Wray Executive Search. He is also author of Hitchhiker In The Corner Office: Avoid The Hiring Potholes So Your Employees Don’t Hit The Road! He can be reached at orrick@dickwray.com