I recently attended the HR Management Association of
Chicago’s (HRMAC) annual conference. The
day held 4 informative sessions on HR topics – a nightmare for non-HR geeks. I’ll come clean…I was excited all day
long…please don’t judge. I was
particularly intrigued and even inspired by the first speaker, Penelope
Trunk. Since the conference, I've begun
to read her blog regularly and find her ideas counter-intuitive provocative and
meaningful. You should also check it
out: www.penelopetrunk.com. She has created 3 start-ups, is considered a
guru on Gen Y, and writes about several topics including homeschooling,
coaching and career advice. This post is
based on the notes I took during her HRMAC presentation “How to Talk the Talk
with Today’s Top Talent” in November 2012.
Before her HRMAC presentation, I’ll admit, I was expecting
the general discussion around collaboration and technology, however, she went
deeper. Without giving away the details
of her full presentation, I do want to address one idea she had, which was that
it is best to hire job hoppers. Don’t
panic…I promise I’ll explain. This idea
(among a few others) actually offended many traditional HR professionals in the
audience and was a hot discussion topic during lunch that day. I generally enjoy a good button pusher. To lay the foundation for this argument, we
need to briefly discuss Gen Y (the Millennial Generation). I belong to this group, so perhaps there is
vanity in this post, but I hope it gets you thinking.
Generation Y was dubbed “Generation Me” by Jean Twenge in
her 2007 book on the topic. This group
is characterized by having a sense of entitlement, narcissism and
rejection of social conventions. They are
also known as the "Trophy Generation", or "Trophy
Kids", a term that reflects the trend in competitive sports, as well as
many other aspects of life, where mere participation is frequently enough for a
reward (Ron Alsop, 2008). Next, we’ll
move onto some fun statistics characterizing Gen Y. Studies by the University of Michigan and
UCLA revealed the percentage of students who said being wealthy was very
important increased from 45% for Baby Boomers (surveyed between 1966 and 1982)
to 70% for Gen X and 75% for Millennials. The percentage who said it was
important to keep up to date with political affairs fell, from 50% for Boomers
to 39% for Gen X and 35% for Millennials.
"Developing a meaningful philosophy of life" decreased the
most, across generations, from 73% for Boomers to 45% for Millennials.
"Becoming involved in programs to clean up the environment" dropped
from 33% for Boomers to 21% for Millennials (Michelle Healy, 2012). Generation Y has also led a trend
towards irreligion that has been growing since the 1990s. 32 percent
of Americans born between 1983 and 1994 are irreligious, as opposed to 21
percent born between 1963 and 1982, 15 percent born between 1948 and 1962 and only
7 percent born before 1948 (talkingpointsmemo.com, 2012).
Now that you know a little about the generation that led
Penelope to outrageously declare that hiring job hoppers is a smart move, let’s
discuss the crazy reasons used to support this notion.
- Job Hoppers are more intellectually challenged. Most jobs have steep learning curves early on. After about 2 years on the job, you have learned just about all there is to know in that position. This makes you wonder how someone in a job for 20+ years keeps their brain sharp. Due to this fact, job hoppers know more. When you change jobs often, you’re always challenged, and your learning curve remains high – for office skills, industry specific skills, and even your emotional intelligence. Navigating various corporate hierarchies, and dealing with different kinds of drama, the more you will learn about people (an important skill).
- Job hoppers have more stable careers. You might think I've been drinking at this point of this post, but I promise, just listen. Corporate America doesn't provide stability to its employees – you have to create this on your own. Layoffs, downsizing and JIT hiring/contract workers are the realities of today and probably tomorrow. Creating careers stability begins with networking since most people find jobs through their network and not by applying to as many jobs as possible on the web. Working for lots of companies means your network is larger than someone who stays put for awhile. For this reason, job hopping creates stability.
- Job hoppers are higher performers. I may keep crossing lines, but we might as well keep going at this point. Hopefully you are at least intrigued. Job hoppers are always looking to do well at work because they know they are within a year or two of leaving. In this situation, they need to be conscious of their resume and the skills and projects they’re tackling. The want/need to become experts in their field. If nothing else, this helps them get their next job. You can’t job hop if you don’t add value at each of your jobs. Job hoppers are usually over-achievers on the projects they’re involved in - they want something good to put on their resume. Companies benefit more from a strong performer who’s in a seat for 18 months than a mediocre employee that they keep for 20 years.
- Job hoppers are more loyal. I know, this is completely counter-intuitive, but keep reading. Loyalty is caring about the people you’re with, and job hoppers are great team players, because that’s all they have. They don’t identify with a company’s long term performance, but do identify with their work group’s short term performance. They want their boss to give them a good reference and work hard to gain their respect. For networking purposes, they want to network with co-workers for the purpose of future employment. They don’t have 10 years on the job to fix a first impression, so they want to make sure those who work with them or meet them find it to be a good experience. And it if you think about it, this makes sense for a company, too: the company isn't hiring you with any decade-long commitment, so you would be foolish to think you have to give one.
- Job hoppers are more emotionally mature. It takes self confidence and knowledge to know what you want to do next and go get it rather than stay in a seemingly safe place. You must be committed to personal growth to embrace challenging your learning curve rather than being complacent in your career (over and over). It’s rather brave for someone to say, “ I've only been here for 6 months, but it’s not right for me and I’m leaving”. Most people around you will tell you to stick it out and give it a year or two. But, why would you waste this precious time doing something you wish you weren't doing?
And there you have it.
The notion sounded far-fetched when Penelope started talking about
it. However, the points make sense, and I've seen real examples of this (and I’m sure you have to) in my professional world. The new kid with the great degree or
fantastic experience comes busting through the doors, and hits the ground
running. They make changes and/or have a
significant impact on projects, their department of entire function in the
workplace very quickly. Then, before you
know, 18-24 months into a job they are knocking out of the park, and they
leave. People are surprised that they
are moving on since they did a great job, and the organization is unhappy to
lose them. The tenured employees say
scathing things about how they are a job hopper and can’t stay in a job very
long. But imagine how excited the next
company is based on what they can do.
Now for the tough part, they have to replicate that high level of
performance all over again, and in just as short a time span. It’s like running one marathon after
another. Could you do that?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic!
