Hey everyone, this is Self Made Millennial, I'm Madeline Mann. Today we're going to talk about how to overcome being labeled a job hopper. This is an ode to the biggest job hopper of all: the Easter Bunny.
A job hopper is someone who spends not very much time at a company before then switching to the next opportunity which can trigger a negative perception by employers. In this video I will tell you why job hopping is one of the biggest red flags you can have on your resume, how to attract better opportunities in your next job search, teach you how to adjust your resume so that you're not passed up for being a job hopper, and give you tips on how to respond in interviews to eradicate the idea that you are a job hopper. Now I know some of this information is very dependent on the type of industry, company, role, and country you are in so if you have a unique situation tell us your story in the comments so that we can all learn from it.
So let's hop to it. Section 1: Why employers see job hopping as such a large red flag. So here's a So here's a scenario for you.
A recruiter is looking at your resume, they see that you have had 4 jobs in 5 years and they're like, "Excuse me, could I get an order of your smiley face pancakes because your name must be a IHOP. " That's right, you become labeled as a job hopper, which means you move jobs in a socially unacceptable timeframe. You know, you work nine months here, one year here, six months there.
The reason for this harsh judgement is that they assume one or more of the following. One: You don't really know what you're looking for in your job or career. Two: you have poor judgment when choosing opportunities.
Or three: you have shiny object syndrome where you're always looking for the next best opportunity and you don't have very much loyalty. Outside of actually being under qualified, this is one of the most common reasons that hire managers reject resumes and it's a really big hurdle for you to get over. Think about it from the employer's perspective; they spend lots of money and man-hours recruiting people, it takes one to two months, then once they hire you it generally takes about 90 days for you get trained and up to speed, and then if you leave after nine months the company has already sunk five months of both searching and training you and they ultimately only got six months of high velocity work.
Plus there's often a morale hit with someone leaves as well as these other negative consequences to the culture that happens when you don't have as many people staying long term in a company. So the hiring manager is doing the math in their head, looking at your resume, and just thinking, "It's not worth the risk. " But please don't let me bum you out too much, I do have some great tactics in this video that will help you out.
So section number 2: How to attract better opportunities. I was interviewing a woman for an executive assistant role and she didn't have any direct executive assistant experience. She was coming from a different career and looking to make a career change and I said, "Oh that's so interesting, what research have you done to decide that this is the right career move for you?
You know, have you done informational interviews, shadowed anyone? " and she goes, "No, this is my first thing, this interview is my first experience with this role. " And in my head I was like, "Noo!
" Interviewing for a role that you are unfamiliar with should never be your first step. There should be so much more research done before that, because when you just kind of jump into a new career without really researching it, that's how you suddenly realize it wasn't right for you and you become a job hopper. So if you have a history of leaving full-time positions after a short amount of time, make sure you take a look at your career.
Is it making you happy? You know, it's never too late to change your career, but make sure you're being very intentional about it. I've linked two videos in the description, the first one is how to apply to jobs online and actually get results, as well as, four steps to find the right career.
Make sure you watch those before you take your next career step. Let's say that you do believe that you're in the right career, it's just more that every place you go either it's something about the company or your manager that really makes it impossible for you to stay, and if that's the case then you're likely not vetting your opportunities well enough. So I'll be coming out with a video soon on how to properly vet companies and job opportunities so I'll link that in the description once it's out.
Let's move on to Section 3: Job hopper resume tips. Here are some resume tips that will make sure these companies do not pass up on all the killer things you have to offer. Group your contracting work together.
It's totally normal if you're taking up a contract position for it to be short-term, that is not a red flag at all. So what I recommend is if you're a contractor, kind of group all those projects together chronologically or just make sure it states on your resume, this was a contract position. Second tip is leave off "oopsie" jobs.
So I accepted this role at a psychology lab and I was under the impression that I was going to be a researcher and quickly learned that that was not my role, my role was to be the IT person. And I knew quickly that that was a total oopsie job, I should have not taken that job, it was not the right match but then I left it off my resume. I seriously recommend that you get out of a job earlier rather than later if you think it really is the wrong fit because leaving after a couple months, not including on your resume, having a bit of a gap, is better than you sticking it out for, you know just a year, and then having that short term engagement on your resume.
Third tip: Include the reason why you left the company if it was involuntary. You won't be judged as someone who lacks loyalty or makes bad employment decisions if the reason why you left the company is that you were laid off, that it was restructured, that the company went out of business. So right up there next to the name of the company and the months you were there, just write a quick little sentence about what happened, "Was laid off due to insufficient funding," or something like that.
I really appreciate when candidates do this because it helps me to understand their story very quickly. And finally the fourth tip for your resume is do not leave off the months that you were employed somewhere. I've seen this advice other places where people tell you, "Oh instead of you know, putting the month and the year that you're at a company, just put the year and then they can't tell that you were switching every three months or so.
" And I think that is really bad advice. As recruiters, we see right through that. It seems a little sketchy, seems a bit dishonest, so just make sure you be upfront, put the month and the year on your resume.
We are moving right along into our last segment of how to address job hopping in an interview. Your message in the interview should be about how you've made changes in your career, and about how you are looking to break your job hopper pattern. Don't let it be the elephant, or the bunny, in the room.
Proactively address your job hopping history. Explain why you moved roles so much, but more importantly explain why now it's different. Explain how you've done some retrospection, you've done informational interviews, you've really mapped out what you want in your next opportunity and that you want to stay at your next company for a long time, and build a career there.
Such as, in the "tell me about yourself" question, I would preempt the doubts and towards the end of my answer say something like, "As you'll notice my past few jobs, I've only been there for about a year each. And each of those were formative to really understand what do I really want in my career. None of them were quite the role or company that I was looking for, and it's honestly because I wasn't sure exactly what I was looking for and so therefore I wasn't properly vetting the opportunities.
I've taken the past few months to do lots of informational interviews, really dig deep into what I want as my next step, because I really want my next role to be at a company where I stay there for 5+ years and this role at this company really matches with that plan because of X Y & Z. Got it? Good.
All right everyone, so in conclusion, hops are for bunnies and beer so make sure your next role sticks. I've got fresh content coming out every single week so make sure you hit the subscribe button as well as hit those happy like buttons. That's something that helps me to know that you enjoyed that content.
Thank you so much for watching. Wi-Fi high five.
