Length of service--how often to change (take II)

Subject: Length of service--how often to change (take II)
From: "Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2001 08:28:34 -0400

Scott Holstad, responding to my note that (personally) I'd look askance at
someone who changed jobs every two years _if I were hiring for the long
term_, replied: <<Gotta disagree with you here, especially in the case of
California... I lived and worked in California for a number of years. It
was and I believe still is quite common for people in the industry to make
frequent moves; in fact, you might even say it's expected.>>

We're not disagreeing: You're talking about the normal situation, and I'm
talking about my hypothetical discomfort with that situation were I a hiring
manager--which I again hasten to add, I'm not. If this situation were truly
the norm (and I have no reason to doubt it), I would probably abandon any
hope of hiring permanent staff and simply contract out the work. Why go
through all the hassle of advertising, holding a competition, training,
etc., when I could just ask a reputable temp agency to send me someone good?
But if I'm looking for someone who will be here for 10 years and replace me
when I retire, then I'm going to discard any resume that shows repeated
tenures of less than 5 years: these candidates simply don't provide what I'm
looking for, which is stability.

You mentioned that the situation may be different in Canada, and indeed,
that may be the case. I don't have any stats, but up here, company pension
plans are still the rule, not the exception, and these provide strong
incentives to stay in one place (to wait for your pension to vest, to wait
long enough that there are no huge penalties for withdrawing from the plan,
or to wait until you find a company that will let you transfer your pension
seniority, among others).

--Geoff Hart, FERIC, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
"User's advocate" online monthly at
www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/usersadvocate.html

"Do I contradict myself?/ Very well, then I contradict myself,/ I am large,
I contain multitudes." -- Walt Whitman

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