Sitting here reading the 11-22-2009 Sunday Seattle Times, I ran across an article in the NWJobs section. A reader wrote that he wants to know how to respond to questions about why he has had 10 jobs in 12 years (because of the description of the jobs he held, I assume it’s a he) . He wants to deflect those questions and stress what he can do for the company and he wants advice on how to do that.

If I am an employer, and I see that TEN organizations have taken a chance on this guy and ALL have lost because he left in about year, why would I want to waste the time, money and energy to hire him? I also have to wonder about the companies. Somebody keeps hiring him. The questin is why, when he works an average of 1.2 years per company.

When the question about the multiple jobs comes up, the author of the column says to ask the perspective employer, point blank, “What is it that concerns you?”. Well, gee, maybe its the fact that the guy has had 10 jobs in 12 years? With a record like that, what could he possibly say that would convince me to consider hiring him?

The applicant says “The jobs have been at bigger companies where it is hard to advance. Now I’m looking for a job with a smaller company.” Say what!?

I have to sympathize with the author. A question like that is tough to answer. Tough, in my opnion, because someone needs to tell this guy that the companies he worked for did not cause this record. He did. The problem is with him, not the employer. Until he figures that out, things are not going to change. The author of the column is not going to tell him that in print, but I’ll bet the author the best drink at Starbucks that’s what he wanted to say!

I have a problem. When I am not writing about leadership topics, I provide consulting services to senior management and do selected senior management searches in a variety of areas. Again and again when I sit down with these executives to get details regarding a position they want to fill, I get one message loud and clear. They do not want to see any candidates that only stay in a job for a year or so and then move on. Yet, when I network for candidates, I see many, many resumes with just that kind of short term job history. One short term move, or maybe two, in this economy may have real valid reasons. But when I see several such short term stays, I put them in the discard pile because the employer has specifically said they don’t want to see them.

I have a variety of questions ….. Did they wear out their welcome and leave? Were they asked to leave? How can an indiviudal make a quality mark on an organization when they have hardly had time to know the people in the organization? In my book “Surviving & Thriving in the HR World”, I write about leaders becoming “Class Act” leaders. You know them. The people who stick in our memory as the kind of leader we would do anything for. Who is going to become a “Class Act” leader in a year on the job? In 40 years of being a people watcher, I have never seen one become that kind of leader in a year or two.

How about it? I need some input.