Here at Spark Hire, we want to help companies utilize the power of online video to find the best candidates. We get a lot of questions from readers about best practices for using online video in the hiring process. These posts will address those questions about how to find your next superstar employee.
Thanks for the great question, Chris. Job hoppers can be a difficult candidate to interview. Not because they are particularly different than other job seekers, but because a lot of companies try to stay away from them. If hiring managers or employers see that a candidate is a job hopper, they may assume that they will leave their company in just a short amount of time. This is especially difficult when trying to hire candidates that will stay with the company for at least a couple of years. A lot of companies sometimes unfairly disregard job hoppers because of this reason, but they can actually be very valuable at times if given the chance to prove themselves.
The thing about job hoppers is you never really know why they have hopped around so many different jobs. It could be that they were bored and left to find a better, more interesting position, or it could be they were extremely unlucky and were hired by a string of companies that were failing. It could be a combination of the two. Just because they are a job hopper doesn’t necessarily mean they will be an unreliable employee to you. That is why you should first ask job seekers in the video interview why they left their last position. If they are still employed, ask them why they are seeking new employment now. It could be that the company that hired them was dishonest about the position. It could also be that they are not being challenged enough and are seeking a job where they can grow. Be sure to ask this question first though and pay close attention to their answer.
You should also ask them about their career passions. Why were they first interested in this industry? For a lot of jobs, passion is important for success. Take a look at our past blog post on how you can locate passion in a job seeker to help you with this. Along with passion, be sure to ask them about their career path and where they see themselves going in the near future. If they are passionate about what they do and their career goals line up nicely with this position, then they may be a great candidate and their job hopping is irrelevant.
Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, be sure to ask a job hopper about their ideal company culture. Finding someone that fits into your company culture is so important and is a huge factor in a successful hire. Perhaps this is why they have been such a job hopper. Maybe their past jobs were not a great company culture fit and they left as soon as they had the chance. If this candidate’s ideal culture seems to align nicely with your company culture, then chances are they won’t jump ship- or hop to another job- as soon as they get the chance.
Do you have a question you need answered? Spark a conversation with the Spark Hire team by submitting your question to blog(at)sparkhire.com or in the comments below.
Job Interview Tip: The Best Answer to the Job Hopper Question
Are you a bit of a job hopper? Its okay! Here are some tips to help you ace that question during your job interview.
Spotting Job Hoppers is Mega Important
If you are the next victim on the job hoppers list, then it’s going to cost you money!
A report from the Center for American Progress, which studied 11 research papers published over the course of 15 years, found that turnover can cost organizations anywhere from 16% to 213% of the lost employee’s salary.
16% represents the cost of turnover for positions earning less than $30,000 annually.
Higher paid jobs tend to have disproportionately higher turnover costs ranging up to 213% of the replaced employee’s salary!
For example, if a highly-trained employee was making $150,000 annually, the cost for the organization to replace that employee could be as high as $320,000!
It’s pretty obvious that you need to catch job hoppers before it’s too late!
I have used my 15+ years of interviewing experience to put together the complete list of questions for job hoppers.
Now you can you can spot them in the interview, instead of after they leave you high and dry!
The Resume: A Useful Bit of Insight, But Sometimes Misleading
A candidate’s resume says a lot about their drive, ambition and character. However, a resume doesn’t tell the whole story. If a hiring manager encounters a candidate with a resume that is littered with employment changes every year, there may be a valid reason. Also, it is important to note that, in some industries, job hopping is the norm. For example, most tech workers stay in their roles on average 1.5 to 2 years.
If a hiring manager has a resume cross their desk that is full of short-term employment, the candidate shouldn’t be rejected outright based on the resume alone. However, further investigation is required. A hiring manager should ask the candidate a few strategic questions to get a better understanding of the reasons behind their job hopping.
Know that You are In Control
The strategy we’re going to use to properly ask the interview questions for the job hoppers is a technique that I came up with called “Established Total Control”.
“Established Total Control” is a series of questions designed to put you in the driver seat of the interview.
It’s not to say that they can’t talk, because the opposite is actually true!
You will talk 10% to their 90%! But the series of these 9 questions for job hoppers is designed to make sure that they don’t take you on a ride and lead you all over the place.
YOU are in control and you will establish it clearly.
What you may notice is that the questions aren’t all that different or probing, but rather the order that you ask them in is the importance!
Let’s get into its! Here are my…
FAQ
How do you explain job hopping in an interview?
Here are some examples of good ways of explaining job hopping that should satisfy employers: Your boss left and the work environment changed. Your role changed or shifted away from what they hired you to do.
Why you should hire job hoppers?
How do you interview with hoppers?
What are 10 good interview questions and answers?
- Tell me about yourself.
- Walk me through your resume.
- How did you hear about this position?
- Why do you want to work at this company?
- Why do you want this job?
- Why should we hire you?
- What can you bring to the company?
- What are your greatest strengths?
