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

["Keith Soltys" <keith -at- soltys -dot- ca>]

Geoff, I have to disagree with you here.

> 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.

In the present economomy, or in the economy that we've had over the last
five years or so, there is no stability and it doesn't matter who you work
for. In my case, I've had 4 jobs in the previous 9 years, three of those I
lost due to downsizings, mergers, or closings. I only made one voluntary
switch, to my last position, which lasted a year a half - the switch was a
case of being made an offer that was too good to refuse -- and I'd still be
there if they hadn't pulled rug out from under me and closed the office.

You are probably correct in your hypothetical assessment, if the hiring
manager is looking for someone who will stay for 10 years, but honestly, how
common is that. I have had to hire people, and I saw very few resumés, even
for senior writers, whrere people stayed at a job for more than 5 years. I
think you have to consider the reasons why people leave jobs as well as the
length of their service - and that's something that you usually can't asses
just from reading a resumé.

>
> 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).

Company pension plans are not the norm in Canada, if you are talking about a
pension plan and not a group RRSP -- they're common only in large companies
or ones that have unions. Only one of the companies that I worked for has
had a real pension plan. Of the others, two had a group RRSP plan, which is
similar in some respects, but doesn't provide the same incentive to stay as
a real pension plan because the RRSP's usually vest in two years or so. And
the employer paid portion of the RRSP is usually smaller than the employee
contribution and you can usually take that one with youi or transfer it with
no problems.

>
> --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
>



 --
Keith Soltys
keith -at- soltys -dot- ca
Host of "Internet Resources for Technical Communicators" since 1994
Now at http://www.soltys.ca/techcomm.html
Now unemployed and looking for work in Toronto.



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