Many years ago, job hopping was viewed as the first red flag on a resume.  Those resumes that showed multiple jobs over the previous 5-10 years were instantly moved to the “not interested right now” pile.  If no solid candidates were in the rest of the pile the resume might get a second look, but for the most part that resume was considered out of the running. 

But with the current economy, has this changed?  It seems as though it should.   There is even information out there that suggests that hiring a job hopper could be good for the employer .

There are many reasons why job hopping does not necessarily mean the candidate is a risk.  Here are a few to consider:

• Many companies are moving to more contract and temporary employees in order to save money, particularly on benefits.  Contracts may not have been renewed or the employee was brought in on a short term basis for project work from the start.

• Many candidates were laid off in the last couple years but unlike years past, this does not necessarily mean it was due to poor performance.  When corporations are laying off hundreds, it is not realistic to believe that all those affected were poor performers.

• With the economy shifting so dramatically in the past few years many companies restructured significantly.  Candidates may have been affected by these changes in strategy a everyone tried to tighten up.

• With all the other changes in organization and acquisitions, a lot of bosses were afraid of losing their jobs.  They may have sold a complete turnaround to their bosses as an attempt to retain their own employment.  The result could be that the job itself changed considerably and the employee was no longer a fit for the organization.

• Candidates affected by organizational changes may have taken other jobs just to pay their bills.  The news about unemployment was not good and the mindset for a few years seemed to be that you better take any job just to have one, since there were so few out there.  The luxury of looking for the perfect fit was pushed aside for quite a while and candidates have been in survival mode. 

If the job hopping was due to some of the reasons above and was essentially out of the employee’s control,  isn’t it possible a job hopper would make the perfect employee?  Doesn’t it stand to reason that some of these candidates are seeking loyalty, security, and stability?