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Subject:RE: The Bunny Hop From:"Lydia Wong" <lydiaw -at- fpoint -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 15 May 2001 13:25:22 -0400
Mark Tipple asked:
"What's everyone's take on job-hopping? Does anyone have any personal
experiences to share"
Mary Deaton replied, in part:
"As a hiring manager, I am a little skeptical of people who hop after less
than one year."
I have to agree with Mary (with the exception of someone getting laid off or
a company going under). If a person chooses to leave in less than a year,
that would make me ask some questions.
Our problem is most candidates do not have the requisite knowledge of the
technology of our software, so our training period is fairly long. We have
to train folks in API documentation (usually), Visual Basic, our products,
and oh by the way, our customized FrameMaker templates (pretty heavily
customized due to WWP output), our style, etc.
Most people who start here aren't able to contribute a lot for the first two
to three months, and usually take up to six months to feel really
comfortable. If they leave within a year, we will have spent months training
them with little output on their part. That's a serious concern for us.
However, I would add that I've left jobs in less than a year, and I know
that sometimes, things just don't work out. For the most part, I didn't
regret leaving those jobs, and I felt that my reasons were good and so have
people who interviewed me in the past. I wouldn't preclude someone from the
hiring process because of job hopping, but I'd certainly ask them about it,
and expect a thoughtful answer.
My two cents,
Lydia : )
__________________
Lydia Wong
Technical Writer
FarPoint Technologies, Inc.
www.fpoint.com
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