When seeking out candidates, one thing we consider in addition to qualifications is a person’s career timeline and how long they stay with each employer. Over and over again, this is something that our client companies name as an important feature of their ideal candidate: someone who has demonstrated solid commitment to a job.
The reasons for prioritizing those with fewer job changes are clear ones – hiring managers assume someone who moves to a new job every two years will also leave them in 2 years – requiring the company to refill the position. Short stints of employment also limit the amount of on-the-job skills developed and can be a red flag as to a candidate’s motivation and ability to work with others.
Of course, there are exceptions to this. Candidates can have very valid reasons for changing jobs whether it be a layoff, a closure or a relocation. Younger workers tend to have a higher average of job transitions as they try to get established and find what industries or functions work for them. Economic downturns also need to be taken into consideration.
So there does need to be a level of reasoning when considering someone’s career timeline. To better understand the current backdrop of tenure trends in the U.S. Labor market, we did some fact digging within the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. We wanted to find out just how often the average American spends at a job now compared to decades prior.
In January 2016, the median number of years that wage and salary workers had been with their current employer was 4.2 years.
To our surprise, the average number of years between job changes has been slowly on the rise for more than two decades. In 1983, the average number of years a worker stayed with their employer was 3.6 years (bls.gov). Articles exist from even as far back as the 1920’s that try to understand the causes of the high labor turnover they were experiencing (see: History of Labor Turnover in the U.S.).
One thing this indicates is an aging population of workers. Younger workers tend to switch jobs more often while older workers are more likely to stay with an employer for 10+ years (see chart below). We have large amounts of Baby Boomers at the heights of their careers and a younger, much smaller generation of workers entering and trying to find stability. This is shifting the average number of years a worker stays with their employer.
