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Type: HR, Report if not a HR topic
Excellent take Diana. Your elaborate response has covered almost all the scenarios that we face as HR when dealing with a candidate with breaks in employment.
As ever, your response was to the point and lengthy :) Not complaining, just to reiterate that we love your eye for detail.
Cheers buddy.
Harish
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Frequent service brakes!!! What will be your judgment if this issue arises at an interview?
Type: HR, Report if not a HR topic
Posted 07-11-2011Reply
Frequent service brakes in the carrier path will show employee’s inability to establish in a company! Is this true? Are our perceptions based on this matter always correct? How can we take accurate decisions at the interviews if the candidate has this kind of a profile?
Professional views are welcome
Nimali
Frequent Service Breaks
These can signal many things.
1. Someone who is overestimating their ability and talking themselves into jobs they cannot do.
2. Someone who underestimating their ability and getting bored quickly with the jobs they get.
3. Someone without the ability for the job but who insists on trying none the less.
4. Someone psychologically unfit to work.
5. Someone with under developed social skills (I know one person who is brilliant at his job but has Aspergers, he needs special support but the company find his genius - literally - indispensable.) Some companies don't/won't support people like this.
6. Someone physically incapable of fulfilling that type of work.
7. An HR culture which discriminates against this person/group of people.
8. A "sellers market" to many jobs chasing too few applicants.
9. An HR environment where people are simply employed not developed.
I could go n and on and on but the one clear signal to me is bad HR practices whichever it is from the above list.
These can signal many things.
1. Someone who is overestimating their ability and talking themselves into jobs they cannot do.
2. Someone who underestimating their ability and getting bored quickly with the jobs they get.
3. Someone without the ability for the job but who insists on trying none the less.
4. Someone psychologically unfit to work.
5. Someone with under developed social skills (I know one person who is brilliant at his job but has Aspergers, he needs special support but the company find his genius - literally - indispensable.) Some companies don't/won't support people like this.
6. Someone physically incapable of fulfilling that type of work.
7. An HR culture which discriminates against this person/group of people.
8. A "sellers market" to many jobs chasing too few applicants.
9. An HR environment where people are simply employed not developed.
I could go n and on and on but the one clear signal to me is bad HR practices whichever it is from the above list.
This is based on the candidate also because, if the candidate is genuinely keen into getting into a position he/she applied they wouldn't sell themselve but propose themselve for the position.
If the breaks in a person career is genuine it would show in the way he/she presents oneself during the interview.
If the breaks in a person career is genuine it would show in the way he/she presents oneself during the interview.
Adding to what Neil wrote, sometimes the following might also be the reasons:
1. If the candidate is expecting a huge increase in his/her compensation within short span which will sometimes leave the persons jobless for their instability.
2. Sometimes unexpected health hazards/ death of close family members or some unforeseen events.
3. Trying different jobs to determine their true interest.
Regards,
Sri Manjari .V
1. If the candidate is expecting a huge increase in his/her compensation within short span which will sometimes leave the persons jobless for their instability.
2. Sometimes unexpected health hazards/ death of close family members or some unforeseen events.
3. Trying different jobs to determine their true interest.
Regards,
Sri Manjari .V
Dear Nimali,
I know this is kind of late to reply to your query considering its been quite long that it was posted.
Break in career is a common to many candidates. Neil has given a very beautiful explanation for the possible reasons a candidate might have and others have covered quite a lot of ground. I can only speak for myself since I also have a break in my career, a long one at that. Breaks can be due to personal or professional reasons. It is advisable for the HR to probe as much as legally possible to ascertain the exact cause for the break/s.
This is very necessary from the employer's stand point because it reflects the behavioral aspects of the candidate which can reflect the potential flight risk. You would not want to hire someone because he/she cannot take pressure and keeps jumping jobs and has breaks in career as a result. You might want to rather hire someone who is measured and can withstand pressure.
But there are genuine reasons for breaks in a candidate's resume which should not impact his hire-ability quotient. In such instances, it is advisable to give credit only to merit and not just a routine rejection syndrome called cv-reject just because of gaps. Unless we sit across the table and drill down to the exact reasons for the gaps, we might probably miss a good talent.
Open to discuss.
Regards,
Harish
I know this is kind of late to reply to your query considering its been quite long that it was posted.
Break in career is a common to many candidates. Neil has given a very beautiful explanation for the possible reasons a candidate might have and others have covered quite a lot of ground. I can only speak for myself since I also have a break in my career, a long one at that. Breaks can be due to personal or professional reasons. It is advisable for the HR to probe as much as legally possible to ascertain the exact cause for the break/s.
This is very necessary from the employer's stand point because it reflects the behavioral aspects of the candidate which can reflect the potential flight risk. You would not want to hire someone because he/she cannot take pressure and keeps jumping jobs and has breaks in career as a result. You might want to rather hire someone who is measured and can withstand pressure.
But there are genuine reasons for breaks in a candidate's resume which should not impact his hire-ability quotient. In such instances, it is advisable to give credit only to merit and not just a routine rejection syndrome called cv-reject just because of gaps. Unless we sit across the table and drill down to the exact reasons for the gaps, we might probably miss a good talent.
Open to discuss.
Regards,
Harish
Dear Nimali,
Its an interesting topic..
I could not agree more with all the above comments...
An HR can not reject a profile, only based on the gaps in the candidate's career. As everyone mentioned, to come to a conclusion & judge the potential of your prospective candidate, the reasons should be asked/probed by the HR & explained clearly by the candidate.
There could also be other reasons, such as:
-To pursue higher education
-Health reasons (Personal / family members)
-Relocation
-Marriage (Mostly it happens for women, who need to stop working)
-Maternity breaks / family responsibilities
-Lay offs / recession
-Underpaid or not at all paid, due to the financial situation of the company
-Lack of growth and opportunities
-Last but not the least, and I can say, the most often reason for frequent breaks would be to get a higher pay.
Unfortunately, there are some who treat companies, jobs and opportunities as a "bargain" & keep hopping from time to time, to demand higher pay. I should also add, that unknowingly, we as HR, also encourage this, by recruiting such candidates and giving-in to their demands. A small step from our side, would be to find out the exact reason with patience, ask for thorough details, before summing up for the proposed salary. Questions like: when was your last hike? what are the proofs for the latest salary? (Pay slips, bank statement, letter from the HR..though these can be forged too :P )
Often, those who are aiming mainly & only for the hike in their salary, would either put down their papers just before their appraisal, to have a higher figure to demand from their current employer (Or) put down their papers right after the appraisal is done, to get into the new company with a hike on their very recent increment. Sad but true!
Not to forget another amazing part of the story, that this "hopping" often creates an imbalance in the existing pool of employees as well. An employee who is working with the same company for the past 5 years, would be paid less, when compared to a person who has hopped 3 companies in the last 5 years!! (90% of times this is a fact!)
Hope, we as HR, could be more vigilant about the credentials of the candidates and make sure we are doing our part to maintain an healthy & fair environment for our hardworking & loyal employees.
Cheers,
Diana
P.S. Saw this post very late..hope it was not too late to reply :)
Its an interesting topic..
I could not agree more with all the above comments...
An HR can not reject a profile, only based on the gaps in the candidate's career. As everyone mentioned, to come to a conclusion & judge the potential of your prospective candidate, the reasons should be asked/probed by the HR & explained clearly by the candidate.
There could also be other reasons, such as:
-To pursue higher education
-Health reasons (Personal / family members)
-Relocation
-Marriage (Mostly it happens for women, who need to stop working)
-Maternity breaks / family responsibilities
-Lay offs / recession
-Underpaid or not at all paid, due to the financial situation of the company
-Lack of growth and opportunities
-Last but not the least, and I can say, the most often reason for frequent breaks would be to get a higher pay.
Unfortunately, there are some who treat companies, jobs and opportunities as a "bargain" & keep hopping from time to time, to demand higher pay. I should also add, that unknowingly, we as HR, also encourage this, by recruiting such candidates and giving-in to their demands. A small step from our side, would be to find out the exact reason with patience, ask for thorough details, before summing up for the proposed salary. Questions like: when was your last hike? what are the proofs for the latest salary? (Pay slips, bank statement, letter from the HR..though these can be forged too :P )
Often, those who are aiming mainly & only for the hike in their salary, would either put down their papers just before their appraisal, to have a higher figure to demand from their current employer (Or) put down their papers right after the appraisal is done, to get into the new company with a hike on their very recent increment. Sad but true!
Not to forget another amazing part of the story, that this "hopping" often creates an imbalance in the existing pool of employees as well. An employee who is working with the same company for the past 5 years, would be paid less, when compared to a person who has hopped 3 companies in the last 5 years!! (90% of times this is a fact!)
Hope, we as HR, could be more vigilant about the credentials of the candidates and make sure we are doing our part to maintain an healthy & fair environment for our hardworking & loyal employees.
Cheers,
Diana
P.S. Saw this post very late..hope it was not too late to reply :)
Excellent take Diana. Your elaborate response has covered almost all the scenarios that we face as HR when dealing with a candidate with breaks in employment.
As ever, your response was to the point and lengthy :) Not complaining, just to reiterate that we love your eye for detail.
Cheers buddy.
Harish
Hi all,
It is very interesting to see your thoughts even after a long time.
Can I come up with a different scenario?
I can bravely say if I didnt change my jobs frequently, one job per year ( you can see my carrier history) I will not definitely develop up to the position today I am in.
In my 1st company, I had few things to do like mapping competencies for workers in construction. moreover, I was very upset that I didnt see a sense of working. Thats why I resigned from there. Though my parents resisted, I simply resigned.
In my next company, I did a good job. But, as many other Sri Lankan companies, that was a personal Management oriented company. Expectations of the ownership from HR and our expectations didnt match. Within that limitation, I laid the foundation but, I was only allowed to build up a small house there, not a castle.
If my blood is asking for new things, new parameters, new developments in Hr, why should I stagnate in a personal department? If I do so, then it will be the worsted insult I do to my education I got freely from my mother country. Could any interviewer say that my resignation is wrong?
Next organization I joined was semi- government one. I joined with it cos, there was a nice restructuring going on at the time. It was challenging and encouraging with the blessings of the Chairman. But as many of political based organizations, Chairman was transferred to another organization and all the developmental plans became 'never happens dreams'. If that situation is like that, should I waste my valuable time for 'nothing'?
After that move, I found my dream company, which had all the resources, blessings from the top to do whatever Hr / organizational development I could do. But I can say, If I didnt change my job frequently and at the right time, if i waited for the sake of the salary / for the sake of the length of the service period, I would never gain the experience I got from different organizational cultures, from dealing with different personalities and more, all the companies I worked were not systematic. I had to design systems for them. Thats exposure can be never taken if I worked only for one company or two.
Since I got all the arms with me to design, develop and improve a manual system into a highly technological system, I could develop Alliance Finance HR upto a certain level. Apart from the past experience I got from different jobs, knowledge I gathered from internet and literature review brought an invaluable value addition to my career.
If supported my top mgt, now I am in a position to develop HR even in to a shared service center / centralized HR division for a diversified group.
Is it fair from an interviewer to look at the number of years I have spent in one company and decide that I am a flying bird from one tree to other.
A person's retention who is having an inherent desire for developments, depends on several factors.
1. Management support to develop the existing system to a well developed system.
2. Retention strategies of the company. ( top talent mgt strategies and succession planning)
3. Unbias decisions
4. willingness of the Management to go forward towards a goal.
As you all dont know what I have developed and my value addition to the last company I worked, you will not have an idea whether my argument is correct or wrong. But some of you may have similar experience or better. Love to see them.
Nimali
It is very interesting to see your thoughts even after a long time.
Can I come up with a different scenario?
I can bravely say if I didnt change my jobs frequently, one job per year ( you can see my carrier history) I will not definitely develop up to the position today I am in.
In my 1st company, I had few things to do like mapping competencies for workers in construction. moreover, I was very upset that I didnt see a sense of working. Thats why I resigned from there. Though my parents resisted, I simply resigned.
In my next company, I did a good job. But, as many other Sri Lankan companies, that was a personal Management oriented company. Expectations of the ownership from HR and our expectations didnt match. Within that limitation, I laid the foundation but, I was only allowed to build up a small house there, not a castle.
If my blood is asking for new things, new parameters, new developments in Hr, why should I stagnate in a personal department? If I do so, then it will be the worsted insult I do to my education I got freely from my mother country. Could any interviewer say that my resignation is wrong?
Next organization I joined was semi- government one. I joined with it cos, there was a nice restructuring going on at the time. It was challenging and encouraging with the blessings of the Chairman. But as many of political based organizations, Chairman was transferred to another organization and all the developmental plans became 'never happens dreams'. If that situation is like that, should I waste my valuable time for 'nothing'?
After that move, I found my dream company, which had all the resources, blessings from the top to do whatever Hr / organizational development I could do. But I can say, If I didnt change my job frequently and at the right time, if i waited for the sake of the salary / for the sake of the length of the service period, I would never gain the experience I got from different organizational cultures, from dealing with different personalities and more, all the companies I worked were not systematic. I had to design systems for them. Thats exposure can be never taken if I worked only for one company or two.
Since I got all the arms with me to design, develop and improve a manual system into a highly technological system, I could develop Alliance Finance HR upto a certain level. Apart from the past experience I got from different jobs, knowledge I gathered from internet and literature review brought an invaluable value addition to my career.
If supported my top mgt, now I am in a position to develop HR even in to a shared service center / centralized HR division for a diversified group.
Is it fair from an interviewer to look at the number of years I have spent in one company and decide that I am a flying bird from one tree to other.
A person's retention who is having an inherent desire for developments, depends on several factors.
1. Management support to develop the existing system to a well developed system.
2. Retention strategies of the company. ( top talent mgt strategies and succession planning)
3. Unbias decisions
4. willingness of the Management to go forward towards a goal.
As you all dont know what I have developed and my value addition to the last company I worked, you will not have an idea whether my argument is correct or wrong. But some of you may have similar experience or better. Love to see them.
Nimali
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