Latest / Edan Haddock - Total Talent / Job Hoppers Aren’t the Problem. Your Hiring Mindset Is.

Transcript

Job Hoppers Aren’t the Problem. Your Hiring Mindset Is. · Edan Haddock - Total Talent

• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Eden Haddock Total Talent.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Eden Haddock, Head of Talent and People Experience at November.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: As usual, I wanted to talk today about something, you know, has been been sitting around in my mind for a while.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's one of those things that just keeps popping up in our work.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: It pops up in hiring conversations, in interview debriefs, in leadership meetings.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: And every time I hear it, I pause.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I always have, not because it's new, but because it's so old.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: And yet we still treat it like it's a fact.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'll quote, hmm, I don't know.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: They've moved around a lot.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: You've heard it.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: You've probably said it.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're honest, you've probably felt it.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: You know that that slight hesitation when you see a CV with six months, twelve months, eighteen months, perhaps two years?
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Move, move, move.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: And something in the back of your brain goes, risk.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: So this is what I want to explore today.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: What if that instinct is completely outdated?
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: What if we're judging modern talent with a lens that was built for a world that simply doesn't exist anymore?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because when I look at the world right now, when I look at Workforce 5.0, when I look at Gen Z, when I look at how people actually want to work, I'm starting to think perhaps we've got it backwards.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: So today we're going to pull this apart.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: The idea of job hoppers, the obsession with tenure, and the mythical loyal employee.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to talk about why people used to stay for decades, why that world is gone, the rise of portfolio careers, the three-year engagement cliff, and whether a rotating workforce is actually optimal.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, we'll talk about November too.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think we are doing some interesting work here and something a bit different.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe maybe it's something closer to where the world is heading.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: So no answers today, just questions.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: But I promise you this: by the end of the episode, you won't look at a job hopper the same way again.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: Let's rewind.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because to understand why this bias exists, we've got to understand where it came from.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: There was a time, not that long ago, where staying in one company for twenty, thirty, and even forty years wasn't just normal.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: It was the goal.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Your identity was tied to your employer.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: You joined as a graduate, you climbed the ladder, and you got your gold watch at the end.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Done.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: And organizations, they were built for that.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Structured hierarchies, clear progression pathways, defined roles, and stability.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: And in return, you gave loyalty.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: And you got security.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: But here's what's interesting.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: That model only worked because the world moved slowly.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Skills didn't expire overnight.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Technology didn't disrupt entire industries every eighteen months.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: You could build a career by going deep in one place.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: But fast forward to now, and that entire contract is broken.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now we've got a new generation entering the workforce.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: And they're not broken.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: They're not impatient.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: They're not entitled.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: They're responding to reality.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Gen Z has grown up in a world where nothing is stable.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Jobs disappear, industry shift, AI changes everything.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: So instead of asking, how do I stay somewhere forever?
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: They're actually asking, How do I stay relevant?
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: And the answer to this is move, learn, adapt, repeat.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where Workforce 5.0 comes in.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Because we're not just talking about generational change.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking about a completely different relationship with work.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Work is no longer a place you go, it's a portfolio you build.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Multiple experiences, different environments, stacked skills, short cycles.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: And suddenly that CV that used to look risky starts to look strategic.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about this properly.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: Portfolio careers.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think this is where a lot of talent teams are still playing catch up.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: The idea that someone might work full-time somewhere for 18 months, consult on the side, build something of their own, jump into a contract, then move again.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: And instead of that being chaos, it's actually design a deliberate strategy to build breadth, to stay fresh, to stay in demand.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, some of the best people I've met work like this.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: They don't attach their identity to one organization, they attach it to impact.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where I think Movember does something really interesting.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because we actually don't expect everyone to stay forever.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, we don't design for that.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: What we do say is come here, do something meaningful, have impact.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: And if that's for one year, two years, three years, that's okay.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: And it's okay to be beyond that as well.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: But the reality here is some people want a portfolio good.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's how I describe it.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: They want to say, I spent time at Movember and I did something that mattered.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I think that's powerful.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: The problem with tenure as a signal, let's challenge this directly.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Why do we care about tenure?
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because we think it signals commitment, stability, and performance.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: But does it?
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: Let's be honest, we've all seen people stay in roles for ten years and mentally check out after the first two.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: We've seen low performers with long tenure.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: We've seen high performers with short tenure.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: So what are we actually measuring?
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Are we measuring time or are we measuring impact?
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because they're not the same thing.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: And yet we still use tenure as a shortcut.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's easy, it feels safe, but it's lazy.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's something I keep coming back to the three year mark.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: In most organizations, engagement peaks early.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Year one, learning.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Year two, contributing.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: Year three, plateau.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then what happens?
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Stagnation?
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Comfort or disengagement?
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I wanna I want to ask the uncomfortable question.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: If most people disengage after three years, why are we so obsessed with keeping them longer?
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: And flip that.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: What if a three-year cycle is actually optimal?
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Learn, contribute, impact, move.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Is that so bad?
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Or is that just different?
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: There are pros and cons of movers, of course.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: So let's balance this because it's not black and white.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: The pros, fresh thinking, adaptability, broad experience, faster learning cycles, lower complacency.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: But then the cons.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: Less institutional knowledge, potential for shallow impact, higher onboarding costs, and team continuity challenges.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: So the question isn't are job hoppers good or bad?
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's how do we design organizations that work with this reality?
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we've been asking the wrong question all along.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of how long did they stay?
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: We should be asking, what did they do while they were there, regardless of duration and tenure?
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: What did they build?
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: What changed because of them?
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: What impact did they leave behind?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's what actually matters.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: So next time you hear it, they move around a lot.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: Pause and ask yourself, is that a risk?
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: Or is that exactly what this world now demands?
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because Workforce 5.0 isn't coming.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's here.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: And the talent teams that win in this new world won't be the ones clinging to the past.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: They'll be the ones who understand that careers aren't ladders anymore.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: They're portfolios.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe, just maybe, the job hopper is actually the blueprint.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Eden Haddock.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is Total Talent.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: If you this made if this episode made you think, please share it.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe send it to someone who still believes tenure equals loyalty.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're building talent strategies right now, ask yourself one question Are you hiring for time or for impact?
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'll catch you next Friday.