After a significant economic interruption, such as the pandemic or notable recessions, it’s not uncommon to see people who had successful contiguous careers find themselves caught in the perception of job-hopping.

There are a couple of reasons for this.

1/ deep recessions such as in 2001, 2008 and 2020, tend to last a long time. Healthy companies that recruit during these periods, may find themselves suddenly having to cut back, and who isn’t guilty of last-in-first-out to reduce redundancy payments?

2/ it is normal for someone who has been successful in a career, who finds their positions to have been made redundant to encounter two things. One a loss of identity as it pertains to what the right next role is – a wrong move or two can bring that clarity back. Two a financial crunch that requires a short-term compromise in the roles they take – there’s no shame in taking alternative employment when career employment is not available.

These two points are not a reflection of how good an employee they will be, whereas assessing their candidacy with due diligence is.

That is to say that, if you read a CV that has a period of job-hopping, check that there aren’t mitigating circumstances before making an assumption.

‘Why?’ is often better than ‘No’.

Especially if you are in a ‘candidate short’ market.

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This is the latest slide in my free guide "Accessing a Candidate Short Market", now on version 1.6. Email me if you'd like a copy - greg.wyatt@bwrecruitment.co.uk.