Hong Kong HR professional calls job-hoppers “rubbish”

No boss wants to have to replace a colleague every two years, which is why candidates who show job-hopping tendencies are a red flag for many employers.

One Hong Kong HR professional totally agrees, and shared on Hong Kong Discussion Group  why she thinks job-hoppers are "rubbish".

She thinks employers are willing to pay more to retain talented employees, but will never overpay to keep less capable individuals. Therefore, people who change jobs often are the less capable ones that fail to impress the boss. "The more one changes jobs, the less capable they are," she wrote.

She added that jumpy candidates are those who fail to score a promotion and so they keep moving on in hope of getting one.

While she might have a point, many believe that getting a proper pay raise is the key reason behind changing jobs for most people.

"I have worked five different jobs since graduating seven years ago. During those years, my pay has gone up by five times. On a number of occasions, the boss tried to retain me with more money but their offer was too low, leaving me no choice but to move on," one netizen replied to the post.

Another netizen who said he is a manager, commented that the number of times an individual changes job has nothing to do with his or her abilities. He said it is understandable for young people who are still figuring out their career goals to change jobs often.

In fact, he is more concerned about candidates who have been working in the same job for a long time but have received a very limited pay raise.

He listed two types of applicants that he would not meet: 1) Candidates who change job often but haven't received much of a pay raise, and 2) candidates who have stayed in a job for a long time but have not been promoted.

Others who commented felt that the pay raise a candidate gets for every job move is more telling than the number of times an individual changes jobs. "No boss would give a piece of "rubbish" a 30% pay raise for his new job. The amount of pay raise one gets when moving to a new job tells you a lot about his ability," said one netizen.

A netizen who claims he changes jobs every one to two years said one boss offered him 50% more to retain him, but he turned it down because the new employer gave him a 60% pay raise. "I would never have gotten the 50% pay raise offer from my boss if I hadn't told him I had another offer," he wrote.

The glaring issue here is that employees tend to believe they are being low-balled by their current employer and need to change jobs to receive the higher pay they deserve.

According to PayScale research more pay transparency can boost employer-employee relationships. Maybe the best way to retain talent is to show them how salaries are calculated. That way they'll be more likely to feel they're compensated fairly and are less tempted to look else where.

Using a different tactic, leading companies like Netflix are readjusting their salary levels in accordance with labour market rates to help retain talent.

Please share with us your thoughts on jumpy candidates.

ALSO READ: Almost half of Hong Kongers prefer work-life balance over pay raises

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