On Our Minds
For more than a dozen years, I’ve been helping hiring managers make crucial placements for their teams. Time and again, I’ve seen alarm bells go off when a candidate’s resume contains a short tenure or two—that is, less than a year or two in a role.
These experiences are often met with negative assumptions about a candidate's work performance or loyalty. While those factors can be relevant, they’re often not—and in fact the exact opposite might be true.
For many candidates, their identities or workstyle can be at odds with the culture, management, or mission of roles they’ve transitioned from. As an equity-minded search firm, we think it’s important to hold space for those experiences in hiring practices. Without it, you can miss out on great candidates, especially ones that will diversify the culture and processes of your organization.
Common reasons for short tenures
1. Recruited away
Recruiters invest a lot of time and energy into getting the attention of stellar performers. And if the candidate’s current role leaves them wanting more in terms of flexibility or benefits, there’s a better chance of convincing them to move on.
2. Lack of inclusivity
When candidates don't feel like they’re truly valued and understood as employees, it’s more likely they’ll make the decision to seek out a culture that feels more conducive to their long-term potential. For people that occupy underrepresented identities, this is as much a matter of career trajectory as it is of safety. That's probably one of the most common things I hear from candidates when I truly get under the hood of a transition.
3. Misrepresentation of the position or organization
Whether intentionally or not, organizations can sometimes limit their transparency when it comes to bringing in new talent. For candidates that were only told about the good things an organization had to offer, it can be jarring to enter a less curated reality with challenges that feel overwhelming and unexpected.
Tips for taking a more asset-based approach to understanding short tenures
1. Ask, don’t assume
I know hiring managers can’t ignore their responsibility to watch out for potential risks in new hires. Doing your job well means asking the right questions, and short tenures present a great opportunity to do so. Instead of setting yourself up to get half a story, shape your approach around understanding the arc of candidates careers.
Your organization may very well provide the exact circumstances in which the candidate will thrive, but you miss out on the opportunity to discover that if you don’t have the conversation in the first place.
Digging in here also helps you really pinpoint the areas that might mean a candidate isn’t the best fit. Their explanations can reveal concerns about their ability to function well in a role, or at your organization, and it’s important that you take the time to investigate—without writing them off before you do it.
2. Look inward before you look outward
While it’s natural to assess what a candidate can bring to the team, it’s important to recognize when you’re looking for a hire to fix a problem the organization should address first.
For example, if employee retention is a growing concern, it’s not a full solution to seek out candidates that have demonstrated commitment elsewhere. Especially not when it causes you to skip over candidates who might be exactly what your organization needs.
Instead of immediately zooming in to the candidate side of the equation, address the ways your organizational infrastructure may be lacking. Consider your culture, compensation, management, and flexibility. Then ask yourself how reasonable it may be for employees to feel they can get more elsewhere. Otherwise, you might run the risk of losing the talent you work hard to bring on.
3. Provide a safe space for transparency
Candidates aren’t oblivious to the biases that exist around short tenures, so they may need a little nudge in the direction of transparency. It often feels “safer” to keep things vague, so part of the hiring team’s work is helping candidates understand that their safe zone can include details.
Let them know how much consideration you’ve given the process, and emphasize that your goal is really understanding their career—good, bad, and everything in between. There are no hard and fast rules for this part and, more than anything, you have to acknowledge the process is ever-evolving. Holding space can look different minute by minute in a conversation; as long as you make a consistent effort to consider the full scope of a candidate's life and career, you're on the right track.
4. Present an accurate picture
Candidates want to know what they’re walking into. It can be tempting to paint a more digestible image of your organization and its leadership, but it’s important not to stray too far from an honest representation. Candidates are trusting you to introduce them to the role and the context that surrounds it, make sure you’re considering that during the interview process.
The takeaway
Avoiding short tenures just doesn’t cut it as search criteria, and finding good talent deserves our best efforts. This is especially important for hiring managers at organizations struggling with retention—I’ve found they struggle the most with letting go of this bias.
Reconsidering short tenures gives us more opportunities to connect with good candidates, and helps organizations consider their own room for growth. Creating a sense of trust during interviews is easier said than done, but it’s part of the work of building equity. These tips are about providing new context to the short tenure, but they’re also about doing a better job of humanizing people.
We all know life is more complicated than resume bullet points and stereotypical assumptions—let’s incorporate that into our hiring. Being willing to do the work is half the battle, so you’re already getting a leg up.
Meet Robert Mayer
Rob has been with On-Ramps since 2010. As a Partner, he leads client engagements across a broad range of issue areas including policy and advocacy, education, and philanthropy. He also leads the firm's client development work. Connect with Rob and the other On-Rampers at info@on-ramps.com.
