10 Years In Your Current Role? You’re Stale!!

10 years in your current role, your stagnant.  Your resume probably reads like a job description.

When recruiters and hiring managers stop being human, they’ll stop having biases.  Biases are all over the place, legal and illegal — we just don’t know about them.

My biases are centered on wanting to see candidates who have gotten bored in their roles and made the choice to move on.  Not because they were laid off and had to move on.  I’m looking for the folks who are hungry to do more — striving to be that rock-star with an organization.  (I broke my own rule there — I hate the word “rock-star.”  Sorry ’bout that.)

Now if you’ve spent 10 years with the same organization but have progressed within the company and held different roles — that’s good to see!  Please read carefully:

When you don’t step out of your comfort zone, you don’t grow. Period, end of story.

When you get too comfy in a job, that’s all it is — a job.  You show up for work every day, do what’s expected of you, don’t make waves and your bills get paid.  It’s all good.

Or is it?

It just shows that you can do what many Americans are already doing every day.  But as a prospective hiring manager I’ll take the liberty of stealing Ms. Jackson’s lyrics and ask you, “What have you done for me lately?“   Or what have you done for your current organization that you can bring to mine?  Can you show what your accomplishments are?  If you can, you’re on track. 

You’re only as good as your last gig and the accomplishments under your belt within that gig.

Am I condoning job hopping?  No.  And my definition of job hopping might be different from yours.  I view job hopping as folks who change jobs within a one-year period.  I think people who change jobs every 2 to 3 years is a good sign.

Here’s why different job experiences are good for you:

• You’re exposed to different working styles and personalities of several managers and co-workers.   
  This comes in handy when navigating the waters of corporate politics — which you will encounter at some point.

• It’s good for your self-esteem and will keep you sharp within your industry. 
  When you bring your awesome talent to a new organization, you bring fresh eyes and new ideas.  They’ll appreciate that and you’ll feel valued because you’ll be valued.

• Varied workplace environments give you the best education — experience. 
  You can be in the same occupation and industry but it doesn’t mean that every company does the same thing in the same way.  They don’t.  Learning new ways of doing your work and being more productive is always something you can build on with a new organization.  Staying at one place too long puts you in a silo and you risk being viewed as not being flexible or easily adaptable to change.  It’s no secret in business that the only thing that stays the same is CHANGE.

• You can decide what types of companies you like to work in.
  Do you like big corporate organizations or do you prefer smaller companies?  Being exposed to several organizations that have different protocols will allow you to continue learning.  And while some employees never catch a glimpse of their company’s CEO, others can mosey on in to their CEO’s office and chat about the weekend.  You decide which one fits you best.

• This goes for CEOs too. 
  Just because you’re the head honcho doesn’t mean you don’t get stale.  You do.  You can ride on the coattails of a successful project for only so long before you’ll be looked upon to come up with the company’s next big thing.  My personal bias is that CEOs should be flushed out every 5 to 7 years just for the perspective of bringing fresh eyes to the table.

So, get out and do something different and grow.