A job seeker recently shared a frustrating experience about being turned down for a job because the interviewer didn’t like his history of changing jobs. The hiring manager had been with the same company for 20 years and expected others to stay at a job for a long time too.
The candidate, a developer, explained why he left his last few jobs every three years. He said that at his first job, the work became boring, and he didn’t see a way to grow in his career, so he decided to leave. At his second job, he lasted almost three years until mass layoffs happened after a big company bought them out. Now, at his current job, he wanted to switch to a different project that matched his career goals, but he was told he needed to stay in the same project for 2.5 years before he could move, which led him to look for other opportunities instead.
Despite explaining his reasons, the interviewer was not convinced. The hiring manager got upset because he thought everyone should stick to a job as long as he did.
The interviewer also didn’t like the candidate’s answer when asked where he saw himself in a few years. The candidate said he wanted to become an architect to really understand projects from start to finish, but the hiring manager thought this was too focused on tech and not enough on customers. The candidate argued that doing great work would make customers happy, but the interviewer didn’t agree.
Many people who read about this shared their thoughts. One person commented that the hiring manager might not understand that many people switch jobs these days because of the current job market and inflation. Another pointed out that changing jobs every three years is actually pretty common now. A third commented that hiring managers often use excuses to reject candidates.
