I have a close relative who celebrated her 15th anniversary at her company last Wednesday. They called her in and gave her a watch, a nice bonus check, and took her picture with the company President. (Because it’s hard to find good, long-term employees, right?)
The next day they laid her off.
Now she is very worried that her 15 years spent fine-tuning her skills for her very particular job has left her with a well defined job set for a position that nobody else needs. I told her that anyone who overlooks a 15-year commitment to a single employer is very near-sighted. In today’s job market when people flip jobs faster than they update their iPod I believe there are many employers who would like to be able to hire a new employee, and have them stay with the company longer than their introductory training session.
I agree with you. The first thing I do when I hire is scan the resumes for job turnover. Short stints in college may make sense, but if someone changes jobs more often than every two years, their resume goes right in the garbage. If they have period of long employment, they get moved to the top of the list. While the right skill set it nice, not having to constantly retrain people is even better. If someone is likely to be with you for a long period of time, it is easier to justify investing in them.