According to CNN Money, last year over 2.8 million employees quit their job in search of better salaries.  While that is often a great signal of the impending wage hikes and a strengthening economy, this can feel like a sudden brain drain for companies.  The healthy economy has drawn many employees out of their comfy positions and into the job market.  HR departments are left trying to figure out how to increase employee retention rates and hiring managers are left wondering if job hoppers are suitable candidates for open positions.  The answer is job hoppers can be excellent employees for a variety of reasons. 

Job Hoppers Bring a Wealth of Experience

I've got a secret to share: I've gained more experience in various companies than I ever did at one company alone. In every position, I've learned something new.  This includes new software, new techniques, and new ways not to do things. Had I not exposed myself to a variety of different companies, I wouldn't have had this experience.

Many times, companies are in dire need of change but they don't know it.  In many organizations with long term employees, a noticeable trend starts to emerge.  People start saying things like "we've always done it this way".  Innovation starts to feel like a dirty word.  It's only when new blood comes in that this viewpoint gets shaken up.  Job hoppers are excellent agents for change in these kinds of companies because they've experienced a variety of different ways of doing things.

Job Hoppers Are Team Players

It seems counter intuitive to suggest someone who puts their career first is a team player, but think about how a job hopper survives; they hop from position to position, ingratiating themselves into new teams with different personalities. In order to survive, a job hopper needs to be the consummate team player. This can come in handy at an organization seeking to establish a sense of team spirit and cooperation. Being able to work with many different kinds of personalities and break into established teams and cliques can be beneficial to a company.  Knowing how to break in is even more of a prize.

Job Hoppers are Strategic Thinkers

Job hoppers aren't all about luck, but rather strategy.  Recent reports cite that the longer employees stay in a company, the less they get paid in comparison to their counterparts.  Employees who stay at a job longer than 2 years may earn as little as 50% less than their peers during the course of their career.  A job hopper isn't content to simply make a 3% raise every year, but instead wants a bigger salary increase in a shorter amount of time. With this knowledge in mind, a job hopper actually seems the smarter candidate because of their strategic thinking.  Imagine how your company could harness this strategic mind!

They key to hiring a job hopper is to manage expectations.  A company should be aware up front that this is going to likely be a high performing employee who seeks top pay and increased responsibility in return.  This presents a unique opportunity for an employer to increase cross- training, to develop talent development programs and re-imagine opportunities for advancement that are more in line with today's changing workforce.