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Was I being unprofessional. Job interview and follow through.

my 2¢, since you were an intern a less than two week notice to begin a career is fine. I believe all employers know that an intern's goal is to gain experience to land a job. I would also say that, though it is tough at times, try and leave on good to neutral terms as you never know when your paths will cross again.
 
I'm fortunate to be able to do a lot of hiring as well, and I am seeing shorter tenures at previous jobs. I don't consider this to be a disqualification, as many industries are rife with job hoppers, for lack of a better term. This reflects the continuing trend of workers functioning more and more as freelancers with specialized skills who seek out jobs and are sought out by firms seeking to leverage those skills. I see it increasingly in software, high tech, biotech, consulting services, finance and investments, law firms (especially intellectual property) and among the entrepreneurial community. If I see someone with a lot of jobs on her resume and her qualifications fit the bill, I will still interview her, but address the job hopping in the interview. My most recent hire was a job hopper, but after talking to him about it, I hired him anyway, and it has turned out to be one of my best decisions. The days of spending 30 years with one company are over, by and large.
 

garyg

B&B membership has its percs
It comes down to not whether you quit on a prior employer, but rather the overall package. If you have a degree from the Tuck School, PHD from Stanford, quit whenever you want .. if your background is less than stellar, get humble until you have the right experience.
 

Alacrity59

Wanting for wisdom
I agree especially given what the economy has gone through in the last 8 - 10 years. People have had to take jobs to put food on the table. Many jobs have been of a short term nature as companies flip flop and re-organize. Again this is explainable in an interview.

I'm fortunate to be able to do a lot of hiring as well, and I am seeing shorter tenures at previous jobs. I don't consider this to be a disqualification, as many industries are rife with job hoppers, for lack of a better term. This reflects the continuing trend of workers functioning more and more as freelancers with specialized skills who seek out jobs and are sought out by firms seeking to leverage those skills. I see it increasingly in software, high tech, biotech, consulting services, finance and investments, law firms (especially intellectual property) and among the entrepreneurial community. If I see someone with a lot of jobs on her resume and her qualifications fit the bill, I will still interview her, but address the job hopping in the interview. My most recent hire was a job hopper, but after talking to him about it, I hired him anyway, and it has turned out to be one of my best decisions. The days of spending 30 years with one company are over, by and large.
 
I think most prospective employers may expect to see a certain amount of job hopping (within reason) during the first, say, 10 years or so of your career, provided that you are moving to positions of increased responsibility. Lateral moves to similar positions are a red flag that you may be unwilling or unable to progress upward in your field. Once you gain some experience, it is still largely expected that you will be with them for the long haul. If you are in your first few years in a field, or even a hot shot book smart intern that thinks they know more than they actually do, it is very likely that you may have 2 or more jobs before you either find a home with a good company or just establish yourself as someone that can't or won't stick around for more than a couple of years.

Despite the advice of GQ or others, there are very few fields where it will not be counted against you if you are job hopping every 3-4 years. That's the reality of the world, whether you believe it or not.
 
As a guy who has hired literally hundreds of people over the years...

If a person is new to the workforce and is not willing to start at the bottom, I'm not interested.
If a person is new to the workforce and is not willing to start with a low salary, I'm not interested.
If a person is new to the workforce and is not willing to start with long hours, I'm not interested.
If a person believes they have a sense of entitlement, I'm not interested.
If a person believes that education trumps experience, I'm not interested.
A 'year off to relax', makes me not interested.
Refusal to give 'the entire two weeks notice', really pisses me off.

Please, I really don't want to sound like a jerk, but what makes you any more deserving than any other person who is willing to do any of the things you aren't? Most positions available have stacks of resumes of people who 'are willing to do what it takes' to get in, especially with the state of the economy as it is.

I manage a factory where we pay about $3 higher than minimum wage. Recently we posted an advertisement on a job bank to increase our staff on the afternoon shift, and in 48 hours I had over 400 resumes, about 50% of which were from university educated professionals... Engineers, accountants, investment bankers, chemists, even someone with a doctorate in mathematics. This is the economy we live in.

Again, don't mean to be mean. Just sayin'.
 
Going out on an interview was not unprofessional in the least. He's just being silly. As a shot in the dark I would guess that he's upset he's losing cheap labor. His firm may or may not have been a better long term choice, I really couldn't say, not being an architect and knowing more about the situation. I'm a Software Engineer and if Architects have the kind of upper pay ceiling potential that we do, I'd say shopping around occasionally while in any job (internships especially) is kind of expected.

The whole two weeks thing is hard to say, I was raised with the idea of giving two weeks, but have often seen a lot of employers won't even give them to you (that really just depends). I think the worst I can say, so long as you were professional, polite, etc... about everything is, not giving the two weeks is the closest thing to not being professional you did (though I'm not even sure it is).

As for not working at a place for more than 3-4 years at a time, I'd have to say that's really situational too. If you've landed the dream job at wonderful pay, with great co-workers, opportunity for advancement and pay increase, then why the hell not stay for 10 years? If you're just building your resume then 3-4 years can be great. Resumes are another funky subject, I've heard some hiring managers saying too many 1-2 year & 3-4 year jobs on a resume looks bad and a hard choice to hire, as they don't look dedicated / flighty / flaky. Then again, it shouldn't look bad for a period (length unknown) out of college either.

I'd say, ultimately find a job you're happy with, with good pay, benefits, opportunities for advancement and pay raise (as stated above). If there are good people there that you enjoy working with, all the better! (crappy co-workers can easily knock the other things out the window, if they're super crappy!). Good luck and screw what the guy said, it was a low pay internship to begin with!
 
As a guy who has hired literally hundreds of people over the years...

If a person is new to the workforce and is not willing to start at the bottom, I'm not interested.
If a person is new to the workforce and is not willing to start with a low salary, I'm not interested.
If a person is new to the workforce and is not willing to start with long hours, I'm not interested.
If a person believes they have a sense of entitlement, I'm not interested.
If a person believes that education trumps experience, I'm not interested.
A 'year off to relax', makes me not interested.
Refusal to give 'the entire two weeks notice', really pisses me off.

Please, I really don't want to sound like a jerk, but what makes you any more deserving than any other person who is willing to do any of the things you aren't? Most positions available have stacks of resumes of people who 'are willing to do what it takes' to get in, especially with the state of the economy as it is.

I manage a factory where we pay about $3 higher than minimum wage. Recently we posted an advertisement on a job bank to increase our staff on the afternoon shift, and in 48 hours I had over 400 resumes, about 50% of which were from university educated professionals... Engineers, accountants, investment bankers, chemists, even someone with a doctorate in mathematics. This is the economy we live in.

Again, don't mean to be mean. Just sayin
'.

Im not nearly as desperate just sayin'. And its the economy some live in.
 
I'm fortunate to be able to do a lot of hiring as well, and I am seeing shorter tenures at previous jobs. I don't consider this to be a disqualification, as many industries are rife with job hoppers, for lack of a better term. This reflects the continuing trend of workers functioning more and more as freelancers with specialized skills who seek out jobs and are sought out by firms seeking to leverage those skills. I see it increasingly in software, high tech, biotech, consulting services, finance and investments, law firms (especially intellectual property) and among the entrepreneurial community. If I see someone with a lot of jobs on her resume and her qualifications fit the bill, I will still interview her, but address the job hopping in the interview. My most recent hire was a job hopper, but after talking to him about it, I hired him anyway, and it has turned out to be one of my best decisions. The days of spending 30 years with one company are over, by and large.

This has been my 2nd (or 3rd) hand experience on these matters especially on freelance. Those Michael Jordan shoes all those kids go crazy for..... designed by an architect. another ex. Tom Ford.... graduated architecture school. Its all bout leveraging the big picture that school teaches and applying it to different venues.
 

Doc4

Stumpy in cold weather
Staff member
The Chinese government? If so, could you please pick up some food for me the next time you are over there? :lol:


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I agree especially given what the economy has gone through in the last 8 - 10 years. People have had to take jobs to put food on the table. Many jobs have been of a short term nature as companies flip flop and re-organize. Again this is explainable in an interview.
Yes - just remember this hiring managers.

And when someone is working as a 'contract employee', it is defined as a short-term position. I was arguing w/ someone a few years ago about all this during a phone interview - why I had a string of employment stops that lasted 3-4 years per. When you consider that one place does not exist any longer, one was a contract position, & one coincided w/ the largest economic downturn in modern history meaning mass layoffs, guess what - you're going to see.
 
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