Take a moment to look at your resume. How long is it? One page…maybe two? Or, do you need an entire file cabinet to keep track of all your employment history?
Does your average monthly job duration not exceed the number of fingers you have on one hand?
Well, if you answered “Yes” to any of the previous questions, you may be a “job hopper.”
There is a certain stigma around temp labor in the skilled trades that assumes these craft workers are incapable of holding down work. Well, we hope to clear up and reshape this mindset to demonstrate what benefits you can derive from choosing temporary skilled workers for your construction projects.
For the sake of this post, we will break “hoppers” into two different categories – “helpful hoppers” and “harmful hoppers.” We will look at the characteristics of both, and look at the reasons why to and why not to hop around to different employers.
The Temp Labor Force's Good, Short-Term Investments
What is the nature of the helpful hopper?
Well, first off, these employment explorers are keen connectors. They love to network, and are quick to adapt to their surroundings. They are early adopters of the best techniques, and are motivated to share what they have learned at other job sites. Helpful hoppers can also offer insight into what your competitors’ strategies are, and how you might earn more business by taking different approaches to growing the business. The resume of this type of hopper tells a story, and you should be able to identify several good reasons they like to bounce around.
Good reasons are as follows:
- They have worked a job to completion, and move onto the next contractor that has work for you
- They may be a traveler and enjoy moving around to where the work is instead of sitting on the bench, waiting for work to come to them
- They grow their skill with each job, and seek out the best pay for their particular skill set and are driven to take on the additional responsibility that a higher pay rate may require
Skilled Labor with Commitment Issues
Harmful hoppers on the other hand, have very different characteristics. Most hoppers causing harm talk a pretty good game in the initial interview, and can usually seem like a great fit for your positions on a surface level. However, upon being employed many of these workers will often showcase different habits such as a general disinterest in the work they are responsible for, a distancing of themselves from other employees, or discussing jobs that are paying more in the area. Frequent calling out, or missing hours are also a telltale sign you may have a harmful hopper on your job. However, if you looked past the shiny first interview, and analyzed the resume of this job seeker, you may discover some disturbing trends.
Disturbing trends are as follows:
- Their average job duration is very, very short for projects that would seemingly have gone much longer
- Every job they left was for higher pay at another job
- They cannot supply you with contacts at previous places of employment
- There are sharp contrast between the responsibilities they had at one job from the next – often indicating there is no consistent type of experience they hold
- Have a history of not giving notice to employers when they decide to take work somewhere else
The next time you decide that you may need to move onto the next job site, consider what kind of story your resume tells a potential employer. What kind of hopper do you want to be? Will you sow your seeds of knowledge to help contractors innovate and grow their construction companies, or will you have them scrambling to find more help after you have unexpectedly drug up all your tools the night before, without any notice?
If you are a construction worker looking for the next good hop, give Grus a call and visit our hot jobs page to find a great place to land when you make the leap. Construction companies that have jobs rife with harmful hoppers, Grus can help! Visit our request a quote page to find the most qualified skilled labor in the industry! Helpful hoppers are standing by, ready to jump.