For Gen Z workers facing stubborn inflation, student loan debt, and a shaky job market, job-hopping became a survival strategy to secure better pay and faster growth. But not every employer is impressed by a long list of short stints. In fact, having a résumé full of quick exits is one of the fastest ways to get rejected, according to Shark Tank star and multimillionaire Kevin O’Leary.
“What I can’t stand is seeing a résumé where every six months they job hop. To me that means they couldn’t execute anything, and I take that resume into the garbage,” O’Leary said in a video posted to his social media.
New research shows that the average job tenure for those in their first five years is just 1.1 years, and nearly one in three budding professionals plan to change jobs in the next 12 months.
“If I see anything that’s less than two [years], that’s a red flag for me,” the boomer added.
Why? O’Leary says he’s looking for proof of execution from new hires—something that’s not possible if you are only at a company for a few months, he said. It’s why “Mr. Wonderful” recommends young workers take the time to become integrated into a job and show they’re a valuable team player.
“Show me you had a mandate and delivered on it over two years or more, that’s gold,” he said.
“Discipline, focus, and results matter; that’s how I decide who gets hired.”
Execution beats out friendship in the workplace
While Gen Z may also want to prioritize purpose and workplace culture, O’Leary argues that work isn’t about making friends, but delivering results.
“I don’t think people you work with need to be your friends,” O’Leary told Fortune earlier this year. “They have to respect you, and you have to lead them forward on their careers, make them money, and help them achieve their goals.”
It’s a philosophy O’Leary said he learned from working in the late 1990s with Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, someone who wasn’t exactly known for being the most charismatic leader.
“I don’t spend a lot of time on likability, I don’t care about that. It seems so irrelevant. If you spend your time worrying about that, you’re going to fail for sure, because you’re going to miss the signal,” O’Leary continued.
“The signal is not having everybody like you—that has nothing to do with success…You can’t worry about whose feelings you bruise. You’ve got to get it done.”
Taking your eye off your current role could lead to career diaster
Many CEOs have voiced their agreement with O’Leary—focusing too much on what’s coming next and forgetting about your current role can be a recipe for career disaster.
While Gen Z may want promotions and fatter paychecks, business leaders think they might want to lower their expectations. In fact, according to Sarah Walker, Cisco’s U.K. CEO, young people need to be more patient if they want long-term success.
“As a society, we’ve moved on to where everything is immediate,” she told Fortune earlier this year. “And that does bleed into people’s expectations of how quickly progression should be made and the pressure that people put on themselves to say, ‘I have to get promoted within a year and if I haven’t, then that means I’m not on the right trajectory, and therefore I’m going to go elsewhere and see if I can get there any quicker.’”
“Don’t take your current job for granted,” added Walmart CEO Doug McMillon in an interview with Stratechery last year. “The next job doesn’t come if you don’t do the one you’ve got well.”
As someone who worked his way up from unloading trucks in the warehouse to eventually landing in the C-suite, McMillon embodies how staying dedicated to one employer can work wonders for aspiring leaders—in contrast to job-hopping in search of potential pay gains.
Janet Godwin, the CEO of education testing company ACT, is another prime example. She has spent 35 years working at the company, and her mantra for staying grounded is centered around the advice her boss once told her: “If you’re so busy thinking about what you’re going to do next, I guarantee you you’re not putting enough energy and time into what you’re doing today.”
“You need to make sure what you’re doing today is running the best,” Godwin recalled to Fortune earlier this year. “You need to learn and mature in your current job before you have your eyes set on something else.”
