I get a lot of two year resumes in my business. These are job hoppers who move companies every two years. It is strange how consistently it is two years and not one or three. It’s like telling the cop that pulls you over on Friday night that you had two beers an hour ago.
I think they must fudge the dates or mess with the margins like I did on college term papers: ie the person was only at a job for one year but they don’t put the months down so it looks like two. But two years is about the time it takes to truly identify that someone can’t do the job, try all the mitigations, avoid the inevitable, and then finally terminate the person.
When someone is hired it takes a few months for the hiring manager to figure out the person isn’t up to the job. At first s/he is new and you can’t judge someone too quickly. Next the manager blames herself. The position description wasn’t right. He was onboarded wrong or we didn’t give him enough feedback. Then you give some half hearted feedback. And then the shuffle starts.
Usually the hiring manager tries to find another place to put the person rather than deal with the issue head on. This process takes several months and, at a larger firm, it can be successful and the shuffle can go through many rounds. I did it many times as a manager at previous companies.
If the shuffle doesn’t work, the manager tries modifying the role, asking other team members to help coach the person, looks for training, etc. In most cases the person does get a bit better or the manager’s attention gets drawn somewhere else but inevitably the same old problem eventually crops up again. In the larger firm, this process can go on for quite a while but at smaller firms it usually runs its course over 6-12 months.
Now we are past denial and bargain and moving into acceptance. The manager goes to HR and begins the performance improvement plan (PIP) process. Of course this is a total pain and you have to articulate exactly what the person did wrong and spell out what will happen if they don’t improve. These plans range from 30-90 days until the manager finally terminates the employee.
So that’s say 4 months being new, 6-12 months trying to make it better, and 1-3 months firing the person. That totals anywhere from 11-12 months for a relatively quick process and 19 months or more for a longer process. The net effect is about 24 months from hire to fire and a little less if you play with the margins.
Of course one 2 year stint isn’t bad or a couple in a longer career but you’d be amazed at how many people I see with 3-5 consecutive two years hops. Caveat Emptor.