Recruiters avoid candidates with long tenures (7-plus years) at their current companies. They worry about the ability to adapt to a new environment — multicultural competence.
Can You Adapt to Different Cultures?
This problem shows up on resumes and at work.
It’s common to see a resume where someone has had a successful, multi-year career with one company.
Then, short-term stints with other companies follow that stability. That makes recruiters wonder if the applicant has multicultural competence.
Can You Work with People from Multiple Cultures?
Beyond organizational cultures, many of us work with people from varied ethnic cultures. Employers value those who are effective across cultures.
Why? Because diversity drives performance. A recent McKinsey report found that companies with substantial diversity outperform competitors.
They also found that the correlation has strengthened over time.
How to Stop Limited Adaptability from Tanking Your Career
So, how do you solve this potential career-limiting problem?
Use these 4 tips:
1. Don’t Put Short Employment Stints on Your Resume
They’re red flags to savvy readers that say, “Warning, potential interpersonal problems!”
It’s OK to omit a job from your resume. Although, you need to be prepared to tell an interviewer what you were doing during that period.
You can also group assignments from a defined period together.
2. Show You’ve Worked with Diverse Colleagues
Sample resume language:
Managed a multicultural, 12-person staff.
3. Prepare to Answer Questions About Adaptability
Here are a few examples:
Going from Company A to Company B must have been interesting.
- What were the most significant cultural differences between the companies?
- Which of those differences challenged you?
- What did you do?
- How did it turn out?
What actions did you take to learn the culture at Company B?
- Tell me about your biggest misstep.
- What did you do to recover?
- How did it turn out?
Tell me about a time when you worked on a diverse team.
- How was it diverse?
- What were your biggest challenges?
- How did you manage them?
- How did it turn out?
4. Assess & Develop Your Adaptability
It’s important to realize you might have an adaptability problem and not know it.
To self-assess, use the Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory. It’s available online for $27 (not an affiliate).
The CCAI lets you self-assess on 4 scales associated with adaptability:
- Flexibility-Openness
- Perceptual Acuity
- Emotional Resilience
- Personal Autonomy
You can also chart yourself against norms.
If you find you want to develop yourself on any scale, you’ll likely make fast progress by working with a coach.
Closing
The CCAI was an eye-opener for me. I wasn’t as adaptable as I thought I was. Give it a try!
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Updated April 2022
© 2010 – 2022, Donna Svei. All rights reserved.
Donna Svei, an executive resume writer and former C-level executive, retained search consultant, and CPA, authors all of AvidCareerist’s posts.
She is a Fast Company Contributor and has written for and been quoted by 100+ business and general media outlets, including Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, CNBC, the New York Times, USA Today, Time, US News & World Report, CBS, the BBC, Lifehacker, Social Media Today, IT World, and Business News Daily.
Let her expertise inform your job search strategy and decision-making.
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Comments 4
Interesting: I always knew recruiters generally had concerns about candidates with longer tenures at a specific employers but didn’t until now know the cut-off point was 7 years. Good blog entry!
Yep Ed, it seems there’s a sweet spot between being unemployed and being too employed.
Remember though, we’re talking optimal positioning. We all have our strong points and “issues” when it comes to conducting a job search. The more “issues” a resume shows, the more the job seeker should focus on networking, and not just submitting resumes, to find their next job.
The examples of interview questions regarding adaptability are like gold to job seekers! These are definitely not part of the typical questions that candidates would think about.
You mention that seven or more years can cause concern about adaptability. What’s the lower end of the threshold for changing jobs that seems reasonable and wouldn’t be a concern for job jumping?
Hi Melissa,
Thank you for your kind words.
On job changing vs. job hopping, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I ask my search clients how long they want their new hire to stay in the job. Then, when I’m reviewing resumes, I look at each applicant’s average tenure in their jobs over the past 10 years. If their average tenure is less than that what my client is looking for, I either don’t proceed, or I proceed very carefully.
Donna