一份工作做“太久”是壞事？

　　Dear Annie:I’ve been working for the same company for 17 years and, now that we’ve been acquired by a former competitor, some of us are being offered voluntary "early retirement" severance packages. I’m tempted to take one, even though I’m nowhere near ready to retire.

　　But here’s my problem: When I first heard about the merger, I thought there would be significant overlap between the two companies’ employees, so I started a job search "just in case." It’s going okay — I’ve gotten several interviews so far — but I’m running into an obstacle I didn’t expect, especially with younger interviewers. Every time someone notices I’ve been at one company for almost two decades (albeit with two promotions to bigger jobs and titles), he or she looks at me as if I have two heads. Is there a stigma attached to longevity now? How do I deal with this? — Loyal to a Fault

　　Dear Loyal:"No one should apologize for staying with a good company for ‘too many’ years," says Patricia Siderius, managing director of executive outplacement services at global HR consulting firm BPI group. "These days, not many people have the opportunity to do it."

　　Too true. In a weird reversal of the old, unwritten rules, frequent job changes have become not only more acceptable to hiring managers than they used to be, but "almost expected," she adds. This is for three reasons. First, during the recession, necessity obliged so many people to move around that the old job-hopping stigma all but disappeared. At the same time, the information technology industry — where frequent job changes have long been the norm — has become the job market zeitgeist.

　　But the most interesting part of this shift is that it’s also partly based on a myth. Millennials, that huge (and hugely influential) generation born since 1980, are widely believed to switch jobs far more often than their parents did. It’s easy to see where that idea came from. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last year that the average 25-year-old has already held 6.3 jobs since age 18.

　　That sounds like a lot, and it is. But a new BLS report sheds different light on those statistics. The National Longitudinal study of Youth 1979, a survey of 9,964 men and women who were polled in 1979 and most recently (at ages 47 to 56) in 2013, shows that this group had held 5.5 jobs between the ages of 18 and 24 years. If people who were 25 in 1979 had been included in this project, these Boomers would almost certainly have matched or exceeded Millennials’ much-vaunted 6.3 jobs.

　　So Millennials aren’t as different from their elders, at least in this respect, as people tend to think. But, now that the oldest among them are in their mid-thirties and interviewing job candidates, how do you persuade them that 17 years at one company isn’t "too long"?

　　Siderius has three suggestions. First, write down everything you learned and achieved at your current company. Making sure you don’t overlook anything may take some thought. Siderius has noticed in executive coaching sessions that "people tend to underestimate their own accomplishments. You may be taking for granted parts of what you did." If some of it was a while ago, you may even have forgotten it.

　　Once you have put together a detailed list, see which items on it most closely match up with the description of the position you want. Siderius helps her clients come up with "a one-page summary that looks like a chart, with specific job requirements on one side of the page and, on the other, the aspects of your experience that can add the most value. Then, hand it to the interviewer, in addition to your resume, and talk in specific terms about what you can do for this employer."

　　Second, she suggests, be ready to toss some references to current industry trends into the conversation. "Having stayed in one place for a long time does not make you dreary and dusty. Being sharp and up-to-date on what’s current and new can help demonstrate that."

　　And third, but perhaps most important, "be very positive and upbeat about the company you’re thinking of leaving," Siderius says. "It’s important to emphasize that you’ve had a terrific run there, and that it has been a great place to work, with smart people and lots of resources and opportunities to learn." Your enthusiasm, especially if it’s genuine, should go a long way toward quelling any skepticism about why you stuck around. Good luck.

　　Talkback:Has a job interviewer ever questioned why you stayed so long in one job, or at one company? How did you respond? Leave a comment below.

　　參考譯文：

　　親愛(ài)的安妮：我在同一家公司工作了17年，由于公司已經(jīng)被一家競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手收購(gòu)，我們現(xiàn)在可以自愿選擇一筆“提前退休”遣散費(fèi)。我也想接受這樣的條件，盡管我還遠(yuǎn)沒(méi)到退休的年齡。

　　但我的問(wèn)題是：最初聽(tīng)說(shuō)我們要被并購(gòu)，我認(rèn)為兩家公司的員工會(huì)有許多職位重復(fù)，“為了以防萬(wàn)一”我開(kāi)始求職。最初，事情進(jìn)展順利——我參加了幾次面試，但我卻遇到了意想不到的障礙，尤其是在接受年輕面試官面試的時(shí)候。每當(dāng)有人注意到我在一家公司工作了近二十年的時(shí)候(盡管有兩次升職，獲得了更高的職位和頭銜)，他們看我的眼神就像是在看一個(gè)怪物。在一家公司工作這么長(zhǎng)時(shí)間會(huì)成為污點(diǎn)嗎?我該如何克服這種障礙?——過(guò)分忠誠(chéng)的人

　　親愛(ài)的“過(guò)分忠誠(chéng)的人”：全球人力資源咨詢(xún)公司BPI集團(tuán)高管轉(zhuǎn)職就業(yè)服務(wù)執(zhí)行總監(jiān)帕特里夏·思德魯斯認(rèn)為：“人們不必因?yàn)樵谝患液霉竟ぷ?lsquo;太多’年而道歉。如今，已經(jīng)沒(méi)有太多人有機(jī)會(huì)做到這一點(diǎn)。”

　　確實(shí)如此。她補(bǔ)充道，舊的不成文規(guī)則發(fā)生了不可思議的逆轉(zhuǎn)，招聘經(jīng)理不僅比之前更容易接受頻繁跳槽者，有人甚至期待著這樣的求職者。出現(xiàn)這種情況有三個(gè)原因。首先，在經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退期間，太多人因?yàn)樯钏炔坏貌凰奶帉ふ覚C(jī)會(huì)，原先跳槽帶來(lái)的污點(diǎn)已不復(fù)存在。與此同時(shí)，信息技術(shù)行業(yè)已經(jīng)成為就業(yè)市場(chǎng)的引領(lǐng)者，而頻繁跳槽早已成為這個(gè)行業(yè)的常態(tài)。

　　不過(guò)這種轉(zhuǎn)變最有趣的部分在于，它在一定程度上基于一種不準(zhǔn)確的觀念。規(guī)模龐大的(并且有著巨大影響力的)80后90后，被普遍認(rèn)為比他們的父母跳槽更頻繁。這種觀點(diǎn)的源頭很容易便能找到。美國(guó)勞工統(tǒng)計(jì)局去年報(bào)告稱(chēng)，25歲的年輕人從18歲開(kāi)始平均已經(jīng)做過(guò)6.3份工作。

　　聽(tīng)起來(lái)很有說(shuō)服力，事實(shí)也確實(shí)如此。但勞工統(tǒng)計(jì)局的一項(xiàng)最新報(bào)告，卻從不同角度闡述了這些統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)字。2013年，“1979全國(guó)青年縱向研究”項(xiàng)目對(duì)1979年接受調(diào)查的9964名的男性和女性進(jìn)行了再次調(diào)查(此時(shí)受調(diào)查人群的年齡段為47至56歲)。調(diào)查顯示，該年齡段的受訪者在18至24歲平均做過(guò)5.5份工作。如果將1979年25歲的美國(guó)人包含在該項(xiàng)目當(dāng)中，那么，與80后90后引以為豪的6.3份工作相比，嬰兒潮一代在跳槽次數(shù)方面可謂有過(guò)之而無(wú)不及。

　　所以，至少在這方面，80后90后并不像人們想象的那樣與他們的長(zhǎng)輩有任何不同。但如今千禧一代年齡最大的已經(jīng)步入35歲，開(kāi)始面試求職者，那么，你如何讓他們相信在一家公司工作17年并非“太長(zhǎng)”呢?

　　思德魯斯給出了三條建議。首先，寫(xiě)下你在目前公司內(nèi)學(xué)到了什么，取得了怎樣的成績(jī)。不要忽略任何可能需要一些思考的事情。思德魯斯在高管培訓(xùn)研討會(huì)上注意到，“人們傾向于低估自己的成績(jī)。你可能認(rèn)為你所做的一切都是理所應(yīng)當(dāng)?shù)摹?rdquo;如果相隔時(shí)間太久，你甚至?xí)涀约旱某煽?jī)。

　　列出詳細(xì)的清單之后，對(duì)比哪些項(xiàng)目與你希望得到的職位的說(shuō)明相匹配。思德魯斯幫助客戶(hù)想出了“一頁(yè)紙的總結(jié)，看起來(lái)像是圖表，紙的一邊是具體的工作要求，另一邊則是你擁有的那些可以增加最大價(jià)值的經(jīng)驗(yàn)。然后將這張紙與簡(jiǎn)歷一同交給面試官，并非常專(zhuān)業(yè)地談?wù)撃憧梢詾楣椭髯瞿男┚唧w的事情。”

　　其次，她建議，準(zhǔn)備好在談話(huà)中提到目前的行業(yè)趨勢(shì)。“在一個(gè)地方工作太長(zhǎng)時(shí)間，并沒(méi)有讓你變的沉悶，失去活力。對(duì)業(yè)內(nèi)最新動(dòng)向保持敏銳，可以幫你證明這一點(diǎn)。”

　　第三，或許也是最重要的一點(diǎn)，“對(duì)你正在考慮離開(kāi)的公司要給出積極樂(lè)觀的評(píng)價(jià)。重要的是強(qiáng)調(diào)你在那家公司有非常好的經(jīng)歷，那是一個(gè)非常適合工作的地方，有許多聰明的人，還有大量資源和學(xué)習(xí)機(jī)會(huì)，”思德魯斯說(shuō)道。如果你對(duì)公司的熱情是真誠(chéng)的，它可以幫助平息為什么你在一個(gè)地方工作那么長(zhǎng)時(shí)間的任何質(zhì)疑。祝你好運(yùn)。