You might not want to hear this, but you need some tenure at one company.

Don’t kill the messenger. I know there are orgs where it’s really tough to win, and I know a lot of you will have several short stints on your CV. (Especially after the last few years.) 

So, let’s talk about why short tenures are fine but tenure still matters.

Why Short Tenures Are Fine

That short tenure on your resume doesn’t matter.

Everyone has one. A bunch of folks have two or three or more these days.

Recruiters don’t wait for folks to be in a role for a year before they reach out. So, when they ask you about that short tenure, ask them if they’ve ever recruited someone who’s been at their role for less than a year.

Also, transparency has been missing from orgs for years, and employees should be empowered to move to an org that’s a better fit without worrying about “putting in time” in a miserable job.

Finally, it’s unfortunate but comp increases faster by changing jobs than staying in one role, so it’s the easiest way to unlock more income. Hard to fault people for not being loyal if loyalty isn’t rewarded.

Got a couple short tenures? Don’t sweat it. Everyone does.

But also don’t stop looking for the one where you can thrive for years.

Why Tenure Still Matters to Recruiters

I speak with recruiting leaders day-after-day, and here’s what they tell me: They don’t care about short tenures on your resume — if you have a longer one on there.

You need (at least) one role where you land and hit your quota for 3+ years. 24 months of tenure isn’t enough. I’d even argue 3 years is barely enough.

Recruiters think about it like this: 

“If the candidate was at a role for four years (and better yet is still there), I know they’re doing something really well because leadership wants to keep them around. If they have an internal promotion, that’s a double bonus.”

They simply think of the long tenure insurance against making a bad hire since you’ve been vetted by another company.

Why Tenure Should Matter to You

Tenure should matter to you, too.

Tenure is where you compound your wins and earnings. Not your base. Your earnings.

And don’t think the only value to tenure is the time to build your pipeline and territory and get out of your ramp period. But there’s much more than that. 

Each deal you sign can compound exponentially in terms of value. Think about it like this in terms of the deal value and what you can extract from that deal:

• The customer pushing several referrals to you (personally)
• Your contact will call you when they get to their next company
• Other internal introductions to other divisions, etc.

The value to the sales professional for a closed deal expands exponentially with time.

But you can only unlock that value via tenure, i.e., by staying at the same org.

Once you find yourself in a sales organization where this formula plays out, don’t squander it.

Then once you’ve got that tenure, everything will open up for you.

It’s tough, but why shouldn’t it be?