Lily padding – why aftermarket employers should look beyond time served

A CV showing three jobs in three years can raise questions about commitment. But for aftermarket employers, rejecting a candidate on that basis alone risks overlooking the very experience their business needs.

What matters is what they learned in each role, and whether they stayed long enough to put it into practice. That distinction matters in a sector where understanding the business often comes from working across different parts of the supply chain.

“Lily padding” describes people who deliberately move between employers to gain skills, broaden their experience and progress their careers. Rather than waiting years for development opportunities, they’re actively seeking them elsewhere.

For employers, it raises two questions – how should we assess those careers, and are we giving our own people enough opportunity to develop?

Why career moves can add value

The skills required across our industry are changing. Data, e-commerce, vehicle technology, supply chains and customer expectations are all influencing how aftermarket businesses operate.

As those needs change, people want to keep learning and give themselves more career options.

Imagine a category manager who moves from a distributor to a manufacturer. They gain insight into product development, supplier relationships and commercial strategy. Or a sales professional who moves from a traditional aftermarket business into a technology provider. They may learn more about customer management systems, online buying behaviour and using data to understand customers.

Neither move is necessarily about salary. Each can add another layer of experience that makes someone more valuable throughout their career.

Our sector has long valued broad experience. When I speak to senior leaders across the aftermarket, the people who often stand out are those who understand several parts of the supply chain.

They’ve worked with suppliers, factors and garages, or across field sales, operations, category management and technical functions. As a result, they understand the business from more than one perspective.

That experience can help someone understand how decisions made in one part of the supply chain affect customers elsewhere. A career move can therefore benefit the next employer as well as the individual.

Breadth still needs depth

As recruiters, we’re increasingly seeing candidates who have built valuable skills through carefully chosen career moves. A marketing professional with manufacturer, distributor and retail experience, or an operations manager who has worked in different types of business, may offer knowledge that would have taken significantly longer to acquire in one company.

But changing jobs does not automatically mean moving forward.

Some skills simply take time to develop. Leadership is one. Building customer trust is another. Learning how a business works, managing change and building a strong team often takes years rather than months.

For an aftermarket business, that might mean maintaining a customer relationship beyond the first sale, seeing a product launch through and understanding its results, or making sure a new way of working delivers the improvements promised. Employers should explore these achievements alongside the range of roles someone has held.

Employers are right to ask whether someone will stay long enough to make a difference. If someone leaves every time they encounter a difficult situation, they may miss some of the most valuable learning experiences in their career.

A career full of starts with very few finishes can leave gaps that eventually become noticeable.

Ask what someone has achieved

When reviewing shorter periods of employment, ask why the individual moved, whether their responsibilities increased, what skills they acquired and what results they delivered.

The explanation matters, but it should be supported by examples. What did they improve? What did they complete? How would that experience help them in the role you’re discussing?

Before drawing conclusions, ask whether the role was a fixed-term contract, ended through redundancy or was cut short by circumstances outside the person’s control. Dates alone cannot explain why someone left.

A candidate who can explain how each move helped them develop, and show what they contributed along the way, gives an employer a clearer picture of what they could bring to the business.

Employees should ask themselves a similar question before making their next move: am I moving towards something or simply away from something? They should be clear about what they want to learn and whether the next role will give them that opportunity.

Give people a reason to stay

Employers should also ask what opportunities they’re giving their own people. If employees believe they must leave to develop, it’s worth looking at what they could learn within the business.

Development does not always require a promotion. An aftermarket employer could give a sales colleague experience of category management, involve someone from marketing in a product launch, or ask an operations employee to lead an improvement project. Mentoring and structured training can support that experience.

Make the next step clear: agree what the person wants to learn, give them a chance to practise it and review how they’re getting on. A general promise of future development is less useful than a clear next step.

An employer that values someone’s contribution and gives them opportunities to grow provides a stronger reason to build their career within the business.

Lily padding should encourage employers to think more carefully about how they hire and keep good people. Look at what candidates have learned and delivered, while giving existing employees opportunities to keep doing both.

The candidates who thrive may not necessarily be the ones who stayed the longest. Nor will they always be the ones who moved the most. What matters is a balance of breadth and depth: people who know when to move, when to stay and how to keep learning throughout both.

Source blog: https://glencallum.co.uk/lily-padding-smart-career-strategy-or-a-risky-jump/