MADE redundant last year, I have been unable to secure another job and suspect I’m disadvantaged by staying with my previous company for 18 years. Yet many colleagues who had been there only two or three years quickly found jobs.

I like to think I stayed so long because I was good at the job, reliable, was promoted and kept my skills up to date. But employers seem not to see it that way. Has loyalty become a curse? Job-hunting male, 46. This question is a bit too near the knuckle for me, as I’ve been with the same employer for so long that I make you look comparatively fickle.

When I think of my own long service I can’t ever decide if it is something that should make me feel proud - or ashamed. Some days I think it is a sign of a lack of imagination, laziness and risk aversion. Other days I think it is because I have been happy, done well, changed with the times, learnt things, and have found enough reward in what I’m doing to feel no need for pointless changes of scenery.

Most recruiters are unimaginative, risk-averse and have short attention spans

If I’m in two minds about myself, you can hardly blame prospective employers if they look at you in the same uncertain way. This means it is up to you to prove to them that you fall into the second camp: that you have stayed not because you are lazy or dull but because you have been flexible and successful and have done lots of different things within the same organisation.

Most recruiters are unimaginative, risk-averse and have short attention spans. A CV that has a lot of employers on it has a higher chance of having at least one name on it that they really rate, and at least one set of skills they think are relevant. They may well think that someone who has spent three to five years in different places must therefore be flexible, good at being transplanted, and somehow broader than someone like you. Again, you must knock all these ideas on the head.

Implicit in your question is the idea that you see loyalty as a virtue, and feel that employers should see it that way too. I don’t think it works like that any more. We have moved on from that sort of paternalistic world in which there was implied moral value to staying put.

Now most employers realise it is up to them to make people stay because they want to, not because they feel any (misplaced) sense of duty. Equally, it is up to you to stay as long as it suits you, and not a moment longer.

One further thing. Even if your 18-year service makes it more likely that your next stint will be a long one, employers may not be that impressed. You are 46 now and so in another 18 years . . .? Will your employer still need you, when you’re 64? Possibly, though I doubt it.

Your problem is not that you are loyal, but that you are out of practice at presenting yourself. I have frequently seen similar problems when interviewing highly capable candidates who are moving on from long-held positions. They seem too used to assuming that ‘everyone’ knows about the skills and experience that have made them a valued employee. Think back to how your younger self would have tackled a dream opportunity. Research it well. Get feedback from ex-colleagues on why they enjoyed working with you, and check that your CV and interview tactics do you justice. Male, with 28 years’ service

As your next employer I would prefer an 18-year record to a two-year one. Loyalty is not a curse. Securing your next job is about selling yourself. Work on that story. Male, anon

Financial services is plagued with short-termism. Loyalty has become far from ‘a curse’; it has become an irreplicable signal of long- term thinking. What better way is there to demonstrate that you can stay the course and stick with clients through thick-and-thin than doing so in your own career. Old dog, 42

For many people who stay, their strongest asset is in understanding how the company works, having a strong internal network and knowing how to navigate across the company in order to make things happen. Unfortunately, those skills tend not to be prized by other employers. Anon

Being 46 and male is a bigger issue. I was in the same boat and found I had no chance of getting another job. Recruitment agents are a complete waste of time. I found people are very narrow minded and I was turned down for jobs I could have delivered huge amounts of value to.

What worked for me was networking with everyone I had ever worked with or knew and writing articles on social media. This got me noticed and I got my big break being taken on by a former colleague for a couple of months. Only two days a week. This bridgehead was enough and two years later I’m freelance and looking to employ staff with the amount of business I’ve got. Male, anon

In my father’s generation ‘loyalty’ was a prized virtue and ‘job hopping’ was ill-favoured. Unfortunately for you, in today’s fast-moving and competitive business world the broader perspective gained by changing jobs every few years is beneficial. Try consulting for a while to gain insightful experience that can help you sell yourself. Anon

Next question I work at a large bank and enjoy most aspects of my job. However, one member of our seven-strong team is not a team player, doesn’t share information, takes credit for things he did not do and sends finger-pointing emails to people in our team and bcc-ing management. Our (relatively new) boss sits geographically elsewhere, and doesn’t know what’s really going on in the team. I don’t want to stoop to my colleague’s level to deal with him. Any ideas? Banker, female.

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, November 3rd, 2014