In most ongoing series, there are several job positions that need to be filled. Often, these roles will be filled by the characters of a Five-Man Band. But in some series, there is one specific job that tends to have a high turn-over rate. This allows the author to keep bringing in new characters who have skills useful to that particular story or who can betray the operation from the inside.
When played straight, these positions become an obvious Chekhov's Gun; whoever the "new guy" is, everyone knows that they will become significant later on. However, this character can still turn out to be no more or less relevant than anyone else.
The nature of this job lets the writers kill this character off, if they want to, usually in some emotionally significant way. Retirony may come into play. Characters in Dead End Jobs do tend to hang around long enough for viewers to get attached, Chekhov's Gunman or not.
When done poorly, the audience may start wondering why the HR department doesn't get rid of the job altogether and delegate that work to established and trustworthy characters.
Please note that this trope does not apply to Red Shirt characters of the type you tend to find on Star Trek. Characters who hold jobs of this type tend to last for a full plot arc, be significant to that plot arc, and then get conveniently shuffled off-screen at the end to make room for the next plot-significant character.
Not to be confused with a job that offers no career advancements.
A Sub-Trope of High Turnover Rate. Compare and contrast Occupational Hazard.
Examples:
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Comic Books
- Batman: The title character's Kid Sidekick, Robin, rarely lasts long these days. Ever since Dick Grayson went on to become Nightwing, all of his successors have followed this trend of becoming their own heroes after reaching adulthood and/or experiencing a life-turning event. The second Robin, Jason Todd, adopted his Red Hood persona after dying and resurrecting. Tim Drake, Robin III, is now Red Robin, an independent agent despite his new name still alluding to his sidekick position. Stephanie Brown, the fourth Robin and the first female one, grew up to become Batgirl herself. The latest Robin is Damian Wayne. Each Robin is a Foil for a different aspect of Batman.
Fan Works
Potter Verse
- Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality: Emphasized more than in canon. Everyone knows they'll only have Quirrell for one year, and just hopes they'll at least have him for the whole year. Whatever it takes.
Films — Live-Action
- This Is Spın̈al Tap: There's a running gag about the band's drummers keep dying in improbable ways, to the point that when their keyboard player dies, they find out that he used to be a drummer.
Literature
- Bastard Operator from Hell: The post of Systems Supervisor. With said supervisor being killed off by the BOFH or the PFY once they become too dangerous. Whether or not this can also be said for the Director of IT post is debatable.
- Canticle: Members of the Jikininki Ten can ascend through Klingon Promotion, which naturally opens up the rank of Tenth whenever it happens. Once a position is open, the strongest assassin in the Empire's disposal is given this rank automatically.
- Discworld:
- Going Postal (Discworld): The position of Postmaster General. Vetinari gives the job to Moist Von Lipwig as an alternative to being hanged, on the off-chance that he might actually succeed in reviving the Post Office, but generally expecting him to be killed, as the job had already claimed the lives of some of Vetinari's clerks.
- In the earlier books, when wizards were prone to Klingon Promotion, the position of Archchancellor was never held by the same character two books in a row. This changed when Moving Pictures introduced the seemingly unkillable Mustrum Ridcully.
- George and Azazel: The first Chairman of the Committee on Diminishing Returns lasts thirty-two years, the next one sixteen, the next one eight... After the sixth, they decide the Committee's name must be unlucky, and a change is in order. It works.
- Harry Potter: The job of Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. In seven books, they go through seven professors, and every one of them is significant to the plot. Dumbledore even lampshades this at one point. As it turns out, Voldemort, after being refused the job himself, had jinxed it so that no one who got it could hold it for more than a year, and this persisted until his death.
Live-Action TV
- 24: The President of the United States. During the series, there are 7 acting presidents shown on screen and two more off-screen (Palmer's VP is acting president in The Game and whoever was President during season 1) across 8 seasons and in the series finale, the current President resigns!
- iZombie: The heads of Max Rager's zombie research division have extremely short lifespans and are frequently replaced (though only three were killed in zombie-related incidents; the fourth was murdered for unrelated reasons). At one point another character even compares them to Spinal Tap drummers.
- Night Court: Manhattan Criminal Court has a problem hanging on to female bailiffs. The first two, Selma and Florence, are elderly women who both passed away when their actresses passed in real life. The third bailiff, Roz, makes it to the end of the series, though she suffers a diabetes scare.
- ReGenesis: There's a pretty high turnover rate for virologists at NorBAC. Hira Khan died in the third episode, Jill Langston was infected with a retrovirus and nearly died before being Put on a Bus, and Rachel Woods was killed by terrorists during the Bottle Episode.
- Waking the Dead: After Mel Silver dies in season four, anyone who replaces her ends up dead, including Stella Goodman and Sarah Cavendish. That job is cursed.
- What We Do in the Shadows (2019): One of the first gags in the pilot is Laszlo and Nadja's familiar, an unnamed old lady, being unceremoniously killed and eaten by the Baron as soon as he wakes up. Laszlo and Nadja rapidly burning through familiars becomes a Running Gag through the series, culminating in the tragic death of their beloved Topher, after which they end up just treating Guillermo as being their servant as well as Nandor's (to Nandor and Guillermo's annoyance, although Guillermo was already having to pick up the slack for their familiars all the time anyway).
Video Games
- World of Warcraft: Ever since Thrall abdicated the position of Warchief of the Horde, said position has been occupied by three separate people over the course of five expansions. The first after Thrall, Garrosh, was an aggressive warmonger who instigated numerous fights against the Alliance only to end up deposed come Mists of Pandaria. His successor, Vol'jin, was a more serene Warchief until his sudden death at the start of Legion, in which he appointed Sylvanas Windrunner as Warchief, who would end up being as excessively hostile as Garrosh (and ultimately be revealed to be the pawn of the Jailer in Shadowlands). After the events of Battle for Azeroth, the Horde abandons the idea of having a central Warchief in supreme command of the Horde's military decisions, and has a council for each of their nations to vote on such matters.
Webcomics
- The Order of the Stick: The title team's Psycho Rangers, the Linear Guild, always includes a kobold, who invariably ends up killed in a horrific/amusing manner. Averted with Kilkil, the latest to date, who does not fight Belkar.
- Schlock Mercenary: The position of explosives expert in Tagon's Toughs has a relatively high turnover rate: So far, it's killed at least two Mauve Shirts who have held it (Kevyn, their unofficial expert, has also died repeatedly). Many of the grunts believe the position to be cursed, although its current holder doesn't seem too fussed.
Western Animation
- South Park: The series' constant killing of Kenny is a parody of this trope, although, being as Kenny continues to be a cast member, is ultimately an aversion.
