HR: Unemployed Need Not Apply?
Unfortunately, the troubling news continues…. unemployment numbers are still skyrocketing. In some regions of the country, the percentage of unemployed is up to 14%.
Ready for some even more troubling news…. Some companies/recruiters are specifically discouraging unemployed applicants from applying for job openings. Recently job boards have posted statements such as- “Please do not apply UNLESS you are currently employed” or “unemployed candidates will not be considered”.
While recruiting in this way is not illegal or discriminatory (unemployed are not a protected class) - is eliminating groups of qualified people the best policy? In some instances, there may be a good reason for excluding the unemployed- skills have grown stale or key contacts have been lost- but for most, using “passive recruiting” may be a poor process, as there are huge numbers of very talented, competent people who have lost their jobs in the recession.
Some businesses may argue that given the vast number of applications they receive for every job posting, it has become necessary to eliminate the “unemployed” in order to trim the growing stacks of resumes. (Positions that use to bring in 10 resumes per posting before the recession can now bring in as many as 100-200)
Using this approach though can prove to be counter productive in more ways than one. Wouldn’t it be more valuable for companies to be thinking about how to more efficiently process large numbers of resumes in order to identify the best candidate- rather than trying to make the applicant pool smaller? After all isn’t it in the employer’s best interest to secure the “most qualified” person to do the job?
Businesses may also be missing out on the recently passed tax break by using this tactic. The Hire Act exempts employers, who hire workers who were previously unemployed, from paying the 6.2% of the new hires wages in Social Security taxes for the reminder of the year.
In my opinion, cutting back on the number of resumes a company is willing to review- especially during a time when performance is key- is a sure way to miss out on some of the most qualified candidates.