More on the “Unemployed Need Not Apply” Mess.
By Sara Davey-Schmidt, senior account manager 52 PDX
In an employment economy where there is a disproportionate amount of talent to opportunities available, a trend of vetting candidates by reasons-not-to-hire, rather than reasons-to-hire, starts to become the method for qualifying the shit-tons of resumes that come pouring in at every mention of possible work. It’s a tempting approach! That behemoth pile dwindles a lot 
faster when you can disqualify resumes as soon as you see an end-date on their last position.
Even though the status of “unemployed” doesn’t fall under any law enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the same logic for anti-discrimination should apply. To avoid any perception of discrimination, effective Senior Recruiters tend to develop a habit of thinking less about what they shouldn’t be asking and more about discovering the relevant qualifications of each candidate. Thus assessing the candidate’s cultural fit and career motivations. This is the most cogent practice for avoiding dangerous discrimination territory, as well as the most effective practice for revealing the most qualified candidate–how convenient!
How relevant is it that a candidate is unemployed? In the fast-paced world of technology, it might matter. In the ever changing world of compliance, it might matter. For the creative class however, where you can keep skills sharp through trade and pro-bono or pro-rata work, the quality of your work matters. Your attitude matters. Your motivations matter. Your professional goals matter.
Apart from “Unemployed Need Not Apply” being a lousy hiring practice, the greatest damage it really does is to the employment brand. There is a seismic shift in attitudes about and patterns of work in the economy from the early 1950s era of William Whyte’s The Organization Man to today’s worker. It’s acceptable and common to see people shifting employers every 3-7 years, and then there’s the rise of the free agents. In fact, as Daniel Pink reveals in Free Agent Nation, over 25 million Americans are now self-employed, and fewer than one in ten works for a Fortune 500 company.
It’s called an “economic cycle” for a reason, and as the employment economy shifts to become an employee-friendly market again, companies are going to need to work harder to attract talent. For the past 10 years, 
companies have been investing to build programs to develop an employment brand that is as attractive as possible while remaining authentic. The people developing these programs are aware that free agents and candidates are looking for companies where they will feel valued and viewed beyond the job description or statement of work; a place to be inspired and motivated, and recognized as individuals.
Having a blanket “unemployed need not apply” policy won’t be forgotten and flies in the face of any message that the company is sending about how they might value their employees. As candidates get more and more opportunities coming to them, they will prioritize on a number of factors, and company culture/employment brand is often number one–even more so than compensation. Forgetting that the cycle will repeat, companies are shooting themselves in the foot for recruiting efforts when the market becomes competitive again.
It is this short-sightedness that is often just part of the cycle–as is low-balling on compensation, month(s)-long interviews, and tire-kicking. Unnecessarily discriminating against the unemployed is still a sucky practice and one that we would advise all of our clients against. Luckily, we have amazing clients that have never gone there!
Tags: economy, Employment Brand, Jobs, Resumes, Unemployment