ReCrUitER DEScriMiNAtioN

I don't find myself posting to this blog often... and quite frankly... I forget it's even here. It is a useful tool, however, when I am feeling fired up about something... good OR bad! ;-) It's a great way for me to fire off a "Jill-ism Editorial" of sorts on one topic or another. So here goes...

I found an article a couple days ago that I shared on Facebook, and it's been bothering me ever since. I even found myself driving my 30 minute commute to work today pissed off about it. Here's a link to the original article from CNN Money:

Looking for work? Unemployed need not apply.

I "get" that there are lots of folks whom are relieved from their positions due to poor performance, horrible work ethics, etc. That being said, this country is in one of it's worst recessions of all time and hoards of hardworking people have lost their jobs due to downsizing, companies dissolving, etc. I find it extremely disturbing that hiring managers and recruiters are willing to discharge applicants based solely on their current employment status. What a shame. Are recruiters and hiring managers REALLY that lazy to not review applicants by their credentials?! It's a hiring PROCESS... the good applicants from any pool will rise to the top.

Sure, there might be 50, or maybe 100 more applicants to sort through... but that is what the "Minimum Requirements" section of a job post is for... to provide basic parameters for the job duties. If the applicant doesn't meet them... move on. Done. Frankly, these hiring managers and recruiters ought to be happy about the recession for only ONE good reason... that there are more, highly qualified job applicants available to them than usual.

I have a message for the recruiters and hiring managers out there exuding this unfair behavior:

Don't make the problem worse by hitting folks below the belt... again. You are shooting yourself in the foot by excluding a pool of people that are likely no better or worse than the ones you are selecting from. Furthermore... you are becoming part of the problem! By excluding the unemployed applicants, you are forcing them to remain unemployed. Just think, if you hired a qualified applicant from the unemployed pool.... you'd relieve the unemployment financial drain by one person, while the other employed applicants will keep working at their current jobs. The draw on unemployment services goes down by one, the hiring company gets a qualified applicant, and you've done your job.

I find it quite unbelievable that recruiters and hiring managers are able to get away with such discriminatory behavior. I'd love to see the whole lot of them fired on the spot and become part of the same pool of unemployed applicants to which this deplorable behavior is being targeted. Maybe then... they'd have some compassion and realize that not all books... er... résumés... should be judged by their cover.