Job listings say the unemployed need not apply

[BankruptinNJ]

July 26, 2011

Hundreds of job opening listings posted on Monster.com and other jobs sites explicitly state that people who are unemployed would be less attractive applicants, with some telling the long-term unemployed to not even bother with applying.

The New York Times' Catherine Rampell said she found preferences for the already employed or only recently laid off in listings for "hotel concierges, restaurant managers, teachers, I.T. specialists, business analysts, sales directors, account executives, orthopedics device salesmen, auditors and air-conditioning technicians." Even the massive University of Phoenix stated that preference, but removed the listings when the Times started asking questions.

The concerted shunning of unemployed Americans by prospective employers was a common theme that cropped up in the thousands of responses that poured in when we asked Yahoo! readers to share their experiences of unemployment for our "Down But Not Out" series.

Reader Susan W. said she was being treated "as if it were my fault I was unemployed, regardless of the fact that I had put out hundreds of resumes and applications."

Legal experts told the Times that explicitly barring unemployed people from applying does not qualify under the statutory definition of discrimination, since unemployment is not a federally protected status like age or race. But the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently set out to establish whether employers were discriminating against certain protected groups because they are overrepresented in the ranks of the unemployed, such as African-American and older workers. (We covered that meeting here.) New Jersey recently passed a law barring employment ads that seek to rule out applications from those who are unemployed.

Even if the practice of weeding out unemployed applicants doesn't fit the legal definition of discrimination, it sure feels unfair for the more than 6.3 million Americans who have been out of work for more than six months to be told they are automatically disqualified for the few openings that are out there. "I feel like I am being shunned by our entire society," Kelly Wiedemer, an unemployed information technology specialist, told the Times.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/job-listings-unemployed-not-apply-133143362.html

[justdidit]

I've been looking for a job for roughly 9 months and have seen a few ads with comments as those listed in the above passage. Overall it makes me a bit frustrated that they discriminate along those lines even tho I have had great achievements in my professional experience and hold a masters degree from a well known business school.

I think it should be considered a form of discrimination that emphasizes a factor that may or may not have been the fault of the individual looking for a job. How do they think the economy will ever recover with these sorts of unfair tactics being allowed to take place?

[IamOld]

This nation has become cruel - our society has almost no empathy left...which is a VERY dangerous place for a nation to be.

[justbroke]

This nation has become cruel - our society has almost no empathy left...which is a VERY dangerous place for a nation to be.

Unfortunately, the culture where you worked for the same company for life... ended in the 1970s (I believe). Just as employers no longer "guaranteed" jobs for life, workers also took a similar attitude of jumping around and chasing money and status. It is, probably, just the natural progression of capitalism.

[IamOld]

Unfortunately, the culture where you worked for the same company for life... ended in the 1970s (I believe). Just as employers no longer "guaranteed" jobs for life, workers also took a similar attitude of jumping around and chasing money and status. It is, probably, just the natural progression of capitalism.

Job security lasted into the early 80's...not to start "something," but there is the "inherent contradictions of capitalism..." Although Europe practices capitalism with a human face/social market/ social democracy - whatever you want to call it, and aside from the UK, there isn't personal debt, lack of insurance, etc...

[banca rotta]

I think someone should start a web site and list these companies on it so every decent American with a heart and soul will boycott these low life companies.

I have seen plenty of folks out of work for a year or more and bankrupt that work much harder and complain less then a more "qualified worker".

[IamOld]

i think someone should start a web site and list these companies on it so every decent american with a heart and soul will boycott these low life companies.

I have seen plenty of folks out of work for a year or more and bankrupt that work much harder and complain less then a more "qualified worker".

agreed!!!!!

[banca rotta]

This nation has become cruel - our society has almost no empathy left...which is a VERY dangerous place for a nation to be.

That's why I stress these issues on almost every post as you may have noticed.

As more and more people are thrown out with the trash, they will eventually become broke, families will be torn apart, drugs and alcohol becomes a way of life then crime will be on the rise.

You will then see the same cruel bunch of people that are fanning these flames suddenly become victims of all of this.

[IamOld]

Right you are banca rotta - I just hope we don't go the way of Germany in 1933....

[BankruptinNJ]

I think someone should start a web site and list these companies on it so every decent American with a heart and soul will boycott these low life companies.

I have seen plenty of folks out of work for a year or more and bankrupt that work much harder and complain less then a more "qualified worker".

I found this interesting:

73 Companies That Discriminate Against Unemployed

[justbroke]

I agree and disagree with Banca for one reason, it will just go under the covers. I'd rather an employer be up-front and tell me the chances and preferences, rather than me waste time applying there. The University of Phoenix removed the preference from their web site, but didn't, in any manner, say that they'd discontinue the practice!

Let's face it. Technically, most employers want "fresh" employees that are up to date. The longer you are out of the employment picture, the less desirable you are. I had a friend who passed away who spent the last 10 years of his life trying to get back in the job market. He was the casualty of a defense firm's layoffs into the 1990s. For every year that passed, it became more difficult. Employers would actually tell him that he had been out too long. Luckilyy, or unluckily, for him, he had made lots of money in the stock market and was living off his earnings. Perhaps that motivated him less, but the result is the same.

This is absolutely not a new trend in the employment landscape. Just as employers will turn you away for being over qualified, this is one of the hidden truths about being out of the job market for too long. A few years ago, my skills were so necessary and wanted, that I could go virtually anywhere at anytime without any fear of missing a day's pay. Today, I'm unsure if I can get a job at my income-level, within 6 months. The job market is saturated with highly talented and skilled people. Employers literally have their pick. Aqueduct had over 15,000 people apply for 1,100 jobs. It's just that bad.

Please don't kill the messenger. I've had a friend die, unemployed; while looking for a job.

[banca rotta]

I found this interesting:

73 Companies That Discriminate Against Unemployed

Thanks BKNJ!!! I thankfully don't give my money to any of these companies. I encourage all that read this to look at lists like this one and take your business elsewhere.

Then when they layoff their staff, they can see how it feels.

[jacko]

As usual Americans tolerate this practice, the Germans would outlaw it. That is what you get when you vote to weaken labor laws.

July 26, 2011

Hundreds of job opening listings posted on Monster.com and other jobs sites explicitly state that people who are unemployed would be less attractive applicants, with some telling the long-term unemployed to not even bother with applying.

The New York Times' Catherine Rampell said she found preferences for the already employed or only recently laid off in listings for "hotel concierges, restaurant managers, teachers, I.T. specialists, business analysts, sales directors, account executives, orthopedics device salesmen, auditors and air-conditioning technicians." Even the massive University of Phoenix stated that preference, but removed the listings when the Times started asking questions.

The concerted shunning of unemployed Americans by prospective employers was a common theme that cropped up in the thousands of responses that poured in when we asked Yahoo! readers to share their experiences of unemployment for our "Down But Not Out" series.

Reader Susan W. said she was being treated "as if it were my fault I was unemployed, regardless of the fact that I had put out hundreds of resumes and applications."

Legal experts told the Times that explicitly barring unemployed people from applying does not qualify under the statutory definition of discrimination, since unemployment is not a federally protected status like age or race. But the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently set out to establish whether employers were discriminating against certain protected groups because they are overrepresented in the ranks of the unemployed, such as African-American and older workers. (We covered that meeting here.) New Jersey recently passed a law barring employment ads that seek to rule out applications from those who are unemployed.

Even if the practice of weeding out unemployed applicants doesn't fit the legal definition of discrimination, it sure feels unfair for the more than 6.3 million Americans who have been out of work for more than six months to be told they are automatically disqualified for the few openings that are out there. "I feel like I am being shunned by our entire society," Kelly Wiedemer, an unemployed information technology specialist, told the Times.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/...133143362.html

[justbroke]

As usual Americans tolerate this practice, the Germans would outlaw it. That is what you get when you vote to weaken labor laws.

This is not a labor law issue at all.

I don't think it's that simple of "tolerating" a practice. The practice is and will continue well beyond this article, and exists everywhere in the industrialized world. It's called a preference. The fact that employers started to tell people that lack of recent experience would lower your preference to such a low factor, that you really need not apply... is actually a good thing if you ask me.

I'm not looking at it as a discriminatory or vicious practice at all. I see it as a "hey look... to be honest with you, if you apply and haven't worked in a while, you're not really going to be considered over more recently employed persons". I actually like that honesty. I absolutely disapprove of ads where they hide factors where they won't consider a candidate. Let's face it, as a hiring manager, I would not try to have thousands of resumes sent in when there is no chance of the person being even considered (past screening).

Yes, you heard it here... resumes are screened, at least twice. The screenings are almost always done electronically without a human ever looking at them. It's just the fact of the new modern workplace.

Again, don't shoot the messenger. It has been like this for many years. Preference is something that happens everywhere... even in socialist countries. I guess you could just use random lottery to fill job positions, but what does that do when you need to fire the person 30 days later because they can't perform the job? Time pressure has never been an issue under full employment, although it was there as well.

[banca rotta]

True I agree with justbroke. No laws will ever fix all of the insanity with these companies.

I personally buy little or no garbage from these stupid companies nor do I hold any of their worthless stock and wish everyday more good Americans would also do the same.

I go as far as reading where my produce comes from and toss it back on the shelf to rot if it doesn't come from American family farms.

I alone have little power but we all together hold all of the power!