Is Discrimination Against the Unemployed a Reality?

On Oct. 20 at the Announcement of Facebook’s Social Jobs (their partnership with nonprofits and the government to improve the American Labor Markets), the US Department of Labor Secretary, Hilda Solis, said, “I am very disturbed when I hear that employers don’t want to even look at resumes of people that have been out of work for 6 months or just (are) unemployed. It’s as though people have created this problem themselves, and that’s just not true.”

Do you agree or disagree with our US Department of Labor Secretary? Be Heard. Take the Zero Unemployment Survey.

I’ve written about discrimination of the unemployed before, and the mainstream media has picked up many isolated cases of discrimination. But truly the correlation of discrimination is not determined by a few isolated cases. The Zero Unemployment Movement wants to measure the depth of this issue across the entire recruiting industry. The survey takes less than a minute and is anonymous.

There are 14 million unemployed Americans. 6.2 million Americans have been out of work for at least 27 weeks. Is this because of discrimination against the unemployed? Are the unemployed a good candidate source, probably not qualified, generally lazy, victims of the economy, or unemployed for a reason? Give your opinion.

From a business perspective, SmartRecruiters recommends that companies always weigh skills, accomplishments, attitude, and aptitude (and just about every other professional characteristic) before considering current status. The unemployed are a large and talented sect of the candidate pool. Consider all channels, then hire the best.

Do you think Discrimination Against the Unemployed is a Reality? Take the Zero Unemployment Survey.

Photo Credit Facebook Social Jobs

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