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The long term unemployed face many stigmas in today's society. They are often discredited as viable candidates at first glance of their resume. This paper written by Sabrina Baker, PHR gives five reasons why they make great candidates.
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Acacia HR Solutions www.acaciahrsolutions.com
By Sabrina Baker, PHR Human Resource Consultant and Recruiter
The Economy and Long-Term Unemployment: Both The Great Depression and the tough economic times of recent years left millions of Americans unemployed. Many of these were the result of companies shutting their doors or so significantly downsizing that entire departments were laid off. Individuals who had been with companies for twenty plus years and those with companies for just a few months were impacted. From the C-suite to front line employees, no one has been exempt from possible reductions in force. Now, as happened after The Great Depression, long-term unemployment is causing problems for both businesses and individuals. World War II had the unexpected side effect of solving this problem after The Great Depression, however this time around; there is little relief in sight.
At the end of January, President Obama met with business leaders from nearly 300 businesses urging them to take a pledge to not intentionally or inadvertently discriminate against the long term unemployed. While that meeting and pledge by companies is a step in the right direction, more companies will need to commit to hiring the long term unemployed to truly eradicate this problem. Misconceptions: There are many misconceptions about the long term unemployed. Identifying them as lazy, problem performers or possessing out of date skill sets to name a few. The reality is that most ideas about the long term unemployed are false. Many of them are just as qualified to do the task at hand as the person who is still employed or has only been without work for a short time. The rest of this paper is designed to share five reasons to hire the long term unemployed.
Five Reasons to Hire the Long Term Unemployed
FAST FACTS:
An experiment conducted by Rand Ghayad at Northeastern University in 2013 highlighted the fact that companies would rather interview and hire individuals with less experience who had only been out of work a few months over individuals with more experience who had been out of work six months or longer. This means that as of the writing of this paper, there are currently 3.6 million Americans who this criterion deems unemployable.
5 Reasons to Hire the Long Term Unemployed
Acacia HR Solutions
www.acaciahrsolutions.com
2 Increasing the Talent Pool: There are over 10 million people unemployed in the US, yet a large number of American companies still claim having a hard time filling open positions. Often times, companies are limiting their own talent pool by discounting candidates based on several factors. The length of unemployment, or the fact that they are unemployed at all, is one of those factors. Often companies think that if the unemployed individual had any skills someone would have hired them already. In a culture where stigma is placed on unemployment, that is simply not the case. If companies want to expand their talent pool by millions of people, considering the long term unemployed as employable is a great step. Fresh Perspective: It is amazing how a little time off can change your perspective. The long term unemployed have had some time to think about things. They have thought about how they have done business before and how they might do it differently in the future. They have looked back over their career peaks and valleys and have thought about ways to recreate the peaks and avoid the valleys. This kind of thinking can breathe new life into a workplace. It can bring fresh perspective that changes the way business groups work. Varied Experience: Many job seekers these days are taking short term contracts to keep their skills relevant and to help them out financial until they find full time employment. These short term contracts often give them varied experience that the typical worker may not have. Especially if the individual has taken on consulting projects or work that they have to do additional duties for, such as sales or marketing, their skill set has expanded as a result. While many leaders think that the unemployed have outdated skill sets, the reality is, their skill set may actually be more advanced than other candidates.
Acacia HR Solutions is
a Human Resource Consulting
and Recruiting firm located in
the Chicago suburbs. To help
encourage companies to
think differently about hiring
the unemployed, the firm
offers a free placement upon
the successful placement of
an unemployed candidate.
That means the company
gets two candidates placed
for the price of one.
5 Reasons to Hire the Long Term Unemployed
Acacia HR Solutions
www.acaciahrsolutions.com
3 Network: All good job seekers these days are spending countless hours every day building their network. It is the first rule of job seeking and as a result they may possess a large contact list. This network has likely helped them stay current, pointed them in the direction of potential jobs and been a resource for them throughout their search. This network will likely continue to be a resource for them after they find full time work and can also serve as an added benefit to the company where appropriate. Enthusiasm and Loyalty: The long term unemployed are eager to get back into the workforce. They are eager to prove themselves and contribute positively in a work environment. They are not disenchanted as many working employees are and are enthusiastic about the job in front of them. Because of the stigma they have faced, they are likely to be very loyal to the company that does give them an opportunity. According to CareerBuilder, 21% of workers are looking for new work. The long term unemployed offer a loyalty to their employer that current workers do not. They are thankful for the opportunity and recognize their responsibility to their employer. Conclusion: The long term unemployed have faced and continue to face many challenges in our economic climate. Employers who are able to look beyond length of unemployment and truly assess skill set and cultural fit will not only open up their talent pool to a vast group of qualified individuals, but will contribute to the overall health of our nation. This is one area where it is very easy for companies to make a difference if they can just overcome internal biases.
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