As an experienced and proven recruiter, I’ve often said that some of the best hires I’ve ever made have been people who I went out of my way to recruit, because they weren’t looking for a new job at the time. But that doesn’t mean that someone who directly applied for the position was more or less qualified. It was just a theory that I had.
But given the current economy, the number of layoffs that have occurred and the number of people currently out of work, I have changed my philosophy. Now I’m telling people that this is the best time to be recruiting and hiring, because there are some significantly qualified individuals who have been laid off through no fault of their own. But it seems that I might be in the minority with that opinion…
The Huffington Post has featured several articles examing employers who are basically practicing discrimination by saying that “the unemployed will not be considered.” Companies such as Benchmark Electronics and Sony Ericsson have actually advertised that way in writing. You can read the full article here.
So is it true to say that “the best people are already working?” In my mind, absolutely not! A second article, which you can read here, continued the discussion about the unemployed and how some companies may consider a recently unemployment candidate, and how those companies weakly tried to defend their decision by saying candidates need to be current with knowledge in their fields. So apparently if I just got laid off, I may have lost my experience and education…
I’m glad The Huffington Post named the companies that are doing this, the job boards that are allowing these postings and quoted (by name) the recruiters who were supporting this approach. Our company has done some downsizing – not because we wanted to – but because we had to. And I know many other companies have had to do the same. And for lack of a better description, I think it’s extremely short-sighted for recruiters (and the companies they work for) to subjectively decide that if you got laid off, it was your fault and you’re not a worthy job candidate as a result.