Unemployed? The NEW Way Employers View You

Posted on June 25, 2012 by ComeRecommended

Being unemployed isn’t easy, especially with such discrimination as unemployment bias . Want to know what employers really think of the unemployed? CareerBuilder surveyed more than 3,000 employers on their perspectives and tips for the unemployed.

“More than 5 million workers in the U.S. have been unemployed for six months or longer, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,” said Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources for CareerBuilder. “While job seekers have voiced concern over how they may be perceived if they’ve been out of work for a while or took a job for which they were overqualified to make ends meet, the study shows employers understand the tough challenges the economy has created for workers. What is most important to employers is that workers show they have stayed active in sharpening their skills.”

Some notable findings from the survey:

  • 85% of employers said they’re more understanding of employment gaps post-recession
  • 94% said they wouldn’t think less of a candidate who took a position during the recession that was a lower position than they had previously held

Employers also had some great job seeking tips for the long-term unemployed:

  • 79% said take a temporary or contract assignment
  • 61% said take a class
  • 60% said volunteer
  • 28% said start your own business
  • 11% said start a professional blog

CareerBuilder also had some tips from its experts:

1. Follow Stories on Hot Industries and Job Functions

Fields such as Information Technology, Engineering, Healthcare, Sales and Customer Service are top hiring industries nationwide.

2. Use Keywords

Keywords will help your application get picked up by electronic scanning devices used by employers to screen candidates.

3. Come in with Ideas

Show your excitement about a job opportunity by coming in with an idea for the company.

4. Make Connections

Expand your professional network to make personal connections at a company in which you’re interested.

5. Follow Through

Take the extra step to follow up with an employer after submitting your resume, and don’t forget to send a thank you note!

Are you unemployed? How do you think employers view you?

For this post, YouTern thanks our friends at ComeRecommended!


About the Author: Kate D’Amico is a recent Virginia Tech graduate where she is studied communications with an emphasis in public relations as well as psychology and special events management and marketing. She has prior internship experience in corporate communications and public relations for technology, nonprofit, and association clients.  Follow Kate on Twitter.

This entry was posted in employment history, hiring strategy, job interview, job search, Unemployment, youtern and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1215290544 Susan Nunes

    Typical nonsense.  My advice to employers is quit hoarding the profits and to also push Congress to jumpstart the economy by creating jobs in order to stimulate demand.  The problem is we have utterly no demand and therefore very few jobs are being created.  This “advice” in this article has no relevance when the huge majority of the unemployed will remain so because THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH JOBS.

  • http://viivanova.tumblr.com/ Vassie

    Excellent point, stay engaged via temporary assignments. I have a lot of friends who are waiting out on that big assignment and in the meantime are staying at home applying non-stop, while getting depressed. On the other hand there were others who took an internship (even being overqualified) or a temp/ retail job while looking and honestly I think their job search progressed faster. Having a temp assignment doesn’t take away from your job search, I think it gives you structure and makes you more focused.