All Articles Leadership Very little bias against the unemployed

Very little bias against the unemployed

1 min read

Leadership

SmartPulse — our weekly reader poll in Smartbrief on Workforce — tracks feedback from leading managers and HR practitioners. We run the poll question each Wednesday in our e-newsletter.

Last week, we asked: Does your organization prefer passive job candidates (such as those not actively searching for a job)?

  • We have no preference between active and passive job candidates – 54%
  • We prefer active job candidates – 16%
  • It depends on the circumstance but sometimes we prefer it – 15%
  • I don’t know – 10%
  • Yes, unemployed people need not apply – 6%

Although companies that don’t hire the unemployed are hot news now, it looks like most don’t have that view at all. In fact, more than twice as many people prefer active job candidates than people who don’t hire the unemployed. Even in an anonymous survey the results might be skewed because of some public shaming, it still shows that most folks are still looking to hire the best person for the job.

Lance Haun is community director for ERE.net, the main guy over at Rehaul.com and a member of the SmartBrief on Workforce Advisory Board.