Help Wanted, No UNEMPLOYED CANDIDATES Will Be Considered AT ALL!

[Rajiv]

Want Ad: Unemployed Need Not Apply

Job hunters are facing a new trend: businesses asking recruitment companies to keep unemployed people out of their job pools.

VIDEO: Ad Angers Job Seeker
SURVEY: What Do You Think?


Peter May, of Atlanta, said he was hoping Orlando-based recruiter "The People Place" would help him find a job with Sony Ericsson. The company is moving its headquarters to Buckhead, which is located outside Atlanta.

May said he was mortified when he read the message on the website. In all caps, and bold type, it said, "No unemployed candidates will be considered at all."

"To just totally leave those people out of the mix, it's stupefying. I just can't understand it at all. ...To be honest with you, it kind of angered me. You know, I'm a good enough guy," May said on Monday.

Sony Ericcson is supposed to bring 180 jobs to Buckhead, and was lured there with the prospect of a $4 million in state tax credits. But May said if the company is refusing to hire the unemployed, that deal should be rescinded.

During a phone conversation with Atlanta station WXIA, Howard Lawson, of "The People Place," refused to discuss the Sony Ericsson listing specifically, but he did say that he has seen a trend of employers looking to hire employed applicants.

Recruitment experts say many companies are opting out of so-called passive job seekers for a number of reasons. First, it could take longer to get them up to speed in professions that require constant training. They also say people who have not been laid off are believed to be the best in the fields, therefore more valuable.

[oddlots]

Re: Help Wanted, No UNEMPLOYED CANDIDATES Will Be Considered AT ALL!

Wow. Looks like we're going to have to update the "haves / have not" divide to the "haves get more / have not get even less" divide. And add a turbo-charger.

The nihlism of this is stupefying, with the kicker of tax incentives for the behaviour.

The only positive here is that there is clearly no future in this strip-mining of communities, especially as it accelerates as here. It is an abstraction that is only plausible because decision-makers can hide behind a profit and loss statement, an increasingly flimsy defense as profits fade while society disintegrates.

I read a piece the other day about the panic caused to the Reagan White House by high-unemployment figures. How quaint that seems, even with a "reform" Democrat president in charge.

[karim0028]

Re: Help Wanted, No UNEMPLOYED CANDIDATES Will Be Considered AT ALL!

This is mind blowing... Its like saying free food only for bankers, homeless & hungry people need not apply....

[blazespinnaker]

Re: Help Wanted, No UNEMPLOYED CANDIDATES Will Be Considered AT ALL!

This is mind blowing... Its like saying free food only for bankers, homeless & hungry people need not apply....

It's not mind blowing at all .. it's a pretty standard practice. What I find mind blowing is that they'd advertise it.

Pretty trivial to get some unemployed friends to lie for you about having a job as long as you reciprocate. Certainly the blatant crudity of this sort of thing will get people to put aside any moral hesitation to do so.

Personally, you want to keep this sort of filter under your hat so you don't tip off the applicants.

And besides, why not accept recently unemployed people? At least you can call up their last employer and do a reference check.

With someone who is currently employed, it's hard to do reference checks because there's no way they're going to let you.

Nah, something is off about this and not quite what it seems.

And btw, rescinding the tax credit makes ZERO sense. If they hire those people away from other companies, then those other companies need to hire someone else. These are net jobs created.

[buzzkill]

Re: Help Wanted, No UNEMPLOYED CANDIDATES Will Be Considered AT ALL!

Wish I could get a job. Scratch that, wish I had a job.

[bpr]

Re: Help Wanted, No UNEMPLOYED CANDIDATES Will Be Considered AT ALL!

blaze, I'm not understanding you here, but I think you could explain this to us.

It's not mind blowing at all .. it's a pretty standard practice. What I find mind blowing is that they'd advertise it.

This part I get: employed applicants are more desirable, for a multitude of reasons. You're speaking from an employer's point of view here.

Pretty trivial to get some unemployed friends to lie for you about having a job as long as you reciprocate. Certainly the blatant crudity of this sort of thing will get people to put aside any moral hesitation to do so.

Here, you're advising applicants to lie about their status?

Personally, you want to keep this sort of filter under your hat so you don't tip off the applicants.

You're in the employer side here, again?

And besides, why not accept recently unemployed people? At least you can call up their last employer and do a reference check.

With someone who is currently employed, it's hard to do reference checks because there's no way they're going to let you.

Again as the employer. I've always been open about my employment situation with potential employers, going as far as offering references at my current employer. Are you advocating withholding this information?

Nah, something is off about this and not quite what it seems.

I'm at a loss: what is it? What's really going on here? Is the recruiter making decisions based on their data? That's the only thing i can come up with.

And btw, rescinding the tax credit makes ZERO sense. If they hire those people away from other companies, then those other companies need to hire someone else. These are net jobs created.

Not sure what you're saying here. Are you advocating applying the same tax credit for companies hiring already employed workers as that that is available to companies when they hire unemployed workers?

I don't think that would do anything to decrease unemployment, as it is designed to do.

FYI, that part I put in bold is simply untrue. It may be true to your business, and it may hold water in a theoretical discussion, but today's job market is full of people working in traditional media (e.g. newspapers) that know that their days are numbered. They will not be replaced, if they are lucky enough to find a new media employer before they are laid off.

There are a lot of buggy-whip makers out there. Just think of the newspapers and magazines (Newsweek). And they have enormous payrolls to unload. In many cases the best and the brightest (those who saw the cliff ahead) have already chosen to be laid-off amicably.

[Master Shake]

Re: Help Wanted, No UNEMPLOYED CANDIDATES Will Be Considered AT ALL!

So, they hire someone employed somewhere else, which creates an opening at the company they were hired from. Right?

[jheis]

Re: Help Wanted, No UNEMPLOYED CANDIDATES Will Be Considered AT ALL!

This appears to offer a new business opportunity to offer fake employment references to unemployed job seekers.

[blazespinnaker]

Re: Help Wanted, No UNEMPLOYED CANDIDATES Will Be Considered AT ALL!

I'm not advocating that anyone should lie, just like I'm not advocating that anyone should prejudge their applicants. But the fact is, people do both.

going as far as offering references at my current employer. Are you advocating withholding this information?

That's a little bizarre. I've never provided that info. Why would I want to tip off my current employer that I'm quitting?

[sunskyfan]

Re: Help Wanted, No UNEMPLOYED CANDIDATES Will Be Considered AT ALL!

When we pull our head out of our ass. The social contract with corporations is that in exchange for limited liability they must always act with the public good in mind and certainly not consciously against it. Perhaps it is time to prosecute and give the death sentence to one of these monsters. I nominate BP for the first to go to the guillotine followed by ....

[ViC78]

Re: Help Wanted, No UNEMPLOYED CANDIDATES Will Be Considered AT ALL!

So, they hire someone employed somewhere else, which creates an opening at the company they were hired from. Right?

What if they hired somebody from outside the state? This would defeat the purpose of the tax break.

[Master Shake]

Re: Help Wanted, No UNEMPLOYED CANDIDATES Will Be Considered AT ALL!

What if they hired somebody from outside the state? This would defeat the purpose of the tax break.

What tax break and who's paying it?

[metalman]

Re: Help Wanted, No UNEMPLOYED CANDIDATES Will Be Considered AT ALL!

This appears to offer a new business opportunity to offer fake employment references to unemployed job seekers.

that's the spirit! go full bore libertarian...

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: Help Wanted, No UNEMPLOYED CANDIDATES Will Be Considered AT ALL!

..I'm not advocating that anyone should lie...

LOL!
Years ago I heard the definition of a job interview - it's two liars with a desk between them.

[ViC78]

Re: Help Wanted, No UNEMPLOYED CANDIDATES Will Be Considered AT ALL!

What tax break and who's paying it?

From the post -

Sony Ericcson is supposed to bring 180 jobs to Buckhead, and was lured there with the prospect of a $4 million in state tax credits.