The Job Market and the Barriers to Employment
The job market is tough enough these days without the existing
barriers set by people who are discriminating toward others
misfortunes. No one is perfect, not even the people who are
setting these standards.
These are the three most awful barriers I have found:
If you have been unemployed for longer than x months, please do
not apply. If you have only worked on contract jobs, please do
not apply? If you cannot pass a credit check, please do not
apply?
I have read articles that state that if a person has been out of
work for longer than 3 months, they must be unstable. If they
have only worked for contractors, they obviously do not want a
"real" job. If they cannot pass a credit check, they just have
to be irresponsible or not honest enough to take care of their
obligations. Why not ask people questions regarding their
situations?
Let me give you some examples of these three situations:
OUT OF WORK FOR MORE THAN 3 MONTHS
Example 1: Engineer out of work for 13 months. He has plenty of
experience, has had plenty of interviews, but he and his family
had to move from Atlanta so that he could accept a position in
Middle Georgia while he lived with his parents until he could
afford to buy a house for his wife and child. He did not know
the right people in Atlanta.
Example 2: Accountant with a Bachelors Degree and over 5 years
of experience moved to a new town and is still looking for a
position after 7 months of sending out countless resumes.
Responses are almost non-existent except for temporary agencies
who want her to do janitorial work.
WORKED FOR CONTRACTORS
Many people work on short assignments. The only people getting
hurt by this are the people who have to work these short
assignments - they cannot budget much and constantly have to
play the job-hunting game, which in itself is stressful. They
also do not know when the next job may be offered. I really feel
that most people would like a long-term job - one they can
retire from instead of moving around so much.
PASSING A CREDIT CHECK
This is the worst one. If a person is not handling cash, why
does this matter? All it tells you is that this person has had
some bad luck. The longer this person is out of work, the worst
their situation will get because no one will hire them so they
can handle their finances. Most people do not want bad credit.
If this person has not been convicted of a crime or the job has
nothing to do with analyzing finances, then a credit check
should be illegal for a company to request a credit check.
Having bad credit does not reveal a person's personality or
worthiness, it just reveals that a person has had a difficult
time at some point in their lives. What if this person had a
sick child and all of their funds went for doctor bills and
medicine? What if their car broke down and they had to spend
most of their money on taxi cabs to get to work? I could list a
million situations, but to deny a person a non-financial-related
job because of credit is discrimination.
There are some good, hard working people out there who want to
work and have had some form of bad luck at some point in their
lives. Just because wonderful opportunities have not fallen
their way, does not make them any less worthy of having a job to
take care of their families. So the next time you deny a person
a job because of their credit - try looking at yourself in the
mirror and ask "How would I feel if I had bad credit and could
not get a job? How would I feed myself and my family?" If you
can't imagine the impact of what it would be like to have bad
credit and can't get a job, then I feel bad for you. Remember,
what comes around, goes around. Stop playing Satan by imposing
these silly barriers!