From The Recruiter’s Desk: “Is Unemployment a Disadvantage in Your Job Search?”

Lindsay Olson is a partner and recruiter with Paradigm Staffing (and PRNewser guest columnist). She specializes in helping companies and agencies find public relations and communications professionals throughout the United States. She has over ten years experience recruiting in the PR industry and also writes a career-related blog at LindsayOlson.com. You can find her on Twitter via @prjobs.

Olson’s latest column answers a question that has been popping up with increasing frequency as of late: is unemployment a disadvantage in your job search?

I’m asked this question every day. Maybe you saw the recent Wall Street Journal article, Only the Employed Need Apply, about employer’s attitudes towards unemployed candidates? That one got me very fired up and I ended up writing a bit more about it on my blog.

I wish I could say that employers today equally evaluate the skills of the employed versus the unemployed for their open positions, but it’s simply not true. Unemployment raises a whole slew of questions and judgments that doesn’t affect employed candidates. Some hiring managers, especially those who have never been a victim of a reduction in their careers, admittedly or not, equate the laid off with the damaged. Others believe that a company would never let go of their superstars – if the unemployed candidates were any good they would be still employed.

Yes, it’s unfair, wrong, and extremely short-sighted. While a company never wants to lose a superstar, certain circumstances exist that keep a company from retaining even its most desired employees. There are so many circumstances to consider before making a judgments about someone’s employability because of a recent layoff. But it’s a reality and there’s no way of knowing who may be harboring these types of feelings, which means unemployed candidates need to work even harder than their employed counterparts to get their credentials in front of a company and be considered.

On the bright side, a company will rarely refuse to interview a candidate who matches the position and demonstrates how his or her background will solve its problem, even if the person is currently unemployed.

Here are three tips to help make that connection:

1. Make it easy for the employer to see how your experience translates. If you have an agency background and represented clients that are in the same space as the company or the possible clients you will represent, make sure you point it out. List your relevant clients and their industries, even if you think it is obvious. Saying you have health-care experience isn’t enough. Give specific client names, the projects you worked on for them, and tangible results – your results. It’s important to map it out for the reader, connecting your specific experiences to their position and company needs.

2. If you have a real connection at the company where you would like to work, ask him or her to walk your resume to the hiring manager and the HR department. You’re much more likely to get a call through an employee referral than going through the employer’s website.

3. It’s easy for a hiring manager to assume that an unemployed candidate becomes more disconnected with their profession as the days and months of unemployment pass. Prove them wrong. Go above and beyond the job board searching. Stay as active as possible in your industry and in the PR field. Volunteer, participate in events, proactively engage in social networking and personal branding activities online, start a blog, pick up some consulting projects – keep up with your employed counterparts. Staying professionally active during your job search will help you overcome any objections.

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