Tue, Jul 26, 2011
Discriminating Against the Unemployed: What Monster’s Thinking
Posted by MonsterThinking
Today’s New York Times story shines a light on the unseemly practice of discriminating against the unemployed. We at Monster strongly oppose this practice and advise our clients on the risks of discriminating against any individual. The article also prompted us to take a fresh audit of the site and , in doing that, we found that there are actually very few of these postings. With that said, we hope that companies clearly rethink their position against on any form of discrimination in hiring.
Monster originally responded to this issue earlier this year and while this post was written back in February, Monster’s position remains firm:
Employment Discrimination And The Hiring Process: Legal Gray Area? We Think Not
By Patrick Manzo EVP, Global Customer Service & Chief Privacy Officer, Monster Worldwide (Click here for original post)
A contentious debate has surfaced recently over allegations that some employers may be discriminating against job seekers based on current employment status. Such employment discrimination, if it occurs, is likely a product of popular sentiment that those with a job are more qualified than those without, and an attempt to manage the volume of unemployed individuals applying for a given position.
Last week’s EEOC hearing brought the debate in sharp focus and outraged job seekers have hit the Internet in protest. We’re on the side of the job seeker.
Monster has strict guidelines prohibiting discrimination on the basis of, for example, race, sexual orientation, religion or gender in a job posting. If we identify a posting that violates these guidelines, we work with that company to immediately address the issue.
But discrimination based on employment status falls into a legal gray area. Regardless of whether this type of discrimination is legal or not, however, it is certainly unwise.
There’s a very practical reason to oppose this practice – it’s not good business. Success in today’s market requires hiring the best talent. Period.
Many of those laid off in the recent recession are victims of structural changes in our economy; they are not out of work because of any lack of skill or diligence. Systematically excluding this group of candidates is arbitrary and potentially leaves a significant portion of the talent pool out of the running.
It will be interesting to see the response from the EEOC on this issue and whether formal policies will be put in place to address this problem.
As the labor market continues to improve, employers owe it to their shareholders to identify and cultivate the best talent and remove obstacles for qualified candidates to join the workforce once again.
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12 Responses to “Discriminating Against the Unemployed: What Monster’s Thinking”
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- - 27. Jul, 2011
[...] wouldn’t want to be accused of ableism, racism, or ageism in the mainstream media.*UPDATE: Discriminating Against the Unemployed: What Monster’s ThinkingSHARE THIS POST: Tweet | Facebook | StumbleUpon | Digg | Delicious20 comments …wanna add one? [...]
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0 - - 04. Aug, 2011
[...] against unemployed people.Monster is strongly against this practice, as we discuss in this blog post on MonsterThinking.The Monster Blog 0 [...]
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0 0 - - 08. Aug, 2011
[...] addressed this issue some months ago, but we think it is worth raising again in light of the recent increase in media and advocacy group [...]
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0 0 - - 09. Aug, 2011
[...] the same day the Times’ story appeared, Monster used its blog for the second time this year to say, “We at Monster strongly oppose this practice and advise our clients on the risks of [...]
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0 0 - - 09. Aug, 2011
[...] the same day the Times’ story appeared, Monster used its blog for the second time this year to say, “We at Monster strongly oppose this practice and advise our clients on the risks of [...]
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0 0 - - 09. Aug, 2011
[...] the same day the Times’ story appeared, Monster used its blog for the second time this year to say, “We at Monster strongly oppose this practice and advise our clients on the risks of [...]
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0 0 - - 12. Aug, 2011
[...] Their second point – that they counsel employers against discrimination – came to light after they were called out in an investigative piece in The New York Times. Their response. [...]
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0 0 - - 15. Aug, 2011
[...] 1 – http://insideusaction.org/aggprog/?p=434 2 – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/12/monstercom-ads-discourage-the-unempl… 3 – http://sales-jobs.fins.com/Articles/SBB00014240531119040073045764962432540484… 4 – http://www.monsterthinking.com/2011/07/26/discriminating-against-the-unemploy… [...]
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0 0 - - 23. Aug, 2011
[...] the same day the Times’ story appeared, Monster used its blog for the second time this year to say, “We at Monster strongly oppose this practice and advise our clients on the risks of [...]
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August 5, 2011 at 2:00 PM
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August 5, 2011 at 2:32 PM
I think that it is unfair that employers are pushing unemployed people away from the fact that they are unemployed and might not have the skills or qualifications that the job entails. Unemployed people have the same chance as someone who is employed of obtaining employment and should not be treated any different. People want to work and I believe that they have the skills needed for a specific job and they should have that opportunity to get it.
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August 20, 2011 at 11:33 AM
This petition is misleading. As an employer using Monster for years, there is absolutely no way Monster can prevent an applicant from applying for any job despite the requirements stated in an ad. Nor, can they prevent an unemployed candidate from appearing in my candidate searches. Though a rather ridiculous requirement to make in a posting, we as a people do not want more restrictions on our freedom of speech. If it becomes law restricting statements that unemployed candidates “need not apply”, what will be next – restrictions preventing companies asking for unemployed candidates “to apply”? There are far greater postings requesting the unemployed to apply than the reverse. Or, worse, will companies be restricted from requesting resumes only from people with a certain degree or years experience for their scientist or physician job requirements! Come on….
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