Why Aren’t You Getting Hired for That Cybersecurity Job?
The research says it, but we know it. Businesses routinely screen out job applications and resumes from unemployed job-seekers, while employed job seekers get all the breaks.
For starters, a 2017 Federal Reserve Bank of New York study states employed job seekers:
- are more likely to receive an unsolicited contact from a recruiter,
- have a response rate from employers four times that of unemployed applicants, and
- they get twice as many interviews and three times as many offers per application.
An article from Business News Daily states the following about unemployed job seekers:
“…companies are less likely to hire unemployed people because personnel hold a bias against them. The prejudice against the unemployed doesn’t just apply if someone has been out of work for a while; instead, it can come up even if someone recently quit or lost their job.”
The article also suggests that telling potential employers you were unexpectedly laid off doesn’t lessen the bias.
According to another study, recruiters perceive unemployment as a sign of a candidate’s:
- lower motivation
- low productivity
- lack of intellectual and social skills
- lack of knowledge regarding technological changes,
- diminished ability to be trained, and
- rejection by other recruiters/hiring managers (suggesting others have already determined they are un-hire-able)
The truth is, unemployed people are just as qualified, motivated, trainable and socially savvy as their employed peers — they’re just under-accessed.
Unfortunately (for the business and the candidate) hiring manager biases get in the way of their ability to make sound and profitable business decisions about who they recruit and select.
Check out my Medium Article If You Still Can’t Find a Cybersecurity Job, You’re In The Right Place for a selection of practical ways to help recruiters and hiring managers see past their biases and choose you — the best person for the job.
