The unemployed are talented. Unfortunately, as the Zero Unemployment Movement surveyed and reported, discrimination against the unemployed is a reality. The unemployed are an undervalued talent source.

Depart of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis explained her thoughts on recruiting practices toward the unemployment:

“I am very disturbed when I hear that employers don’t want to even look at resumes of people that have been out of work for 6 months or just (are) unemployed. It’s as though people have created this problem themselves, and that’s just not true.”

Unemployment – like labor – is manmade. Simply put: we created unemployment, we can fix unemployment. The unemployed deserve your time. Check out the unemployed.

 10 Reasons to Hire the Unemployed by SmartRecruiters CEO Jerome Ternynck

Jerome Ternynck speaks of Technology and Zero Unemployment at an #HRtech Conference

1. The unemployed are hungry.
2. They are willing to work.
3. The unemployed are talent ready to adapt to vision.
4. More willing to give greater commitment.
5. They are not jaded from overworking.
6. Less often, you have to bid against competitors for wages.
7. You get more talent for your buck.
8. Because this world doesn’t need anymore discrimination.
9. To make the economy better.
10. America needs your help.

See opportunity. Give opportunity. Create new business. Like Zero Unemployment.

Businesses should interview at least one unemployed candidate for every job opening. http://tinyurl.com/5sbvd6h #ZeroUE

A lot has changed since the life of Martin Luther King Jr. There has been much progress in social rights, but the socio-economic divide continues to grow, as Paul Krugman points out in “How Fares the Dream?”  Remember, this is a day to celebrate his life, and continue his cause. MLK’s mission of racial and socio-economic equality continues at the hands of his disciples, long after his assasination. Happy Birthday Reverend King (the next day we still celebrate).

“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.”
- Martin Luther King Jr., from “The Domestic Impact of War,” 1967.

Great visions can mold an entire culture. People flocked to Martin Luther King Jr. Venues gave him stages and microphones. TV channels broadcasted his speeches because social good hung on his word. And his audience grew and grew.

In the business world, visionaries create company. Great business models – models to better industries – need support from the right people. Building together. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke to the hungry voices eager for change. Together they changed the world. SmartRecruiters gives away the best technology in order to level the playing field of businesses with great resources and business without great resources.

For change to take hold, we must empower the leaders. Surround yourself with the right people.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.” - Martin Luther King Jr., from “Where Do We Go From Here?” 1967.

Sometimes to better the world, normative motives must supersede positive ones. In other words when you see much darkness, that does not mean the light does not exist. On contrary, the light longs to be seen. What is, is not always what should be. What is, is definitely not always what can be.

Along these lines, Jerome Ternynck, asked “Is unemployment a fatality?” And founded the Zero Unemployment Movement in April 2011. The Zero Unemployment Movement believes that unemployment can be globally eradicated with the creation of a more efficient labor market. We believe that if one is willing to work, one should have the opportunity to work. It is a fact that if search friction is reduced in the labor market, more job opportunities will be readily available.

If you adhere to Maya Angelou’s view – “I believe that  every person is born with talent” – is it so normative that everyone can have satisfying work?

“Privileged classes never give up their privileges without strong resistance …  If we wait for it to work itself out, it will never be worked out.” - Martin Luther King Jr., from “The Birth of a New Nation,” 1957.

Just because you have a better idea, it does not mean that idea will necessarily prevail. Good ideas must be fought for. Existing ideas have inertia. Leaders must recognize what must be done. Then, recruit the people to help you do it.

If you need a skill that is not on staff, that skill will not just magically appear. You have to go out and find the people who can change the world. Hire today.

“Whenever you are engaged in work that serves humanity and is for the building of humanity, it has dignity and it has worth.”

Video Credit Memphis Sanitation Strike Photo Credit KidzWorld

Everyday, more of the public takes occupation in the streets. More than 14 million Americans are unemployed, actively searching for a job. And 3.4 million jobs remain open, an increase of 22% over the last year.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 671,000 less private sector jobs existed in the first quarter of 2011 when compared to the previous quarter. This full first quarter report was not published until November 17th…

I’m not relying on the government to put the six plus million workers who have been unemployed for six plus months back to work.

From the tents in the city parks to the debates for unemployment benefits in the federal buildings to police brutality, the frustration with the economy is on the tip of our unsatisfied tongues. Without satisfying work, humans are just not satisfied. McGill University reported that prolonged unemployment while under the age of 50 increases a man’s chances of dying prematurely by 63%. On top of that, Gallup-Healthways Well Being Index measured underemployed workers as 83% more likely to be diagnosed with depression than fully employed workers.

In my opinion, the frustration spewing from the Occupy Movement is due to the lack of fiscal accountability in the financial crisis and ensuing bailouts. Transparency was missing. Speculators, who were at the root of crisis, received the bailout tax dollars of the speculators and the average worker, creating more disgruntled workers. To satisfy the 14 million unemployed and 9 million underemployed Americans, the practices in the labor market must combat the frustration of the Occupy Movement by becoming more transparent today.

The Internet will increase transparency, which will increase accountability, in the labor markets. On November 15 in TechCrunch, Erik Schonfeld pointed out the Internet’s ability to match jobs: “New forms of work that use the Internet as its organizing principle (instead of the firm) are beginning to become more commonplace.“ While social networks have a lot more of our information and footprint than a resume, social networks are still young. Social networks are maturing to the technology in terms of the sharing only the relevant information.

Even with all the personal and connected information on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Facebook Apps, the barriers to entry for the candidate to get an interview remains too high. In a recent survey by research firm Staffing.org, 47% of job candidates said they had not applied to a particular employer because the firm’s hiring process was too frustrating. It is taxing enough to choose a suitable job (for culture, talent, location, compensation, and timing) out of over 3 million, let alone expend the energy to actually apply.

“Nothing keeps the best candidates away like a lengthy and bureaucratic form,” said SmartRecruiters CEO Jerome Ternynck.

There is no business without talent. Too often businesses expect to hire the perfect candidate. The vast majority of entry-level job descriptions “require” 2+ years experience. It is not rational for a business to expect a new entrant in the labor market to have 2+ years experience.

Recently, Robert J. Samuelson in the Washington Post (“The Great Jobs Mismatch” ) and Peter Cappelli in the Wall Street Journal (“Why Companies Aren’t Getting the Employees They Need” ) both described this situation as a “Catch-22.” Samuelson wrote:

“You can’t get hired unless you have experience; but you can’t get experience unless you’re hired. With technology changing rapidly, workers need to know more, even as their skills-support systems weaken.”

Samuelson is correct; today, the worker must evolve quicker. However, with rapidly improving technology at the worker’s disposal, the worker will be able to learn new skills faster. Cappelli aptly points this out, “Only about 10% of the people in IT jobs during the Silicon Valley tech boom of the 1990s, for example, had IT-related degrees.”

“Race Against the Machine,” a book by Erik Brynjollffson and Andrew McAfee, both of MIT’s Center for Digital Business, elaborated on how technology is a tool to empower the worker because technology allows the individual worker to become more productive. They wrote, “the key to winning the race is not to compete against machines but to compete with machines.”

As the rate of technology accelerates, the skills “required” for the job accelerate. This means – that over the same duration – less percentage of candidates will possess all the “required” skills upon being hired. Now, more than ever, companies must abide by the 80 / 20 rule for skills / training. Candidates that can perform 80% of the tasks initially, will learn the other 20% upon working, and should be hired today, possibly with a more regular scaling to more accurately compensate the worker for the increased fluidity of skills accumulation in today’s economy.

Abiding by the 25 bullet points on a job description of “required” is purely hubris. It’s very unlikely that any candidate will have all 25 skills. And if someone did, that candidate probably has more than those 25 skills, so paying him or her for only those 25 skills would be a gross underpayment. Businesses must adjust their expectations. Cappelli described this results based approach as, “Jobs can be organized in many different ways so that candidates who have very different credentials can do them successfully.”

While jobs in tech companies are booming, this type of hiring for raw skill is not occurring across enough industries. A recent survey of 2,000 firms by McKinsey Global found that 40% had positions open at least six months because they couldn’t find suitable candidates. Businesses must re-evaluate what determines “suitable.”

When the economy tightens, businesses must fight the urge to apply tension to spending. Businesses must not hold out for the perfect candidate because they will never regain the lost production through the period. If businesses communicate to the candidate what tasks need completed – as opposed to what skills need to be present – transparency will create more hires.

By David Smooke, an Internet enthusiast who brings free recruiting software to market.

Photo Credit David Smooke

Free Software Forever. Signup for SmartRecruiters Free Recruiting Software.

You’ve heard about this disturbing trend of discrimination against the unemployed, where people without a job basically don’t even get invited for interview because they’re perceived as not good enough.

Well, we surveyed recruiters, hiring managers, and HR professionals about it and the results are appalling!

• 82% confirm that “discrimination against the unemployed is a reality” (gasp!)

• 55% say they have “personally experienced resistance when presenting qualified yet unemployed candidates”

• 53% see unemployed job seekers as “unemployed for a reason” or “probably not qualified.”

We think this needs to stop and have a very easy, high impact solution for it:  Get businesses to commit to interview at least 1 unemployed candidate for every Job opening.

We’re not asking they hire anyone that’s “probably not qualified” or “Unemployed for a reason,” just interview them when you have a job opening.

4 Ways To Help Today:

1. The “quick and easy” way

Take the pledge here:

2. The “I care” way

Put any or all of the following tweets in your feed over the next few weeks, or come up with your own tweets:

• WOW! 55% of #HR/Recruiters say they have “experienced resistance when presenting qualified yet #unemployed candidate” http://tinyurl.com/3fftckh
• 82% of #HR/Recruiters surveyed say there is #discrimination against the #unemployment. Take @zeroUE pledge http://tinyurl.com/3fftckh
• 6.2 mil Americans have been unemployed for 27 wks+. Take pledge to get #interviews for #unemployed http://tinyurl.com/3fftckh
• 53% of #HR/Recruiters see #unemployed job seekers as “unemployed for a reason” or “probably not qualified.” http://tinyurl.com/3fftckh

3. The “this needs to stop” way

Write a short post about this issue. Feel free to use the survey results or other data points and quotes from the press release. Make sure to embed the pledge box (displayed above) in your own blog post by inserting the code below :

<div id=”end_discrimination”></div>
<script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://zeroue.org/end_discrimination/”></script>

4. The “thank you soooo much for your help” way

Do all of the above.

Thank you for reading to the end and don’t forget to interview at least one unemployed candidate next time you hire.

Best,

Jerome Ternynck

“Don’t forget your ghost mask,” the corporation told me when they let me go eight months ago. My face is a ghost.

I sent out resumes. I hounded job boards. I called. And called. And emailed. And emailed. No one would look me in the eye and say “Hello. Welcome. Take a seat and tell me about yourself.”

Then I finally got a hiring manager to meet me for coffee. I bought the coffee. “So are you … ah,” the hiring manager mumbles to the sound of rustling paper. “Currently … doing … wait where are you currently working?”

“I’m unemployed.” (dun, dun, Dun!) Hiring manager screamed thoughts, “The Horror! The Horror!” Then politely drank coffee, didn’t listen to the details, told me, “we’ll be in touch,” only to never contact me again.

Don’t mask the faces of the unemployed. The unemployed are not ghosts. Listen to their voice. Then evaluate the skills in the their experience.

It is about more than ghost costumes. Halloween is said to have emerged from the fears of Celtic Tribes. Legend said, when the season of life (the fall) meets the season of death (the winter), the malevolent ghosts would manifest from the wind to walk among the living. This practice in the hiring process – of seeing the unemployed as ghosts – its not just one day, it is all year.

This scenario need not be real. The unwritten rule for those hiring is to not even consider the unemployed. This is a practice we can change. Businesses should interview at least one unemployed person for every job opening.

A recent SmartRecruiters Survey of stakeholders within hiring decisions, found that 82% confirm the existence of discrimination against the unemployment, 55% have “personally experienced resistance when presenting qualified yet unemployed candidates,” and 53% believe the unemployed job seekers are “unemployed for a reason” or “probably not qualified.” That is scary.

Whether the unemployed are victims of the economy or “unemployed for a reason,” they deserve a moment of your time. This Halloween, get to know the person behind the sheet. Create opportunity. Businesses should interview at least one unemployed person for every job opening.

Do you agree or disagree with our US Department of Labor Secretary? Be Heard. Take the Zero Unemployment Survey.

I’ve written about discrimination of the unemployed before, and the mainstream media has picked up many isolated cases of discrimination. But truly the correlation of discrimination is not determined by a few isolated cases. The Zero Unemployment Movement wants to measure the depth of this issue across the entire recruiting industry. The survey takes less than a minute and is anonymous.

There are 14 million unemployed Americans. 6.2 million Americans have been out of work for at least 27 weeks. Is this because of discrimination against the unemployed? Are the unemployed a good candidate source, probably not qualified, generally lazy, victims of the economy, or unemployed for a reason? Give your opinion.

From a business perspective, SmartRecruiters recommends that companies always weigh skills, accomplishments, attitude, and aptitude (and just about every other professional characteristic) before considering current status. The unemployed are a large and talented sect of the candidate pool. Consider all channels, then hire the best.

Do you think Discrimination Against the Unemployed is a Reality? Take the Zero Unemployment Survey.

Photo Credit Facebook Social Jobs

This pay it forward Movement is a successful method for bettering the labor markets. As Obama hosts digital and in the flesh addresses to spend a half a trillion on job creation, remember that there are more ways to get involved than waiting on the government.

First off, Blogging4Jobs must be thanked. Never underestimate when an expert goes pro bono! Not only did she rally volunteers through social media, but she volunteered her time through the week, helping job seekers better position themselves with potential employees. It’s about connecting people.

Some made introductions or referrals, some critiqued and improved resumes, some leveraged their Facebook or LinkedIn connections, and some helped friends write cover letters. Volunteers from all over the country did what they could to improve the career of a friend. Personally I shared relevant job postings with strangers. The preparations for Give Labor Day by my company, SmartRecruiters, can be found here on video.

Give Labor Day was a call from the Zero Unemployment Founder, Jerome Ternynck, for everyone to give fifteen minutes of his or her time on Labor Day to help an unemployed friend find work. While 100 volunteers is an accomplishment, I expect Give Labor Day to grow next year.

The benefits of good business spread beyond the stakeholders and customers. What I consider to be a “beneficial” good or services, not only is profitable, but also makes markets more efficient. In the business of hiring, creating a more efficient labor market results in higher output and lower unemployment.

I tip my hat to Paul (Gunny) Zielinski and his firm ZCS & Associates! Check out his impressive contributions below:

The internet has multiplied the number of doors available to jobseekers, as well as, the people who can open those doors. It only takes a little motivation. Without the limitation of locality, I believe this Movement has just scratched the surface of its potential. Next year with your day off, give away a few minutes and help a friend find work.

David Smooke is an Internet Enthusiast.

Give Labor Day Related Articles:

“Helping put America BACK TO WORK!”

Yahoo News: “Zero Unemployment Movement Launches “Give Labor Day” Initiative”

“Looking for a New Job This is Your Homework for Labor Day …”

“Give Labor Day Contributions from Omega HR Solutions”

“Give Labour Day Monday and It’s Manic”

“The Art of the Job Search” 

To improve your business acumen…” – R.E.M.

Kate Gosselin’s show Kate Plus Eight was canceled. I watched her talk about it on the Today Show yesterday and what struck me was how she pitched herself as a “single mom” who still needs work to support her family – and of course would love to work in TV still.

Yes, I can her some of you snicker from here, but there’s no judgment from me. None at all. In fact, I thought, “You go girl.”

She’s trying to stay relevant and employed. Something millions of unemployed Americans are struggling to do, while millions more have already given up, becoming more and more unemployable with every passing week.

So I don’t disparage Kate for pitching herself every chance she gets. That’s exactly what you have to do every single day, employed or not.

That’s where your own personal development is critical when it comes to staying relevant, valuable and employable. As I wrote in a recent Glassdoor.com article, you’ve probably read the articles in the past two years about how the unemployed “need not apply.” True, the employed always get preference in job searches; their experience is certainly more recent and their skills fresh and up to date. The longer you’re out of work the more likely your abilities atrophy and the harder it becomes to find sound employment, of any kind.

Whether reality TV mom or office assistant.

There is hope, however. For those of you unemployed, as long as you’re willing to “go back to school” in some fashion and own your professional development – even be willing to change careers all together – then there is hope for you to again become (and hopefully remain) relevant and employable.

Here are three career management “relevancy reset” activities I recommend:

1. Literally go back to school.

Always wanted to get your GED? Finish your 2-year or 4-year college degree? Get an MBA or a Ph.D.? Get professional certification? Then do it. Although education alone is no guarantee for job fit, companies do prefer educated applicants, preferably those with higher education, a college degree and/or professional certification.

2. Update your skills.

Take special courses online or via local community services or paid programs to update your professional skills – everything from social media to computer programming to marketing to business development to management training to – you name it. Stay fresh and stay relevant in the marketplace you’re trying to get back into.

3. Find and take part-time or contingent work.

Of any kind. Preferably relevant to your career path, but not necessarily. I say this only because no one needs to bleed out when they’re trying to stay afloat. Sometimes there can be thousands of people applying for 100 slots when a new “store” opens, so why not be one of the more qualified if you’re recently unemployed. Or, take part-time seasonal work or contract work, even if you have to cobble together enough projects to eat.

Good luck.

Photo Credit Jolier’s Edutainment

Put simply, demand trumps all. Until employers begin to see robust, sustained demand for their products and services they will not be willing to hire. Companies have become very sophisticated and can react almost immediately to the many forces – political and economic – that are pushing down on the labor market and can halt hiring at the push of a button. Hiring in anticipation of demand or “hiring on hope” is a thing of the past; businesses will not create jobs unless the demand exists.

While we all want to believe there is a “silver bullet” for the economy, in practice it is not going to happen that way; an economist is not suddenly going to come up with a simple solution that gives stability and that nobody else has thought of yet. Policies made in Washington are not going to kick-start hiring and neither will stimulus packages or presidential elections. Last year, I testified at a hearing of the Joint Economic Committee on ways to spur job creation, and 18 months on we are still talking about the same measures. It is all about demand, businesses need to focus on developing innovative new products and services, or looking to emerging markets to increase demand to kick-start hiring.

Consistent jobs growth will take some time to achieve and in the meantime firms are going to be more specific than ever before about the skills they are looking for. That is why the U.S. can have 9.1% unemployment, and at the same time over half of American employers bemoan the fact that they cannot find the talented people they need to fill mission critical positions in their organization. Although this sounds like a paradox, what is happening is that businesses are evolving so rapidly that the available skills are not keeping up. With demand remaining tepid, employers will not hire unless they are certain they are getting a perfect fit. Complicating matters is the number of long-term unemployed who are available but whose skills may have antiquated during the time they’ve been out of work.

There are still opportunities out there, particularly for those individuals who possess the sought-after skills that employers need – such as skilled tradespeople, engineers and sales representatives. The economy will also get better in time, and companies should be thinking long-term about their talent requirements by developing multi-year strategies – just as they have multi-year financial strategies in place – to secure their talent pipeline and match long-term business objectives.

The inescapable pressure to do more with less has awoken employers to the power of human potential. From now on, being able to attract and retain the right talent will be the key competitive differentiator, and only businesses that can channel and unleash the potential of their people will succeed in this new reality.

Jeffrey A. Joerres is the  Chairman and CEO of ManpowerGroup who joined the organization in 1993.  He was named to CEO in 2001.  Connect with them on Twitter @manpower_us.  

China Gorman is a business leader, public speaker, free agent and supporter of all things HR. Have a good opportunity for China? Want to learn more about her vast range of skills? Connect with China on Twitter, LinkedIn, or personal website.