Bet you can’t guess what the topic of this article is from the title…..No, I’m not going to write about how you can log on and submit comments to my blog. But talk about creating a story that creates water cooler conversation (i.e. comments in today’s Web 2.0 world), the Wall Street Journal article entitled “Only the Employed Need Apply” was a lightning rod for comments!
If you didn’t see the article in the June 30th “Getting Ahead” section of the careers journal, you can check it out here. There are 144 comments and as I write this blog, the most recent comment was posted only 12 hours ago. And check out the “corrections & amplifications” note. Guess one of the companies featured in the story was getting overhelmed with calls from recruiters!

As I read the article I had mixed feelings. Sure, everyone wants to hire superstars, A players, best of breed employees. And of course they must all be working, not consulting, not out of work, because when would anyone ever let them go? Of course that’s just not reality. I don’t know the statistics, but particularly in Silicon Valley I have to believe there are a large percentage of A players that have been unemployed. If you’re taking a risk on start ups, there’s a risk the company won’t make it. And it’s not always well communicated to the team that the company is about to run out of money, or that they can’t raise their next round of funding because the market has tanked, or their niche has gone out of favor, or the VCs latest powerpoint slide presentation caused a tsunami of deep cuts at your company. And what about the fact that “success comes from being able to accept the risk of failure.” (1)

So, if you are in the unfortunate position of being unemployed in today’s market, here are a few suggestions:
• Focus your energies on your existing network of colleagues and co-workers. People who have worked with you before, seen you in action, will be your best referrals and references for your next position, even if you are out of work.
• Ask for recommendations on your LinkedIn profile. They do make a difference to recruiters who are sourcing candidates.
• If you take a consulting job to bridge the gap, UPDATE YOUR RESUME. We always recommend this to candidates in transition and I can’t tell you what a difference that makes. Same candidate, same skills, but all of a sudden they start getting calls when their resume says they are working.

And hiring managers, don’t always assume an unemployed candidate is a poor performer. Sure, a fair percentage of them are. We all know companies use economic downturns to cut out the bottom 10%. But a resume alone generally won’t indicate whose job was outsourced, which company cut a whole product line out and everyone with it, or which companies couldn’t get funding. Do your homework, do back door references, work with recruiters who thoroughly interview and assess candidates to understand if the candidate is the top or bottom 10%. If you do this, you can find great employees who will be totally committed, motivated and energized. It is well worth the time invested.
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(1) Daily Motivator email edition. June 19, 2009
Copyright (C) 2009 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All rights reserved.