{"id":15848,"date":"2013-01-16T13:47:07","date_gmt":"2013-01-16T20:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smartrecruiters.com\/blog\/?p=15848"},"modified":"2017-10-17T09:53:09","modified_gmt":"2017-10-17T16:53:09","slug":"unemployment-and-corporate-culpa-to-a-midlife-worker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smartrecruiters.com\/blog\/unemployment-and-corporate-culpa-to-a-midlife-worker\/","title":{"rendered":"Unemployment and Corporate Culpa to a Midlife Worker"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Woot! Woot! The U.S. unemployment rate<\/a> is holding steady at 7.8%. Time to break out the champagne, right?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Not really. There are still 20 some million unemployed or underemployed people (depending upon whose definition of “underemployed” you use). Add to that 88 million who have dropped out of the workforce<\/a> entirely, and you come up with a total of approximately 110 million workers who are unemployed, underemployed, or who have simply given up hope of ever finding a job.
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\nThat\u2019s 35% of the American population\u2014people whom the Bureau of Labor Statistics classifies as \u201cfunctionally unemployed.<\/a>\u201d According to Gallup’s Payroll to Population indicator<\/a>, only 45% of Americans over age 18 years of age have full-time jobs!<\/p>\n

In light of such sobering statistics, you might want to rethink the celebratory bubbly and instead, pour yourself a good stiff drink.<\/p>\n

\"BLS<\/p>\n

Corporate Culpa<\/strong><\/p>\n

So what\u2019s to blame for the unprecedented jobless rates we\u2019re seeing today? Outsourcing, a supposed jobs deficit and the Great Recession are atop the minds of many. But if you bring the unemployment crisis down to a more personal level, employers deserve the lion\u2019s share of the blame.<\/p>\n

When it comes to filling open positions<\/a>, companies set themselves and applicants up for failure by using outdated, ineffective (and often unfair) methods to recruit and hire. Simply put, most employers operate outside the realm of common sense.<\/p>\n

Recruitment and assessment of prospective hires<\/a> is generally based on a match system. In other words, applicants are screened according to how closely their background matches the job description. The goal: find the \u201cperfect match.\u201d In theory, this type of system makes sense; in the real world, not so much. Filtering applicants according to a perfect match instead of potential to do the job, excludes a great number of viable candidates.<\/em> Take the case of my friend James:<\/p>\n

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