Survey: unemployment does not affect much the willingness of professionals to hire employees

Topics

• Job seeking
• Unemployment

YTK asked recruitment professionals what kind thoughts they have about the unemployment of a job applicant. According to just over one hundred respondents, unemployment does not affect the willingness to hire a person, but some recruiters are interested in the reason for unemployment, especially if the applicant has been outside the working life for a longer time.

Many unemployed persons are thinking what a period of unemployment looks like in the CV. Will the attitudes of recruiters be an obstacle, even if the applicant’s expertise and attitude were right? Can you be hired for your dream job if you are unemployed or are the possibilities poor compared to those changing jobs?

To find answers to the questions, we conducted a survey in early May with Finnish recruitment professionals and supervisors who recruit employees. We received 110 answers to the survey. 74 of the respondents were persons in charge of a company’s internal recruitments and 31 were recruitment professionals working outside the company.

The results were a relief. A period of unemployment during the past year does not much affect the willingness of the recruiters to hire an applicant if they are otherwise suitable for the position. The average value for the survey was 5.1, when 0 stood for “decreases my willingness to recruit the applicant” and 10 stood for “increases my willingness to recruit the applicant”.

Some recruiters are interested in the reason for unemployment

In the free comments section many recruitment professionals described their attitude to unemployment in more detail. For many of those who submitted comments unemployment is a natural and understandable part of life. Some were interested in the reasons for unemployment.

“Nothing really. Situations in life vary, and there are both unemployed and employed people who are willing to work. The person’s own attitude is decisive”, one respondent commented on the question about the thoughts generated by the unemployment of the applicant.

Another respondent noted that the coronavirus has made unemployment more common, but continued that long-term unemployment raises questions: “Last year was so unusual that unemployment does not affect in any way. If unemployment has lasted for years, you have to ask why.”

Many of those hired by YTK have been unemployed at some point

Anne Pihlava, HR Manager at YTK, considers the results encouraging.

“It’s delightful to notice that unemployment is generally seen as a neutral thing. Recruitment professionals want to see the person behind the situation.”

YTK has recruited a number of new experts during the past year. Many of those hired for the vacant positions have experienced unemployment, lay-offs or change of profession.

“When we looked back early this year, we could see that out new colleagues come from a wide range of different backgrounds and have different experience. Many of them had also had periods of unemployment,” Anne Pihlava says.