Those who have been unemployed for any stretch no the longer it lasts, the harder it is to land a new job.
Denver Chapter 7 bankruptcy attorneys have assisted numerous clients who were overwhelmed with debt after a lay-off or termination. Across the country, there are more than 5 million people who are classified as being long-term unemployed. Even more have dropped out of the labor market altogether. Typically, getting back on your feet without some kind of legal help with finances is incredibly tough because most people haven’t prepared for such an event. Few people expect that they will be laid off and even those who do may be already working paycheck-to-paycheck and unable to save.
Now, a new study shows just how rough these folks have it when it comes to getting back into the job market.
Researchers sneakily sent out more than 12,000 phony resumes listing fictional job candidates responding to more than 3,000 job postings available online. The framers of the study set it up so that all of the candidates were qualified equally. The only thing they altered slightly was the amount of time that the job candidate was out of work.
For those who were out of work for 25 weeks or more, the news is grim.
The fake candidates who had been out-of-work for six months or less saw their call backs fall by about 7 percent. But then those who reported an unemployment of between six and eight months saw their chances plummet by 45 percent. In fact, those unemployed for longer than six months had only a 4 percent chance of being called back for an interview.
Researchers theorize that the idea is that if you don’t have a job, your job is getting employment. If it takes you longer than a couple months to do so, the thinking goes, than you aren’t very effective.
Of course, it’s all much more complicated than that.
Those in the business world advise that, first of all, responding to online job postings isn’t necessarily the way to go. You have a 9 in 10 chance of having your resume deleted right off the bat anyway. Instead, opt for networking opportunities and events, reach out to former colleagues and try to find ways to connect with people person-to-person.
