Can't Get a Job if You Don't Have One....

Recently the Huffington Post ran an article called 'Unemployment Discrimination: Who's Afraid to Hire The Jobless.'

Yeah that's right, Huffington Post. You might be thinking therefore that here's another commie, pinko writer quoting the liberal media and in that, you would be wrong. Indeed, I look at a variety of propaganda sources every single day since the news we get in this country is a lot like fertilizer. It has to be spread around to do any good and a reader constantly has to sift through the uh...inert matter.

So the story referenced above caught my attention. Mostly that was because exactly what was described happened to me personally. I was literally told, by a company recruiter that if I had any unemployment on my recent job history, I could not apply. Then it happened with another company.

Now, O learned mavens of the blogoshphere, I don't mind telling you that this situation seemed mighty queer to this old country boy, emphasis on the old. After all, I had just reached the point when I finally reasoned out that sending applications through on AARP sponsored stationery might just not be the best plan for a career position. Indeed I had attended interviews where the HR director came right out and told me that he could hire three young people for what he would have to pay me. Yeah, I know that is age discrimination and also illegal but we all know it happens, and really, why bother to sue when you have already been told that the company does not want you working there?

So after working a couple of corncobs like that out of my ass I was really not prepared to learn that If I didn't have a job, I might not be able to get one. I decided to read further, and yes, from other sources as well, even some from the rabid right. (I have to tell you though that there was no article about this practice on the FOX web site.)

What I found out during that reading was that the practice is actually legal since 'unemployed' is not a category listed as discriminatory under EEOC guidelines. Yes! Our government in action at its best. There is no policy that addresses discriminating against the unemployed. And the practice is growing according to NELP Executive Director, Christine Owens.

Now, there may be a few of you out there who have recently arrived on Earth from some off planet locations but most of us already here are familiar with the reality that since mid 2007 or so, unemployment has been on the rise at a rate nearly parallel with what was experienced during the great depression of the thirties. Of course the numbers have been dummied up to make the statistic look better than it really is but I'll bet that anyone reading this has friends and relatives that are unemployed. The situation is bad to the point of being dire and we need less methods used to disqualify or avoid hiring competent workers. The solution is more jobs but with the growing trend towards globalization that is becoming harder to do.

In this pre election year run up to 2012, I believe that the best strategy for accomplishing the sea change that we need is as I outlined in an earlier post entitled 'Throw The Bastards Out'. At least with that strategy we all have a fighting chance to get hired.