Why Employment Gaps Aren’t a Deal Breaker

It’s a tough labour market out there. Workers quit their jobs at record-breaking rates – over 1 million Australians left or changed jobs in the year to February 2022. Employers continue to face difficulty filling open roles and managing high levels of turnover.

But calling this a blanket ‘workforce shortage’ might be misleading. Yes, it’s true that thousands of workers have left their jobs for many reasons since the start of the pandemic, but there’s also more to the story. The latest numbers from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that 1.2 million people who are currently outside of the labour force say they want a job. These potential workers form a largely untapped talent pool at a moment when many employers are struggling to hire.

So what’s causing this disconnect between employers eager to find workers and workers eager to find employment?

Job seekers with barriers are often left behind

According to atWork Australia, barriers to long-term unemployed job seekers include skills, education and training, ‘but also incorporate other needs such as behavioural skills, interpersonal skills, practical work-focused skills, vulnerable demographics and family demands’.

Here’s the catch: these barriers are irrelevant to a qualified job seeker’s ability to do good work. 

Australia has a long history of stigmatising long-term unemployment and generally treating unemployment as a ‘moral failing that needs to be punished, rather than supported’. At the same time, there’s a view that those who have been unemployed for a long period might not be good candidates for employment. 

According to a report sponsored by Indeed's Leadership Connect program, multiple studies show ‘when otherwise identical resumes are sent to employers, candidates who have been unemployed long-term get far fewer call-backs and interviews’.

‘In our survey, we discovered that these job seekers were being unfairly overlooked’, says Abbey Carlton, Global Head of Social Impact at Indeed. ‘Many possessed deep industry expertise, with six out of 10 having worked five or more years in their field before losing their job. And our respondents possessed nearly two-thirds of the soft skills evaluated’ – including reliability, grit, work ethic, critical thinking and emotional intelligence.

So how can employers reach potential candidates who are currently outside of the labour force? The first step is to drop negative assumptions about employment gaps, especially given the difficulties many workers have experienced during COVID-19. Instead, start by rethinking to identify more inclusive, objective ways to source and screen candidates. 

Don’t screen out quality candidates

First, assess how stringent your job requirements are. Job descriptions with a long list of desired skills can deter otherwise qualified candidates from applying. Similarly, minimum years of experience or education requirements can be arbitrary indicators of ability that tend to favour applicants with traditional backgrounds. And job seekers with barriers may have skills to offer but not the ‘right’ experience or education listed in the job description – and are, therefore, commonly screened out early in the application process.

Here are a few ways to minimise the ‘screen out’ mentality in recruiting:

• Trim job descriptions to include only the skills critical for the role. 
• Remove minimum education requirements that aren’t absolutely necessary.
• Ask for ‘level of experience’ rather than ‘years of experience’.
• Don’t reject applicants outright due to gaps in employment history.
• Practice fair-chance hiring by removing the criminal record disclosure box from your job applications.

Screen them in instead

Now that you’ve removed any unnecessary requirements for the role, you can take your inclusive recruitment efforts a step further by ‘screening in’ quality talent. Think about the skills required for your role. What transferable skills can attract candidates with diverse experiences and backgrounds? What parts of this role can be taught?

You can also expand where you source candidates by reaching out to organisations that help job seekers who are overlooked or face barriers find work. These include disability employment services, Aboriginal service providers and networks, and Restart, which helps people leaving prison get back into the workforce.

Rethinking employment gaps to build more inclusive hiring practices

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed employment gaps into the mainstream as thousands of Australian workers left the workforce. It’s time to forget outdated assumptions about job seekers who have been outside of the labour force, whether for a few months or much longer. 

At Indeed, we encourage employers to minimise the ‘screen out’ mentality. Take a closer look at job requirements and remove anything unnecessary for the role. Instead, focus on skills-based hiring and consider using tools to provide objective data on what a candidate can do.

By removing the stigma associated with long-term unemployment and designing a recruiting process that minimises bias and ‘screens in’ quality candidates, employers will access a more inclusive and expansive talent pool – and gain a competitive edge in this increasingly competitive labour market.