EDITOR’S NOTE: Want to read the RECAP of this week’s events? Read “#TChat Recap: Is it Time to Hire Yourself?”
There’s just too many of them: 4.8 million who are known as “the long-term unemployed” according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These are people who have been out of work for 27 weeks or more, and in fact make up almost 40 percent of all unemployed people.
The current average period a person in the U.S. stays unemployed is about 40 weeks, which is just way too long. Employers who are hiring won’t hire them, and states like New Jersey, Oregon and the District of Columbia passed laws in 2011 and 2012 so employers couldn’t discriminate against the unemployed.
Surely the long-term unemployed would jump for joy at the prospect of being hired, finally; surely, plenty of them are highly qualified. The economy isn’t exactly going gangbusters, after all. What’s the solution? Is there a solution? Should we further legislate who we can or can’t hire?
Probably not — there was a bill in California for the same sort of law as those in New Jersey, Oregon and the like, but Governor Brown vetoed it. But the unemployed ought to be given a fair shake if they do everything in their power to remain relevant and up-to-date with skills through contracting and volunteering, right? Jobs don’t appear magically, so who and what creates them?
This week’s #TChat explores this continuing conundrum on what both the employers can and should do and what the unemployed can and should do to make their business case and close the gaps. Here are the questions to guide our many, many discussions:
Q1 : First and foremost, who and what are the true job creators and why?
Q2 : What can employers do to make hiring fairer to qualified applicants, currently employed or not?
Q3 : What can the out-of-work do to keep themselves relevant and marketable after weeks and weeks of unemployment?
Q4 : Should government legislate not discriminating against the unemployed? Why or why not?
Q5 : What consumer and B2B technologies are helping both employers and the unemployed close the hiring gaps?
Click to hear this recorded radio show now So, join yours truly (@MeghanMBiro ) and Kevin W. Grossman (@KevinWGrossman ). Let’s see if we and you can crowd-source some actionable new ideas for the long-term unemployed to leave the ranks of the long-term unemployed. This week we welcome Dr. Janice Presser (@DrJanice ), CEO and a principal of The Gabriel Institute and architect of the underlying technology that powers Teamability Kevin Matuszak (@Tooozy ), a very special guest who will talk about his creative #HireKevin campaign to work at Applebee’s.
Today, the long-term unemployed need new, catchy tactics and strategies, and Kevin Matuszak’s approach is a great example, fuel for the conversation. Catch Kevin and me, along with our guests, first on Tuesday, Feb. 12, for #TChat Radio from 7:30pm ET / 4:30pm PT and, then, on Wednesday, Feb. 13, for #TChat Twitter from 7-8 pm ET (6-7pm CT, 5-6pm MT, 4-5pm PT, or wherever you are ). You can also hang out with us .
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