Some help wanted ads require seekers to already have a job
New Jersey Institute of Technology students line up at a job fair earlier this month.TRENTON — A dream job in Flemington awaits some lucky candidate, sings an ad from Craigslist.
The posting describes a restaurant management position in an "exciting, fast-paced environment" with "excellent growth opportunities."
The promise of a new start, however, is coupled with a caveat.
"Must be employed."
Postings like this have captured the attention of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as well as the New Jersey state Legislature.
The issue revolves around whether or not the ads are discriminatory.
"It seems to be a neutral thing to say that someone must already be fully employed before they can apply for a job," says EEOC spokeswoman Justine Lisser. "If you look at the statistics though, you can see that this is going to affect far more minorities than white workers."
The EEOC began its inquiry after a Sony Ericsson plant in Georgia placed a job notice specifying, "No unemployed candidates will be considered at all."
"This is a new issue that hasn’t been around long enough for us to collect data on it." Lisser says. "Just because one can’t quantify it doesn’t mean it’s not illegal."
While Sony ultimately described the listing as an error and removed the questionable language, similar ads were found by The Star-Ledger on the web on various employment sites and job boards.
Another common specification is "No more than two jobs in five years."
"That’s certainly going to fall hardest on younger workers," says Carl Van Horn, director of the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. "After high school, it’s hard for younger workers to hold onto a job because they’re moving around."
He adds, "Saying no more than two jobs in five years is another way for an employer to say, ‘I want an older worker, not a teenager.’ "
From a human resources standpoint, biases are built into the hiring process. Ads that contain broad exemptions are not all that new either, according to Millburn-based career coach Lisa Chenofsky Singer.
"If we had a decent economy, people wouldn’t be looking at these jobs," says Chenofsky Singer. "The unemployment numbers are so high that people are aware and sensitive to it as never before."
A quick Craigslist search yields a dozen local want ads limited to those who are currently working. The occupations include dog walker, barber, plumber, lingerie shop clerk and financial sales consultant, a position that does not require experience. At the bottom of the page, "CURRENTLY EMPLOYED" punctuates a list of qualifications.
The hiring slant isn’t limited to a few fussy business owners on unregulated info boards.
The aforementioned Flemington dream job was posted by a national staffing firm, Gecko Hospitality, which recruits workers online for such franchises as McDonald’s, T.G.I. Friday’s and Sonic Drive-In.
"Craigslist has a large following," Gecko President Robert Krzak explains. "There’s a lot of indecent jobs that are out there but as far as management, you’ll find not just hospitality but engineering, mechanical, IT, computer, there are quite a few postings that are legitimate. You have to take the good with the bad."
Krzak says that his clients simply prefer to see people who have jobs. Those candidates are perceived as stable staffers in an industry with a high turnover rate.
"A lot of the companies are looking for employed individuals who’ve weathered the storm," Krzak explains. "If you ask me, it’s borderline ridiculous, but what are we going to do? We’re the vendor. We have to service our clients."
The must-be-employed phrase peppered Gecko ads for placement at eateries throughout the Garden State, from Atlantic City to North Bergen.
The Illinois-based company, which has a team of 80 recruiters, is in the process of removing the wording from its notices. Calls to the corporate headquarters of McDonald’s, Friday’s and Sonic were not returned.
"We don’t want to get into any type of turmoil," says Krzak. "If that phrase is in one of our job postings, it’s going to be taken down right after this phone call. We look at people who are employed and unemployed, too. It doesn’t matter to us. A doctor could be trapped in a cave for five years and come out. Did he forget his practice? No. You put him in front of an operating table, he’s going to be able to do the same procedure over and over again."
New Jersey lawmakers are addressing the issue. A statute, the first of its kind in the nation, was introduced last October that would fine companies for placing ads prohibiting the unemployed from applying.
It was vetoed by Gov. Chris Christie in January. The governor declared that the one-page bill was "vague and confusing."
He also expressed concern that Jersey businesses are already over-regulated. The law should not be effective immediately, he advised. Companies need time to prepare.
Christie suggested the bill should kick in the first day of the third month following enactment. An amended version of the statute passed the assembly 72-5 as an emergency resolution last month. It is now awaiting senate approval.
"It’s a good thing to make this a public issue but I don’t see how a law can be enforced," says Van Horn. "Is the government going to have someone looking at ads every day? Companies will continue to follow the policy. They just won’t put it in the ad."
Van Horn predicts it could take years of litigation to prove that an employer didn’t hire a candidate simply on the basis of job status. He says, "This could be a full-employment-for-lawyers opportunity."