Ann Knuckles Mahoney, Associate in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice, in the firm’s Nashville office, was quoted in Law360 Employment Authority, in “COVID-19 Tumult Softens Employers' Stance on Resume Gaps,” by Anne Cullen. (Read the full version – subscription required.)
Following is an excerpt:
A gap in a job applicant's work history used to set off alarms for prospective employers, but experts say that's changing in light of the widespread workplace disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. …
Address Staff Shortages ...
In an effort to reinforce their teams amid a tight labor market, companies would be wise to overlook resume gaps and focus on other elements of a candidate's application, employment attorneys said.
"Employers are having to be really practical about who they're considering given the labor shortage right now," said Epstein Becker Green attorney Ann Knuckles Mahoney. "It would be unfortunate for their business, not a good business practice, to be completely discounting people based on their resume gap." ...
Tamp Down Bias Liability
While it's not illegal under federal anti-discrimination law to reject an applicant because they took time away from the workforce, experts said hiring managers could still find themselves on shaky legal ground by digging too deep into the reasons for a job candidate's career break.
"It's a double-edged sword asking about these resume gaps," Knuckles Mahoney said. "Because of course you want to find out more and see if they still retained the skills that they would need to do the job, but at the same time, you really have to be careful of running into discrimination issues."
Capitalize on Untapped Potential ...
"Employers never really know what the reasoning is behind the resume gap when they first see it," Knuckles Mahoney said. "Closing that door off would be disadvantageous to employers."
