Hiring Professional Hires Candidate Who Had Several Years Of Gap On His Resume, Netizens Laud Her

As several people across the youth battle the aggravating crisis of layoffs and employment, the hiring process across companies, too, has become less lenient. It has pushed candidates to be overly competitive so that they can find a place for themselves to work at, especially considering the impending recession.

During the hiring process, factors such as frequent job changes or long gaps between employment are considered red flags by the hiring managers as they might indicate that the candidate is an unstable or disloyal employee. Hiring professionals often tend to reject such candidates, without giving them a chance to explain their circumstances or reasons.

Amid such a highly-competitive hiring scenario, a hiring manager from Kerala has set an example by giving an offer letter to a candidate who had several years of employment gap on his resume.

‘Hire People, Not Resumes’

Reshma Nair, a talent acquisition specialist at Aabasoft, took to LinkedIn to share that she hired a candidate who had taken several years of a gap since his last employment. She wrote, “Candidate was great and cleared every round of interview.” When Reshma asked the candidate if he had any questions for her, the candidate said, “Why didn't you roast me more about my employment gap?”

To this, Reshma stated that being on both sides of an interview process has given her a different stance. She wrote, “If you have the skills and right attitude towards the job, that's my main focus. Someone took a chance on me someday and now I am going to take a chance on you.”

Ending the post with the statement, “Kindly hire people not their resumes”, Reshma said that if one wants the best talent, then one should stop looking for perfection as it doesn’t exist. She added that it’s the people who do the jobs and not the resumes.

Netizens Laud Hiring Practice

A LinkedIn user named Puja Puri wrote in the comments, “Well said Reshma. If people have gap in their resume its because of some reason. Its very difficult to take a step back and hold yourself out from your career, still people have to take such decisions at times. Really appreciate all those who hire people with gap in their work experience.”

Several users agreed that a gap in employment should be met with understanding and sensitivity from the hiring managers.

Another user, Fowzul Mobeen, wrote, “Thanks for posting your view....I completely agree with you...These days companies don't even consider the profiles with career gap....You can't assume an employer to work lifelong and don't have any personal life to take a gap in their career..”

As of January 2023, on a daily average, 1600 people have been laid off from their companies, thus leading to a high-stakes competition between candidates to secure a good job.

Also Read: More Than 1,600 Employees Laid Off A Day On Average In January