I ask because I have a sneaking suspicion after recruiters called me and asked “do you have a job now?” and I did so I said “yes” and the lady said “oh, good, good”.
Does it hurt my chances to get my next job if I am currently unemployed? Does unemployment look bad?
My ‘excuse’ is that I am teaching my self SQL, but that’s only what I’m doing since I’m unemployed in the first place.
to that comment , I wouldn’t read too much into it. she could be just trying to be friendly.
when calling clients and asking ‘how are you doing?’ they said ‘good’ and I say, ‘that’s great’
There are a lot of unemployed these days, it’s not as taboo as it used to be. If you start to approach half a year+ and still unemployed, that starts to look bad. 1yr+ is very bad.
I think all else equal, companies would rather hire people who are currently employed. Shows somebody else values you enough to employ you the first time, or keep you employed. Doesn’t make it right or fair but few things in life are.
Like said above, if its a short time and especially if you have a good reason for why you’re not employed, it shouldn’t be too huge of a deal but I would not want a gap of more then a couple of months. In this market a couple months can become 6…
It is worse for you if you are unemployed - for two reasons:
if you are offered a job, you have less leverage for a good package. Being unemployed is an invitation to lowball you (which they may do anyway, but if you are employed, then your threat of “thanks, but no thanks” carries more weight).
Lots of people assume that if you are unemployed, it must mean that other people didn’t want to hire you. Lots of hiring people are pretty clueless and so even if you’re qualified, the fact that someone else didn’t want you makes them wonder if they missed something. You can be that $20 bill on the floor that no one grabs because they assume if it were really worth something, someone else would have taken it by now.
In some circumstances it’s better to be unemployed. I know from some discussions around the company that my higher ups don’t want to spend money to poach people who already have jobs. Not only do you have to pay off their yearly bonus amortization, but lots of people now have deferred comp that they will forfeit if they change jobs. So, if you know someone who is laid off for legitimate reasons, that can be seen as a good bargain.
Of course, you have to be a certain pay category to warrant this consideration. But still, it’s case by case.
somewhat misleading. because this is where references kick in.
^ Assuming you’ve got to the interview point. If you never get to the interview stage because they’ve assumed the above, they sure as heck will won’t bother to check your references.
^ oh i see your point. agreed.
my only input to this is that I wouldn’t use the “I’m teaching myself SQL” as a reason for being unemployed. As far as I’m concerned, this is a skill you should be able to pick up on the side while working, not something you need to dedicate your life to. If you need an excuse, use something like “I wanted to spend some quality time with dad who’s getting old” or you wanted to travel for a bit and see the world or something.
Okay, cool I like that. How about “I realized that path wasn’t for me and decided to reformulate and focus on what I want. As I search for my next job I am studying for CSC and I took SQL courses” ?
Oh btw, I forgot to mention my circumstances! In the end it was genuinely not for me, the job I had. The employer and I both saw it that way, but both the employer (CEO) and my supervisor still like me very much and both agreed to give me references