Vaccination Status + Resumes
Published September 16, 2021
As companies await the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rule that will require workplaces with over 100 employees to get their workforce vaccinated or face weekly testing, hiring authorities are also planning what this means for their new hires. Employers are desperate for workers – 10.9 million job openings as of July, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) – and there is no question job seekers will be asked about their status. It will be easier for everyone involved in the hiring process, including the job seeker, if vaccination status is known upfront, according to one workplace authority.
Benefits of Disclosing
“Vaccination status will certainly be a factor to hiring managers. If they already know you are vaccinated, they can check off that question and will not need to worry about getting that candidate tested every week,” said Andrew Challenger, Senior Vice President of global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
“It will speed up the hiring process if the HR department already knows in which bucket the candidate goes,” he continued.
“Hiring authorities overwhelmingly check social media when vetting candidates. If a job seeker has posted anything that conveys their opinion of the vaccines, the company will find it. It is more professional to be upfront about your status in your resume or on your LinkedIn profile than, say, sharing a meme,” he added.
Currently, about 54% of the total population including children is vaccinated, according to Mayo Clinic’s vaccination tracker, and nearly 64% have at least one dose. Vaccines for children aged 5 to 11 are expected to be approved by the end of the year, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky.
Pfizer announced that a study found low doses of their vaccine safe and effective in children ages 5-11. https://t.co/PuNWdYyovA
— U.S. News & World Report (@usnews) September 21, 2021
An Unvaccinated vs. Vaccinated Candidate
“It is likely, in most cases, vaccinated candidates will have an edge over their unvaccinated counterparts. In other cases, it depends on the ideology of the hiring manager and the company’s culture overall. Certainly, in states with a low vaccination rate and legislation that bans vaccine mandates, an unvaccinated status may be better branding for a job seeker,” said Challenger.
“However, future economic success is completely dependent on the nation getting cases of COVID-19 down to a level where people are safe and feel safe, both to spend money and to take open positions,” said Challenger.
Indeed, in a recent Challenger survey of 172 companies nationwide, 85% were experiencing trouble filling open positions. Nearly a quarter cited COVID concerns as the reason workers were leaving roles.
Source: Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. Click the image to see the full infographic.
“Hiring managers are going to find out whether a job seeker is vaccinated or not pretty early in the process, and depending on the status of the job seeker, it will help or hurt their candidacy. Certainly there are reasonable exemptions that hiring managers will take into account, but generally, at this point, a vaccinated candidate will require less work from a company,” said Challenger.
“Being upfront about your status on your LinkedIn or in your resume will not only help the hiring manager, but will help a candidate move more smoothly through the hiring process,” he added.
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Vaccination status’ are now being written on resumes
Published Sep 28, 2021
As vaccine mandates in the workplace become more common, some job seekers are now beginning to add vaccination status to their resume in hopes of giving them a leg up on the competition.
For more, KCBS Radio news anchors Dan Mitchinson and Margie Shafer spoke with Andy Challenger, Senior Vice President of the Outplacement & Coaching Firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Listen below.
TURNS OUT WE ALL NEED TO PUT OUR VACCINATION STATUS ON OUR RESUMES NOW
And heads up to all job seekers in the technology industry — per the ResumeBuilder survey, an incredible 3/4 of computer and IT firms want to see an employee’s vaccine status on resumes, and research from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. echoed that sentiment. “We also found technology companies were most concerned about vaccinated workforces,” says Colleen Madden Blumenfeld, Vice President Public Relations at Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc.
At first glance, it might feel strange to share something that may feel like personal medical information with a company before you’ve even made it through the first interview hurdle, but it’s important to clarify exactly what kind of medical information your vaccination status really is. The EEOC clarified months ago that asking a candidate’s vaccination status is not a disability-related question under the ADA. Likewise, it doesn’t violate any current privacy laws to ask for or offer a vaccination status, explains Blumenfeld.
If you’re fully vaccinated, Blumenfeld says she highly recommends displaying your vaccine status on your resume. This is particularly important for job-seekers who may be applying for a position at a firm with more than 100 employees. Larger corporations that have offices across the country and the world are especially concerned with ensuring the health and safety of all employees.
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HOW ABOUT COVER LETTERS AND LINKEDIN?
It’s not just your resume where you should display your vaccination status — “We’re seeing job seekers use a hashtag on their LinkedIn profiles to showcase their vaccination status,” Blumenfeld says. A quick search on LinkedIn shows the hashtags: #vaccinatedagainstcovid19, #fullyvaccinated, #fullyvaxxed, and #vaccinated are all popular options, for both hiring managers and job seekers alike.
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But the truth is, fully vaccinated individuals are going to have more career doors opened for them in the years to come. “Right now, companies are in planning mode for the forthcoming OSHA rule mandating vaccines or weekly negative tests for companies with 100 or more workers. HR managers are getting it from all sides as they grapple with the needs of their existing talent and the directives from senior leaders, both of which for 18 months, have changed seemingly constantly,” Blumenfeld says. “As we’re currently in a talent shortage, they’re also often under-staffed, so the daunting task of creating a process to verify records will be simplified if the majority of their workers are vaccinated. Checking a vaccination status once is easier and less costly than verifying negative tests weekly.”
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