Someone much, much wiser and more humorous than me (though I can’t remember exactly who) said something I’ll never forget.  They said that the difference between a recession and a depression is a recession is when someone you know is out of a job; a depression is when you are out of a job.

As both a dot com and telecom bust refugee, it seems that I’ve watched both depressions and recessions (as defined above) since the year 2000.  I’ve known people with two master’s degrees who had to get jobs at the local hardware store in order to try to provide for their family. I once met a PhD working at a Starbucks kiosk at one of our local malls here in the Dallas area.  I’ve witnessed brilliant engineers wait tables for tips.  I, too, have wondered when the call was going to come for an interview for a low paying job that I was over qualified for and really didn’t want but desperately needed just so I could pay my bills.  And, when I did get the job, it was for a small fraction of what I once made but I was darn grateful for the gig.  Still . . .

I know people who have been out of work – not just under-employed but out of work – for years.  They’re highly educated and intelligent and they’re in line with hundreds of others who are clamoring for a $10 per hour job.  For those of you who are slow at math, that’s a mere $20,800 per year with no paid overtime because the role is considered “management”. 

I recently read where companies are posting job ads that, to summarize, basically tell the long term unemployed to not bother applying for the job.  Now, don’t get me wrong:  My Libertarian sensibilities tell me that, if I was a business owner, I would want the best and brightest employee that money could buy.  But my more compassionate side of my brain knows for a fact that there are brilliant people out there – engineers, teachers, legal assistants, and accountants - who have made a full-time job out of finding work for months.  They’re still brilliant.  They would still work hard and be tremendous assets to an employer.  They likely wouldn’t complain about working some overtime and would do what it takes not to be placed on any sort of layoff list instead of coming to them acting like they’re God’s gift to the company.

So, to you business owners and hiring managers, as you enjoy or work on this Labor Day holiday weekend, please, please, consider hiring a qualified person who hasn’t had a job in quite awhile.  At the very least, they deserve some consideration.

Besides, you just might hire the best, most dedicated and, to say the least, eternally grateful employee you’ve ever had.