Okay, maybe “hate” is a bit of a strong word. But still.

I’ve written a few blog posts in the recent past regarding the fact that some companies are mandating they will only consider candidates who are employed for their open positions. You can read those blog posts by clicking on the links below:

“Should Unemployed Job Seekers be Ruled Out? Some Think So”
"Unemployed A-Level Players: A Hidden Opportunity for Recruiters"
“B-Level Candidates? Then It’s a B-Level Company”

As the Communications Coordinator for Top Echelon Network, the leading split placement network of recruiters, I help conduct a weekly online survey of our Membership. This survey is designed to “take the temperature” of the recruiters in our Network as it pertains to a number of different issues. As you might imagine, most of these issues are recruiting-related (although we sometimes throw in some off-beat or humorous questions . . . just for fun).

Recently, one of the survey questions that we posed dealt with the topic of employed candidates vs. unemployed job seekers and how they’re viewed by companies—specifically the companies with which Top Echelon Network Preferred Member recruiters work.

Below is the question that was posed in the survey, as well as each of the five possible answers and the percentage of recruiters that chose each answer.

Have any of your clients informed you that they do NOT want you to present unemployed job seekers for their open positions?

• Yes, less than 25% of them have. (28.2%)
• Yes, between 25% and 50% of them have. (9.9%)
• Yes, between 50% and 75% of them have. (2.8%)
• Yes, between 75% and all of them have. (2.8%)
• No, they haven’t. (56.3%)

By looking at these numbers, it’s evident that not all the companies across the country are telling their recruiters that they won’t consider unemployed job seekers. In fact, quite the contrary appears to be the case, as over half of the survey respondents indicated that their clients have not told them anything of the sort.

This is a phenomenon that does currently exist, though. After all, nearly half of the recruiters who responded to the survey indicated that their clients have told them that, to varying degrees. However, of that 43.7%, 28.2% stated that less than 25% of their client base only wants to see employed candidates.

The major question posed by the data is as follows: Is this as pervasive as this trend is going to get, or is it just the tip of the iceberg? Can we expect more and more companies to adopt this "policy" throughout the rest of 2010 and beyond? (Actually, that’s two questions, isn’t it? Darn.) Would the answers to this survey question look much different if it was posed a year from now? (Yet another question.)

What are your thoughts? Will companies relent from this short-sighted and ultimately self-defeating mandate regarding unemployed job seekers? Will I ever write a blog post that doesn’t contain a ridiculous amount of questions, rhetorical or otherwise?

Feel free to comment below.

(Matt Deutsch is a writer for Top Echelon's Recruiter Training Blog.)