In a way, my company (let's call it MegaCorp) discriminates in favor of the unemployed, though it's really just our own soon-to-be-unemployed. We have to get s

In a way, my company (let's call it MegaCorp) discriminates in favor of the unemployed, though it's really just our own soon-to-be-unemployed. We have to get special approval to hire outside the company, because our corporate masters desperately want us to hire from our "surplus" pool, the pool of people who are being laid off from their current positions, so we can report fewer layoffs. Apparently, we care so much about our layoff numbers that we go out of our way to retain even the employees that topped somebody's "least essential" list. We occasionally see strong candidates from that pool, however, so we do pay attention to their resumes. Personally, I was unemployed for over a year and am very, very aware of how much easier it is to look for a job when I have a job. I and other people I know who have been in that situation don't look at unemployed candidates as damaged goods. We look at them as potential victims (bwahahahaha!) who, shall we say, will negotiate from a much weaker position and then come to work much more eager to please! No, seriously, we look at them the same way we look at people who are unemployed. There are lots of well-paid losers and plenty of people who are out of work because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.