It’s time we retire the mentality that someone who has been out of work for three months to two years is somehow weaker than a candidate with “better tenure.” Honestly, if I had five bucks for every candidate I came across with great tenure who turned out to be a C player, I could retire.
At this point, I’m convinced that anyone still vetting candidates based on employment gaps, or even tenure at a company, either doesn’t know how to properly evaluate the skillset they’re hiring for, or isn’t in a position to educate and partner with their hiring manager. Two examples stand out to me:
The first is a QA engineer I know who got laid off in 2025. I wasn’t at the company when it happened, but I knew some of the VPs and was able to see reports that weren’t exactly meant for my eyes. Those reports painted a clear picture of just how flawed the decision-making process was. In the months that followed, I watched her receive message after message from former managers and coworkers asking for her help. It was obvious to everyone around her that the company had let go of the wrong person. She stayed out of work for a year. She only interviewed for about a dozen roles, and “why are you out of work” came up as a concern almost every time. Here’s the twist: that same company ended up hiring her back a year later. Within a few months she moved up the ranks, and her new managers told her they were dumbfounded she had ever been let go in the first place.
The second example is my boyfriend, a principal engineer, who is essentially a hands-on technology leader. He left corporate dev life because he was tired of watching peers who didn’t care about the actual work get rewarded over people who did. That’s how it goes in corporate environments sometimes. Things get too political to see who’s really driving results. He’s not with a company right now and hasn’t even been looking, because he’s in a position where he doesn’t need to. But if he did decide to look, “being out of work” would be a real obstacle for him, and honestly, that’s almost comical to me. I’ve seen the impact he’s made for clients firsthand. He’s helped me and my teams stand up new products and improve our development workflows more than once. I’m not saying this because I’m biased. I’m saying it because I’ve judged his ability on facts: his documented track record and the work he’s built for me and my companies in real time.
A lot of companies say they want “the best of the best.” But what does that even mean? Even the best heart surgeon isn’t the right person to perform a knee replacement. Tell me the project, the scope of work, and the deliverables, and let’s find someone who can actually do the job. It’s that simple. Right now, in this market, there are so many talented professionals available that it’s almost overwhelming (if you know how to source and vet correctly). Like…take your pick.
For recruiters, both internal and agency, trying to figure out how to sell top operators to their hiring managers, here are a few things that have worked well for me. First, understand the candidate. Learn their bread and butter and their story. What’s their background, what have they been doing recently, and how can you turn that into a story your manager will actually respond to. Generate passion and excitment. Second, use assessments. LeetCode, IKM, live technical reviews, anything you can attach to the back of a resume that proves the candidate knows what they’re doing despite the fact they are out of work. I’ve been building what I call a mini portfolio for candidates for years now, and it’s been extremely influential in moving people through the process. Third, build relationships with people already on the team. Having them vet a candidate and get buy-in internally became one of my most powerful plays when it came time to sell that candidate to the manager.
Below is an example of what I might attach to the persons resume. The sell package changes depending on the req and audience but if you can add some data and excitment around the candidate, you’d be surprised at the results. This is the only time you will ever hear me talk about “a cover letter”, lol. Thanks, Kim!
This article was inspired by a QA engineer who has been out of work for a year and recently interviewed with a recruiting team. The feedback she got was that they couldn’t broker an introduction to the hiring manager because they had other candidates who were currently employed, and her gap was seen as a major concern. The sad part is that this woman is a stud. She’s what I’d call free money on the playing field. In plain English, she’s diverse, incredibly skilled at what she does, and any company would be lucky to have her on payroll. And unfortunately, she’s not alone…this is a common theme. I’m hoping the above tips will help other recruiters who care about making a great match be able to A) spot top talent and B) help figure out how to sell them.