You May Soon Need a COVID-19 Vaccine to Apply for a Job
The job application has changed again. Professionals looking to make a career move should prepare one more thing: proof of COVID-19 vaccination.
Some companies’ job postings now specify vaccination requirements. The job descriptions typically ask candidates to provide their COVID-19 vaccine status or explain employment is dependent on being fully vaccinated.
“Candidates accepting an offer must provide proof of vaccination status on their first day. If someone anticipates requesting an accommodation for this requirement, they must receive approval before the start date,” says part of a recent job description from Cisco. “All offers of employment are contingent upon complying with Cisco’s vaccination policy.”
Cisco’s policy requires all U.S. employees, including those working from home, to complete a COVID-19 vaccination by Dec. 8, 2021. The networking-technology company provides the unvaccinated one month of paid leave and up to an additional 12 months of unpaid leave with benefits, a verified Cisco professional contributed to a crowd-sourced collection of vaccination policies on Blind.
A majority of job seekers are fans of the new practice.
More than three out of five professionals (63%) said they would view a company more positively if they found out a company required job candidates to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination, according to a survey of more than 5,000 verified professionals in the U.S. by the professional social network Blind. Fifteen percent of professionals said they would have a more negative view, while 22% had no opinion.
Among those surveyed by Blind, current Adobe professionals were the most negatively swayed. More than one in three (34%) at Adobe said they would have a more negative opinion of a company that included a COVID-19 vaccination requirement in their job applications.
Similarly, seven out of eight professionals (87%) said they would apply to a job that asked for proof of COVID-19 vaccination, Blind found. The remaining 13% said they would avoid a company that required COVID-19 vaccine status to apply.
Should you include your COVID-19 vaccination status on your resume?
Recently, some job-seekers have started to include their COVID-19 vaccine status on social media profiles and resumes. The phenomenon may be in part due to the growing inclusion of COVID-19 vaccination policies in job descriptions and company careers pages.
Companies do not seem to be requiring job candidates to mention that they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 on their resumes or cover letters. However, with some job applications now requiring it, some figure it could not hurt to do so. The conventional thought might be that it may save some time.
Is a COVID-19 vaccination mandate discriminatory?
Many employers put in place policies to require staff to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 this year. Earlier this month, the Biden administration finalized its vaccination-or-testing mandate, setting a Jan. 4, 2022, deadline for companies to comply.
President Biden’s rule makes it mandatory for employers with 100 or more workers to require employees to be fully vaccinated or test weekly for the coronavirus. Healthcare workers and federal contractors do not have the testing option.
Some professionals have objected to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, citing religious beliefs or medical conditions that stop them from getting vaccinated.
More than one in five professionals (22%) surveyed by Blind believe a requirement to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination to apply for a job is discrimination.
More than two out of five professionals (42%) at Adobe agreed the practice was discrimination. Current professionals at Visa (36%), Apple (31%), Cisco (30%), NVIDIA (30%), Salesforce (29%), Twilio (28%), VMware (28%), Walmart (26%), Expedia Group (24%), Uber (24%) and Amazon (23%) were also more likely than other professionals to have answered “yes.”
The bottom line
Some companies require COVID-19 vaccine status on job applications. For an overwhelming number of professionals in the U.S., the question does not stir up controversy, and instead, is welcomed. Sixty-three percent of professionals would view companies requiring job candidates to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination more positively, according to Blind.
Methodology
Blind conducted an online survey of 5,537 verified professionals in the U.S. on its platform from Nov. 12 to 17, 2021, to understand how professionals view the requirement to provide their COVID-19 vaccination status during the job application process.