Understanding a Hiring Manager’s Perspective on the COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate
To better understand the impact of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate on hiring managers and recruiters, ResumeOK surveyed 1,379 hiring managers across the US in October 2021. We mostly talked with hiring managers from companies that are impacted by the mandate (100+ employees), however, we did speak to some that are not yet required to take any action (<100 employees).
Key findings
- 35% of hiring managers will automatically reject candidates who do not write their COVID-19 vaccine status on their resume
- 86% of hiring managers are more likely to call a candidate that included their COVID-19 vaccine status on their resume
- In the IT and Hospitality industries, candidates are more likely to be shortlisted if they have added their COVID-19 vax status to their resume
- 93% of hiring managers say that the vaccination mandate has made hiring more difficult
- Only 23% of candidates have started writing their vaccination status on their resumes
35% Of Hiring Managers Reject Resumes without Vax Status
According to our findings, it greatly benefits an applicant when they include their vaccination status on their resume. In companies that are mandated to enforce the COVID-19 vaccine at work, 74% of hiring managers said that they prefer a candidate’s vaccination status to be included in their resume.
Furthermore, of all hiring managers surveyed, 35% said that they’ll even automatically disqualify candidates who fail to mention their vax status, while another 39% said that they prefer to see the candidate’s vax status in their resume.
On the other hand, only 20% of hiring managers told us that vax status is not part of their hiring decision, but that’s only because the candidate would be asked about it at a later stage.
Therefore, the consensus among hiring managers is that candidates who include their vax status in their resume are more likely to get called in for a job interview.
86% Of Hiring Managers Prefer to Hire COVID-19 Vaccinated Candidates
When it comes to being hired for a position, it’s clear from our data that skipping the vaccine will greatly hurt your chances. Among companies mandated to require the vaccine, 86% of the hiring managers surveyed responded that they would only hire a vaxxed person. The 14% of hiring managers that are not prioritizing candidates based on their vax status overwhelmingly represent companies where the mandate is currently being debated or contested by the state governors.
However, this changes when it comes to smaller companies. Our survey found that 45% of hiring managers from companies with less than 100 employees (where vaccination is not mandated) are more likely to hire someone that is vaccinated. The other 55% of hiring managers at small companies said that vax status does not affect the hiring process.
In Some Industries, 83% Of Recruiters Prefer to See Vax Status on Resumes
The industry also plays a role in the rate at which hiring managers want to see the candidate’s vaccination status in their resume.
In IT and hospitality, 83% of the hiring managers that responded to our survey said that they prefer to see the candidate vax status written in the resume. Other industries that favor vaccination status disclosure are Healthcare ( 79% ) Advertising and Marketing ( 77% ), Finance ( 71% ), Retail ( 68% ), and Education ( 67% ).
68% Of Hiring Managers Say Vaccine Mandate Is the Main Reason They Require Candidates to Be Vaccinated
According to our survey results, only 32% of hiring managers had already started to prioritize hiring vaccinated candidates before it was mandated. Among the respondents, a majority of the companies that are prioritizing hiring people based on their vax status are in industries where employees have in-person work.
73% Of Hiring Managers Say Vaccination Mandate Has Made Hiring More Challenging
The consensus among hiring managers from both companies where the vaccine is mandatory and companies where it is not, is that the hiring process has become a lot more complicated. Only 27% of hiring managers said that they have a large pool of candidates to choose from and that the mandate does not affect recruiting.
Recruiters also said they had already seen a drop in applications in certain sectors due to the pandemic, and that the mandate has decreased the number of applications even further.
23% Of Job Seekers Are Putting Their Vaccination Status on Their Resume
Have applicants adjusted to the “new normal” by putting their vaccination status on their resume? Not yet. Among job seekers in the United States of America, in October 2021, only 23% included their vaccination status in their resume.
Methodology
Our research on the behavior of hiring managers in response to the COVID-19 vaccination mandate was conducted by ResumeOK.com in October 2021 through an online survey. In total, 1,379 hiring managers responded to our questions. To qualify as a survey respondent, participants answered a screening question and only those currently working as hiring managers were accepted. All respondents were asked to respond truthfully and to the best of their abilities.
To understand the current trend of whether or not job seekers are including vaccination status in their resumes, we analyzed 3,547 public resumes created by users in October 2021 on our resume builder platform.
