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&lt;p&gt;At Vault, we spend a lot of time telling you which factors of a job search are in your control: cover letters, resumes, networking, first impressions (firm handshakes, everybody!)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;That may lead you to believe that when you don&#39;t get the job, you must have done something wrong.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And it&#39;s a possibility. But there&#39;s also a chance that some silly stuff is going on with employers that has nothing to do with you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The truth is, it&#39;s a buyers&#39; market. And with huge pools of candidates to choose from--and a huge risk aversion--employers are really dragging their heels with hiring. Thus, they&#39;re also getting a nit picky with their hiring criteria.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, there&#39;s not much you can do about misinformed, unfair, or just plain ridiculous requirements--but you can take heart knowing it&#39;s not always you. Sometimes, it&#39;s them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&#160;1. A Hot Spouse&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;James Franklin, the head football couch for Vanderbilt, has strategy for hiring, and it doesn&#39;t have much to do with qualifications. &quot;I&#39;ve been saying it for a long time,&#160;I will not hire an assistant until I see his wife. If she looks the part and she&#39;s a D1 recruit, then you got a chance to get hired.&#160;That&#39;s part of the deal.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The reasoning? &quot;There&#39;s a very strong correlation between having the confidence, going up and talking to a women, and being quick on your feet and having some personality and confidence and being articulate and confident, than it is walking into a high school and recruiting a kid and selling him.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Okay. So it&#39;s this tactic is really about finding candidates with confidence. But it&#39;s still gross.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. A Job&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yahoo&#39;s Vera H-C Chan illuminates this obnoxious practice with a dating analogy: &quot;Wanted: Someone exactly like my last boyfriend (see list of qualities), only better. Demonstrate success in a proven relationship, preferably a current one.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It seems counterintuitive—why ask that those who need a job don&#39;t apply for it? But the practice of only wanted to hire the employed has to do with risk management. Employers don&#39;t want to invest in a candidate whose skills have gotten rusty. And it&#39;s easier to assess the employee&#39;s current situation for clues to work history than it is to ask questions about a job from months or years earlier.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But beyond just unfair and extremely frustrating, many have been wondering whether stipulating that &quot;unemployed need not apply&quot; is actual discrimination. Several bills seeking to ban this practice have been brought to legislation committees as recently as April.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. A Hop-Free Employment history&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;You&#39;ve probably heard that switching jobs often is bad for your employment prospects in the long run.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And unfortunately, weeding out the job hoppers is a fairly common part of employers&#39; screening process: between two and six percent of job seekers are rejected for having moved around too much, according to a &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.recruitingtrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/evolv-white-paper.pdf&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;study by Evolv&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Too bad this conventional wisdom is completely unfounded. Evolv&#39;s research also showed virually no difference in candidates &quot;survival&quot; rates at their next jobs, whether they&#39;d had one job their whole lives, or 15. Check out this handy graph for a visual on the nonsense.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. Current Employment with the Company&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;To be fair, there is merit to the practice of hiring internally; it&#39;s less expensive, time consuming, and has better chances of working out to consider employees for new or elevated positions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But it can sure feel like a lock out to everyone else.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Read More: &lt;/strong&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending-now/y-big-story-why-t-job-210829464.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Y! Big Story: Why you can&#39;t get the job&lt;/a&gt; (Yahoo! News) &lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.businessinsider.com/having-a-hot-wife-could-help-you-land-a-job-with-some-hr-men-2012-6&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Having a Hot Wife Could Land You That Job&lt;/a&gt; (Business Insider) &lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/apr/13/ca-bill-would-make-it-illegal-require-employment-j/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Is &#39;Unemployed Need Not Apply&#39; discrimination?&lt;/a&gt; (U-T San Diego) &lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://online.wsj.com/article/sb10001424052702303395604577434563715828218.html?mod=wsj_careers_careerjournal_4&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;An Inside Job: More Firms Opt to Recruit From Within&lt;/a&gt;(WSJ) &lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.evolvondemand.com/media/resources/workhistory.pdf&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Does Previous Work History Predict Future Employment Outcomes?&lt;/a&gt; (Evolv Study)&lt;/p&gt;

Cathy Vandewater

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