With coronavirus vaccination requirements being mandated for many workers in the U.S., those applying for jobs might be wondering when they should share that information and how.
According to Andrew Challenger, senior vice president of global outplacement and business at the Chicago-based executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., putting a vaccination status on a resume or in a LinkedIn profile might help those looking for employment.
“Vaccination status will certainly be a factor to hiring managers. If they already know you are vaccinated, they can check off that question and will not need to worry about getting that candidate tested every week,” Challenger said in a statement. “It will speed up the hiring process if the HR department already knows in which bucket the candidate goes."
Plus, he added, many times an employer might use other information to determine a candidate's status.
“Hiring authorities overwhelmingly check social media when vetting candidates," he said. "If a job seeker has posted anything that conveys their opinion of the vaccines, the company will find it. It is more professional to be upfront about your status in your resume or on your LinkedIn profile than, say, sharing a meme."
President Joe Biden earlier this month unveiled a new “action plan" to confront the COVID-19 surge that’s being driven by the spread of the delta variant, which will require vaccinations for millions of workers across the country.
The expansive rules mandate that all employers with more than 100 workers require them to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly, affecting about 80 million Americans. And the roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid also will have to be fully vaccinated.
Biden is also requiring vaccination for employees of the executive branch and contractors who do business with the federal government — with no option to test out. That covers several million more workers.
The requirement for large companies to mandate vaccinations or weekly testing for employees will be enacted through a forthcoming rule from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that carries penalties of $14,000 per violation, an administration official said.
The rule will require that large companies provide paid time off for vaccination.
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Biden's order for executive branch workers and contractors includes exceptions for workers seeking religious or medical exemptions from vaccination, according to press secretary Jen Psaki. Federal workers who don't comply will be referred to their agencies' human resources departments for counseling and discipline, to include potential termination.
Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, said in late July it was requiring all workers at its headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas, as well as its managers who travel within the U.S., to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 4. But the company had stopped short of requiring shots for its frontline workers.
CVS Health said in late August it would require certain employees who interact with patients to be fully vaccinated by the end of October. That includes nurses, care managers and pharmacists.
In the government, several federal agencies have previously announced vaccine requirements for much of their staffs, particularly those in healthcare roles like the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Pentagon moved last month to require all service members to get vaccinated.
“It is likely, in most cases, vaccinated candidates will have an edge over their unvaccinated counterparts. In other cases, it depends on the ideology of the hiring manager and the company’s culture overall. Certainly, in states with a low vaccination rate and legislation that bans vaccine mandates, an unvaccinated status may be better branding for a job seeker,” Challenger said.
