This past week I met with a job seeker who had been a stay at home dad to his twin boys for the past two years. His boys were now in school and he was ready to get back out to the workforce. He was irate that employers and recruiters were calling him back not to schedule a job interview, but to question the fact that he mentioned on his cover letter and resume that he was a stay at home dad for the past two years. He was being honest and truthful, yet the recruiters and employers felt that he shouldn’t be mentioning this and instead should falsify his resume and mention he spent the past two years volunteering, consulting, taking up a hobby or travelling. Just the fact that he was being questioned is discrimination. Where is the equality? Would these same recruiters and employers call a woman if she was coming off maternity leave or decided to stay home to care for her kids? This does not sit well with me and only shows me that these employers and recruiters are inexperienced, idiotic and need to give their head a shake.

Times are changing and there is something called equality between men and women. If these same recruiters and employers read past the line that mentioned he had been a stay at home father for two years, they would have noticed he was a very successful and experienced professional. Instead these particular recruiters and employers decided to bypass this information. In this specific individual’s case, he and his wife decided he would stay home, since she was also a very successful executive and made a very good salary that allowed her husband to stay at home minding the kids.

Also, if this individual job seeker was to falsify his resume by mentioning he consulted, volunteered etc. What would happen if he made it through a job interview and the employer requested current references from the specific organization in which he volunteered or consulted? He would be forced to provide false references and this would become a vicious cycle of lies.

So word of advice to recruiters and employers, there is a fine line when it comes to equality discrimination. Never question why a father decides to stay at home and under no circumstances should you tell someone in this particular situation to falsify their resume in order to attract potential employers, this will only come back to haunt the job seeker and make you look foolish in untrustworthy. Providing honesty is always the way to go.

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