The economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic is likely to be enormous, with tens of millions made unemployed due to the shutdown of economies around the world.  It’s long been thought that long periods of unemployment are viewed extremely negatively by employers, due in large part because employers perceive long periods of unemployment as a byword for poor motivation.

“Recruiters judging job candidates are confronted with very limited information. They use this information to predict other factors that drive productivity. In this respect, a main finding of our research is that recruiters perceive long-term unemployment as a signal of lower motivation. This turns out to be the most important explanation for the fact that long-term unemployed job candidates are immediately rejected,” the researchers say.

Whether such heuristics will endure given the breadth and depth of the recession that is coming in the wake of the pandemic remains to be seen, but it probably pays to try and return to the labor force as quickly as you can nonetheless.

Showing your motivation

One way to ensure that periods of unemployment are not due to any lack of motivation is to brush up on your skills.  Online learning platform Coursera have recently announced a new project that is directly aimed at the unemployed.

The Coursera Workforce Recovery Initiative aims to provide unemployed workers with free access to around 3,800 courses from world leading universities.  The program is open to Federal, state, and local governments until September 30 this year, with any learners that enroll up until that point then given until the end of the year to complete their courses.  A number of American states have already signed up, alongside the governments of countries such as Greece and Colombia.

The project aims to stave off the unemployment crisis being caused by the pandemic.  In the United States, jobless claims have passed 26 million in recent weeks, with data showing that up to 35% of jobs in some parts of the U.K. are likely to be at risk.

“Coursera, along with its community of partners, is ready to serve the millions of workers who have lost their jobs and are going to have a hard time returning in a slow economy,” said Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of Coursera. “We are honored to help U.S. states and countries around the world in their efforts to alleviate the impact on communities hardest hit by the pandemic.”

The workforce initiative is part of the Coursera for Government offering, which was launched in 2017 to equip government employees and citizens with in-demand skills. Many governments around the world including the United States, Singapore, Philippines, India, Australia, Colombia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Pakistan, and Kazakhstan have partnered with Coursera to upskill their workforce.