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I was laid off from an IT Infrastructure job last August. It took me 160 applications and seven months to get a new job. About 15% of the positions I was qualified for require shots in the job description. Of my 160 applications, over a dozen besides those 15% brought up the shots AFTER a 45 minute conversation, ending with me suggesting that this should be their FIRST question, not the last. Dozens of others asked me for my shot status, and when I had an Indian on the other end (80% of the time), they seemed to be perplexed that it was a big deal to me.

Here is part of what is going on. The contracting firms that constitute a majority of my job opportunities don't like red flags. So, they want certifications, a claim of experience with certain equipment/programs/topologies, citizenship, and shots for those contracts that have fed customers, which is a MUCH larger group than the fed all by itself. It was easier at first for the big private companies to just require shots so as to not jeopardize Fed contracts, pretending that they were fully on-board. For some of those requests for a shot, my HARD push back actually got some of the contracting firms to relent and say it wasn't strictly necessary. Some of them wanted my reason.

But, I still didn't get an offer for months. I don't doubt that my lay-off would have been shorter without the EO in the first place. This is a welcome development for people like me.