Office of federal contract compliance programs internet applicant

The data allows employers to see if any particular stage is causing adverse impact. Chapin: Depending on the size of the company and contract, two or three years. We recommend keeping the current year's AAP and two years' prior. Demographic data that is solicited and maintained under this rule should not be visible to hiring managers and, ideally, should be kept separate from other recruiting files.

SHRM Online: Are contractors still responsible for complying with recordkeeping requirements when a third-party vendor is used to screen, recruit or select the candidates?

In those cases, who maintains the required records? Chapin: Yes, contractors are responsible for compliance and should verify their partners can provide applicant pools upon request. Either party can maintain the records. My most proactive client requests the pool with each successful placement. There are many times my clients have not been able to provide these records in audits, and it can result in OFCCP issuing a technical violation.

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Your session has expired. Please log in as a SHRM member. Cancel Sign In. Contractors have the obligation to solicit demographic information about applicants or Internet Applicants where possible.

Solicitation of demographic information does not need to be made immediately upon determining that an individual is an Internet Applicant, but should not be delayed so long that it is no longer feasible to effectively solicit the information.

If delayed too long, the contractor may miss its opportunity to collect demographic information when it was possible to do so and fail to collect the data required by the rule. OFCCP can require that the timing of the solicitation be changed to comply with the regulations. Whether the contractor has waited too long to solicit demographic data will depend on the facts, such as whether the delay caused the contractor to be unable to identify a substantial portion of its Internet Applicant pool, the length of time between identifying an individual as an Internet Applicant and making the final hiring decision, and whether the contractor had reason to know that the delay would decrease its ability to receive responses to its solicitation of demographic information.

There may be circumstances when it would be permissible to delay solicitation of demographic data until the interview or hiring stages, and other circumstances when it would not be permissible to do so. How long a record must be maintained depends on the size of a company and the contract it holds. As expressed in the implementing regulations at 41 CFR That time period is measured from the time the record was created or from the time of the personnel action associated with that record, whichever is later.

As an example, for a selected applicant the retention period would be calculated from the date of selection rather than from the date of application. Note: where the contractor has received notice that a complaint of discrimination has been filed, that a compliance evaluation has been initiated, or that an enforcement action has been commenced, the contractor shall preserve all personnel records relevant to the complaint, compliance evaluation or enforcement action until final disposition of the complaint, compliance evaluation or enforcement action.

Yes, provided that completing such self-identification is voluntary and failure to do so would not prevent the individual from posting his or her resume. The demographic information reported must be electronically maintained separately from the resume information that will be reviewed during the selection process and job seekers should understand this.

For example, some contractors have developed "electronic tear-off sheets" for use with electronic applications that separate reported demographic information to be maintained for record keeping from electronic applications to be reviewed by contractors. OFCCP does not mandate a specific time or point in the employment selection process at which contractors must solicit this information, so long as the information is solicited from all Internet Applicants.

No, provided that the contractor has a uniformly and consistently applied policy or procedure of not considering similarly situated job seekers. Note that discrimination in recruitment also is prohibited by the Executive Order.

It would be discrimination for a recruiter to treat job fair job seekers differently based on race, gender or ethnicity in terms of providing specific requisition information. The contractor needs to retain resumes only if it considers resumes received at the job fair for a particular position. The contractor need not retain any resumes if its consistently applied practice is not to consider paper resumes received at a career or job fair.

The contractor should take care to apply such a protocol in a uniform and consistent fashion. A contractor must retain resumes for any job seeker it considered for a particular position. The contractor should take care to apply such a protocol in a uniform and consistent manner.

Contractors have several options for retaining copies of resumes identified through small external databases. Contractors have an obligation to refrain from unlawful employment practices regardless of how the term "Internet Applicant" is defined. This provision explains that when evaluating whether a contractor has maintained information on impact and conducted an adverse impact analysis under UGESP 41 CFR Part with respect to Internet hiring procedures, OFCCP will require only those records relating to the analyses of the impact of employee selection procedures on "Internet Applicants" as defined in the Internet Applicant final rule and the impact of employment tests.

Access the Internet Applicant final rule. The contents of this document do not have the force and effect of law and are not meant to bind the public in any way. This document is intended only to provide clarity to the public regarding existing requirements under the law or agency policies. Internet Applicant Recordkeeping Rule. What is the definition of an "Internet Applicant"?

How does this Internet Applicant rule change existing rules? What standard applies to the solicitation of demographic information if a contractor considers both electronic and traditional paper expressions of interest for the same position?

What standard applies to the solicitation of demographic information from job applicants if a contractor does not consider electronic expressions of interest for a position? If a contractor uses the internet to advertise a position but requires all individuals to complete a paper application form, will the individuals that apply be considered Internet Applicants?

Do the regulations apply to the job title or to the contractor? Specifically, if the contractor uses the Internet Applicant rule for some positions e. Does the contractor need to explain which applicant definition they are using? What does the term "internet or related electronic data technologies" refer to? Would the submission of resumes via a fax be considered as expressing an interest under the Internet Applicant rule?

Would an individual using Voice over Internet Protocol VOIP or a company that uses VOIP rather than traditional telephones to make or receive job inquiries or "expression of interests" be considered as using the "Internet or related electronic data technologies" for inclusion under the Internet Applicant rule?

Back to Top Basic Qualifications What is the definition of basic qualifications? How would this work in practice? Do contractors need to rewrite all their job descriptions to reference basic qualifications?

Are employment tests considered basic qualifications? Can the basic qualifications be modified during the selection process, or do they need to be set prior to the beginning of the process? What if after establishing the basic qualifications for a position, more applications were received than expected. How can the pool of applications to be considered be narrowed to a manageable size? What if after establishing the basic qualifications for a position, fewer applications were received than expected.

How can the pool of expressions of interest be broadened? Can the contractor go back and make exceptions to basic qualifications? Can the contractor screen for basic qualifications through questions in the on-line application? Can contractors utilize an employment test such as a personality, knowledge or physical capability test as part of the online application process? Can contractors use different basic qualifications for the same job title?

What happens if contractors use search criteria beyond the basic qualifications? What do contractors do with searches for basic qualifications of an external resume database that produce false positives?

For example if a search was made of an external database for a computer programmer with JAVA experience, the search results may include people with coffee shop java experience. Is the contractor obligated to retain all resumes produced by the JAVA search? Back to Top Consideration of Job Seekers What is the definition of "considers the individual for employment in a particular position," for purposes of the definition of "Internet Applicant"?

Is a contractor required to consider for employment every job seeker who expresses an interest in employment through the Internet and possesses the basic qualifications for a particular position? Can a company use a BOT to search an external database to fill a position? On the internet, the most ubiquitous bots are the programs, also called spiders or crawlers, that access websites and gather their content for search engine indexes]. Back to Top Data Management Is there an obligation to keep a record of the data management technique used?

Specifically, must records be maintained about the criteria of random sampling used or the manner by which a numeric limit was determined? Is there a minimum number of expressions of interest that must be considered when a data management technique is used to limit the number of expressions of interest?

Can random sampling ever be viewed as a "criterion" for employment, facially neutral or otherwise? Can contractors use data management techniques as part of the database search to limit the number of resumes to be considered?

A contractor uses software to search a large resume database for job seekers who are the "best fit" for the qualifications required for a particular position. The software uses a "hit" feature that identifies and ranks candidates who best match the job qualification search criteria. Is the software a data management technique such that resumes reviewed by the software have not been considered for a particular position? If a contractor believes that a search of a large external resume database will identify a large number of resumes meeting the basic qualifications for a position, how may the contractor reduce the number of resumes it will be required to retain as a result of the search?

Back to Top Withdrawal from Consideration How can a contractor determine that an individual has indicated that he or she is no longer interested in the position? What records must be retained about Internet Applicants who withdraw from consideration? How many times must a contractor attempt to contact an individual to conclude that he or she has shown disinterest through "repeated non-responsiveness to inquiries"?

What type of documentation will be necessary to verify the applicant withdrew from consideration? Is a telephone screen a reasonable step to determine if the individual is interested in the location, salary, or hours of the specific position before defining the individual as an Internet Applicant?

Back to Top Recordkeeping Must a contractor maintain expressions of interest in employment made through the internet that do not meet the other three criteria contained in the definition of "Internet Applicant"? What records must be maintained from internal and external resume databases?

Are contractors required to keep the resumes of the individuals identified from a database search if they did not consider them? Do contractors need to retain records of searches that do not produce any candidates with basic qualifications? Some contractors search large, external resume databases that for a fee will maintain, on behalf of the contractor, copies of resumes identified by the contractor as meeting the basic qualifications for a particular position. Is it possible for contractors to comply with Internet Applicant recordkeeping without having resumes maintained on their behalf by the external resume database?

Can a contractor ask a recruiting firm to keep, on its behalf, the records required by the Internet Applicant final rule? Is there a new requirement under the Internet Applicant rule that the contractor must be able to identify, where possible, the gender, race, and ethnicity of each Internet Applicant?

When should contractors collect race, ethnicity, and gender data? How long are contractors required to keep the information from the searches?

From what date? Can contractors make the self-identification of race, gender and ethnicity part of the registration process individuals complete to post their resume on a database? If a job fair recruiter suggests that a job seeker apply for a position through a specific requisition, and the job seeker fails to do so, is the job seeker an applicant or an Internet Applicant? If the Internet Applicant recordkeeping standards apply to hiring for a particular position and the contractor receives paper resumes for the position from job seekers at a career or job fair, does the contractor need to retain the paper resumes received?

Some contractors search small, external "niche" or "diversity" resume databases that do not have the resources to maintain, on behalf of contractors, copies of resumes identified by contractors as meeting the basic qualifications for a particular position.

How can contractors use these databases and comply with the resume retention requirement of the Internet Applicant rule? Back to Top What is the Internet Applicant rule? Back to Top How does this Internet Applicant rule change existing rules? The final rule: Defines "Internet Applicants," job seekers applying for work through the internet or related electronic data technologies from whom contractors must solicit demographic information; Prescribes the records contractors must maintain about hiring done through use of the internet or related electronic data technologies; and, Explains the records OFCCP will require contractors to produce when evaluating whether a contractor has maintained information on impact and conducted an adverse impact analysis under 41 CFR Part , the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures.

A consistent and defensible recruiting and hiring process will be critical to surviving OFCCP scrutiny during a compliance review. Should you have any questions or require any additional information, please contact the Ogletree Deakins attorney with whom you normally work or the Client Services Department at or via e-mail at clientservices ogletreedeakins. Note: This article was published in the October 10, issue of the National eAuthority.

On May 17, , the U. On November 19, , the New Jersey Assembly had a second reading of a bill A that would, among other things, prohibit employers from seeking or requiring current or prospective employees to disclose their usernames or passwords for personal social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter.