Related Articles

• 10 Steps to Finding and Hiring Diversity and High-Demand Candidates
• Do Your Hiring Processes Earn You Money or Cost You?

Guide to Services: Download the PDF summary on What We Do.

Resources and Links

• ESA Final Rule
• Internet Applicant Recordkeeping Rule FAQ
• Who's an Internet Applicant?
• A Rule Born to be Broken- new OFCCP Regs
• Monster's Response to OFCCP Guidelines:

Contact Us: Get in touch for more information or to get started on a project.

Are You Over Reporting and Under Hiring?

Are you gearing up to over-report OFCCP required data, and in the process, end up compromising your processes for hiring top talent? Most of the articles on the Internet about the OFCCP guidelines are focused on maximum reporting compliance. However, Rob Bekken, Senior Partner with the Law Firm of Musick, Peeler & Garrett, explains that collecting data from all applicants exposes organizations to maximum scrutiny and treats all applicants, even the least qualified, as viable candidates for the position. This puts companies in the unenviable position of having to justify their hiring decisions for a large number of people who shouldn't even be considered for the position. People will sue, and when they do it's very important to have a clear, well defined process that legally eliminates candidates that have no business applying for a position.

Below are a few suggestions for minimizing your exposure while ensuring that you hire only the best.

1. Create a Performance Profile for every position. The typical job description does not describe success and in many cases doesn't even define the real requirements for the position. Creating a clear Performance Profile for each position is the best defense if somebody challenges a hiring decision. The OFCCP Guidelines allow companies to exclude candidates that don't meet the "basic requirements" of the job. The Performance Profile allows companies to exclude candidates that don't meet the basic requirements and thus eliminates the reporting requirements for a large group of applicants.
   
   
2. Make sure that your advertising contains the performance objectives for the position. Great candidates take jobs because of what they will learn, do and become on the job. If your advertising doesn't contain this information in a compelling way, it's not designed to attract the best. Additionally, the basic requirements of the position need to be explicitly stated in the ad. This is a key protection for companies because it limits the number of applicants that need to be considered while attracting the best candidates.
   
   
3. Optimize your hiring process for the needs of top candidates. The new OFCCP guidelines allow companies to define the process by which applicants are considered for a position. If an applicant doesn't follow the process, they can be excluded from the reporting requirements and from consideration. One of the approaches we've taken in the past is to require that candidates send us a one-paragraph description of their most significant related accomplishment. Generally only about 20% of applicants will take the time to fill this out. Under the new guidelines, you can legally eliminate the 80% of the candidates who don't submit this additional information.

There are many ways to optimize the hiring process while still complying with the guidelines and never sacrificing your standards. Let us show you how.