Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) regulations require covered federal contractors and subcontractors to collect information about the gender, race, and ethnicity of each “applicant” for employment. The final rule modifies OFCCP applicant recordkeeping requirements to address challenges presented by the use of the Internet and electronic data technologies in contractors’ recruiting and hiring processes. The final rule is intended to address recordkeeping requirements regarding “Internet Applicants” under all OFCCP recordkeeping and data collection requirements.

Internet Applicant. (41CFR 60-1.3 effective 2.6.06)

(1) Internet Applicant means any individual as to whom the following four criteria are satisfied:

(i) The individual submits an expression of interest in employment through the Internet or related electronic data technologies;

(ii) The contractor considers the individual for employment in a particular position;

(iii)The individual’s expression of interest indicates the individual possesses the basic qualifications for the position; and,

(iv) The individual at no point in the contractor’s selection process prior to receiving an offer of employment from the contractor, removes himself or herself from further consideration or otherwise indicates that he or she is no longer interested in the position.

It is recommended that federal contractors read the revised regulations in their entirety.

If your company accepts expressions of interest through both traditional (non-electronic) and Internet (electronic) methods, you may use the above definition to manage both pools of applicants. If you have Internet Applicants, then only those who meet all 4 parts of the definition must be included on your Applicant Flow Log and in your adverse impact analysis of hires.

Recordkeeping requirements may be found at 41CFR 60-1.12.

If using an internal resume database, you must keep a record of:

  • each resume added to the database
  • date resume was added
  • position for which each search in the database was made
  • criteria used for selection
  • if using an external resume database (e.g. monster.com), you must keep a record of:
    • position for which each search of the database was made
    • search criteria used
    • date of search
    • resumes that met basic qualifications and were considered


NOTE:

– All open positions must be advertised with the appropriate Employment Service Delivery System. (Exception: senior management positions)

– For Affirmative Action purposes, documents related to recruiting and hiring must be retained for a period of three years.

– Resumes and applications are to be retained under the control of the HR Department. Individual hiring managers may not keep files of resumes and/or applications.

-View Sample EEO Policy and EEO Clause Language