As most HR managers know by now, OFCCP (Office of General Contract Compliance Programs) has issued its final guidelines on Internet applicants. These guidelines are rather complex and many issues have been raised regarding them. As a result, the OFCCP has provided several documents to help companies understand the new guidelines, including a short summary that might be used as a presentation to other managers (www.dol.gov/esa/ofccp/iardwnld.htm) and a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) (www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/ofccp/faqs/iappfaqs.htm) that addresses some important issues concerning Internet applicants. However, the OFCCP guidelines apply (generally speaking and very briefly stated) to contractors and subcontractors who hold a Federal or federally-assisted construction contract in excess of $10,000.

Although there are many facets to the OFCCP guidelines on who is an Internet applicant, I will focus on just one aspect here. These guidelines distinguish between an internal (i.e., the company's system) database search performed by the recruiter and an external (i.e., a database created outside of the company) database search performed by the recruiter. While the rule requires recruiters to maintain any and all individuals' expressions of interest through the Internet when the company considered the applicant for a particular position, for internal databases, the company is also required to keep records of all individuals added to the database. For an external database, the recruiter is not obligated to keep the resumes of the individuals identified from a database search who were not considered for the job opening.

However, it is a requirement that the recruiter maintain a record of the position which led to the database search, and corresponding to each search, the substantive search criteria used, and the date of the search. Thus, the kind of information that must be saved when using an external database is different than that which must be kept when an internal database is used. There are many other aspects to the OFCCP definition of an Internet applicant and those companies covered by the OFCCP should review these guidelines carefully and make changes to their recruitment programs and record-keeping as appropriate.

Other organizations not covered under the OFCCP guidelines do not have to follow these guidelines. However, the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), which recently issued new compliance guidelines on race and color discrimination, noted that "who ultimately receives employment opportunities is highly dependent on how and where the employer looks for candidates." These new compliance guidelines will be used by EEOC investigators and therefore should be examined carefully by HR managers (go to www.eeoc.gov to obtain a free copy). These new compliance guidelines provide several means through which recruitment practices can cause problems. One potential problem occurs if the company contracts with an employment agency to include only applicants of a particular race. This is illegal and both the company and the employment agency are liable for this kind of behavior.

Another means through which recruitment can be legally problematic is word-of-mouth referrals. Although the compliance manual specifies that word-of-mouth recruiting can be useful in creating a diverse workforce, word-of-mouth can also serve to maintain a non-diverse workforce. Organizations relying heavily on word-of-mouth or employee referrals must be particularly careful to monitor the kinds of applicants that are being attracted.

The third means through which recruitment can be problematic is the use of homogenous sources. The EEOC noted that largely homogeneous sources will be problematic if the recruitment practice has a racial purpose (e.g., its intention is to avoid recruitment of certain protected groups (e.g., Blacks)), or if it has a significant racial impact and cannot be justified as job related and consistent with business necessity. The EEOC provides two examples of the use of homogenous recruitment sources that may create problems. The first involves a municipal employer that has an overwhelmingly White population and workforce and is located next to another major city with an overwhelmingly Black population. However, the municipality only hires its own residents and refuses to advertise its jobs in newspapers that circulate in the nearby major city, which has a large minority population. A second example offered is of a company that hires exclusively from primarily White or primarily Black colleges and universities. The implication of these examples is that companies need to be extremely careful in choosing their recruitment sources, especially to be sure that they are not excluding sources that are predominately composed of a particular race, gender, or ethnicity.

1. Use a diverse set of sources for applicants, including niche job boards that focus on minorities;
2. Involve a diverse group of managers, employees, and recruiters in the recruitment process;
3. Monitor different recruiting sources to determine the number and quality of applicants, as well as the racial, ethnic, and gender composition of the recruits;
4. Carefully review the new OFCCP definition of an Internet applicant and prepare to make changes in your recruitment programs and record-keeping procedures.