From the Other Side of the Fence: The Impact of the OFCCP Internet Applicant Regs on Job Hunting
Most of us, being HR people or employment lawyers, have thought about the new OFCCP internet applicant regs in terms of how they will affect companies and how they recruit.
But how about the other perspective — how might they affect job hunters ?
Hadn’t thought about that? Well, someone has! One author offers the following suggestions to job hunters in light of the new internet applicant regs:
- Spell out your qualifications clearly – specifically, the author suggests using the exact wording of the job qualifications listed, not just approximate terms.
- Target specific companies and visit their web sites often — the author argues that companies are going to stop searching as soon as they reach a reasonable number of apparently qualified individuals; so companies may not keep jobs open very long at all.
- If someone is referring you for a job, make sure you — and they — understand how to do it; and follow it to the letter; don’t change a thing.
But not everyone agrees with these suggestions; selectionmatters.com argues with some of the recommendations offered in this article and so I suggest you look at selectionmatters.com more carefully.
For the complete article on how internet applicant regs may affect a job search, go here.
I was just going to write my own post criticizing this article.
It is certainly worth thinking about the impact this rule may have on job hunters, and the fact that this article was written from this perspective was initially intriguing to me.
But I think the author jumps to some premature conclusions and offers some advice that could be harmful to job seekers.
Job hunters should understand that this rule regulates only employers’ data collection and retention obligations. It does not dictate particular procedures for recruiting and hiring.
Of course it may have an impact on such procedures. But I would argue that the most successful employers will be those that establish procedures that comply with the data collection and retention requirements under the new rule without substantively altering recruiting and hiring procedures they have already found to be successful and lawful.
This will be accomplished in short order as technology companies develop software (or software upgrades) that facilitate compliance.
The potentially dangerous bit of advice is this: “Pay very close attention to the specific qualifications an employer lists for a particular job, and make sure your resume contains those exact words.”
What if “those exact words” are not exactly true, but you think close enough to in fact qualify you for the work? Should you not apply, or should you tell a “white lie” to get the job?
People do get hired even though some aspect of their paper qualifications are not an exact fit. Just because such a person does not count as an applicant for data collection and retention purposes under the new rules does not mean they cannot be treated as an applicant for hiring purposes. So it may pay off to pursue the job anyway.
On the other hand, employers increasingly do check out details on applications and résumés, and will not hire people they conclude have falsified information.