Support for the New OFCCP Rule

October 1, 2006

Disclaimer

This document provides information of a general nature. None of the information contained herein is intended as legal advice or opinion relative to specific matters, facts, situations, or issues. Additional facts or information or future developments may affect the subjects addressed in this document. You should consult with your General Counsel and Human Resources Department about your particular circumstances on any of this information and be aware of your company’s specific policies and procedures related to the new OFCCP ruling.

The OFCCP final rule is available at: http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/fedreg/final/2005020176.htm

Contents

Introduction	2
Summary of the New Rule	2
Record Keeping Requirements	3
infoGIST™ Support for OFCCP Compliance
Overview	4
OFCCP Log Activation	5
OFCCP Log While Searching	7
GUI Search	7
Search Manager	8
Refine Search	9
Accessing the OFCCP Log	10
Contents in the OFCCP Log	11
Additional Record Keeping Capabilities	13

Introduction

On October 7, 2005, the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) issued a final ruling regarding the definition of an “Internet Applicant”.

OFCCP regulations require covered federal contractors and subcontractors to collect information about the gender, race, and ethnicity for each “applicant” for employment. The final rule modifies OFCCP applicant record keeping 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 record keeping requirements regarding “Internet Applicants” under all OFCCP record keeping and data collection requirements.

The OFCCP final rule is available at:

http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/fedreg/final/2005020176.htm

Summary of the New Rule

The new rule, originally effective February 6, 2006 then extended by 90 days to May 6, 2006, clarifies the definition of an “Internet Applicant” for whom federal contractors are required to maintain records of those individuals who must be solicited for race/ethnicity and gender data. According to the rule, an individual is considered an “Internet Applicant” if each of the following four criteria are met:

§ The individual submits an expression of interest in employment through the Internet or related electronic data technologies.

§ The contractor considers the individual for employment in a particular position.

§ The individual’s expression of interest indicates the individual possesses the basic qualifications for the position.

§ 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.

Individuals who meet all four of the criteria of this definition must be solicited for race/ethnicity and gender information, and be included in an adverse impact analysis.

Record Keeping Requirements

The new regulations require that contractors retain various records pertaining to Internet Applicants. The OFCCP established two different sets of rules for records that must be maintained; one for internal databases and another for external databases. With respect to electronic resume database searches, the rule requires that the following data be retained:

For internal resume databases

§ A record of each resume that was added to the database

§ The date each resume was added

§ The position for which each search of the database was made

§ The substantive search criteria used for each search

§ The date of the search

§ A record of job seekers contacted regarding their interest in a particular position (even those who reply that they are not interested)

Note: Record keeping for internal resume databases are maintained by your Applicant Tracking System.

For external resume databases

§ A record of the position for which each search of the database was made

§ The substantive search criteria used

§ The date of the search, and the resumes of any job seekers who met the basic qualifications for the particular position and who are considered by the company

Practical Considerations

To ease the record keeping burden for contractors, the new rule allows employers to establish “data management techniques” to help narrow the applicant pool. In situations where there are a large number of job seekers, the contractor can use random sampling or absolute numerical limits to reduce the number of resumes it considers. To be acceptable to the OFCCP, these data management techniques must be facially neutral and non comparative, and should not depend on assessment of qualifications or cause an adverse impact on race, ethnicity or gender. For example, you can use infoGIST™’s relevancy ranking to select resumes above a certain score.

infoGIST™ Support for OFCCP Compliance

Overview

The infoGIST™ Platinum Recruiter product allows you to search a variety of Internet sites in order to find resumes that best meet your search criteria based on a specific Job Description / Job Requisition. The Internet sites in the infoGIST™ Platinum Recruiter product are contained within one of two buttons on the toolbar: Resume Search and Detailed Search. The Resume Search category has multiple sub-categories. When you activate the OFCCP Log feature, infoGIST™ will record a search log based on your search activity using the Categories and Subcategories pertaining to resumes as outlined in the following table.

Toolbar
Category	Category	Sub-Category
Resume Search	All Free Resume Sources	Free Internet Resume Banks
		Web Search Engines
		Web Communities
		College and Universities
	Pay Resume Banks	Subscription FEE Sites
	Pay and Free Resume Banks	FEE Sites and Free Internet Resume Banks
	Canadian Resume Banks	Canada – Fee and Free Resume Banks
	European Resume Banks	European Resume Banks
	Flip URL for Resumes
Detailed Search	Detailed Search Options

When you run initially create your search string, you can record pertinent information related to your search criteria in a Comments field. Once answers are retrieved and scored, you can perform multiple types of actions with your results list that are recorded in the OFCCP Log including: Viewed action; Saved action - including Auto-Save in Scheduled Search; Export Action; Contact action; and Refine Results action. For the first four types of actions, if any, that were performed on each of the search results during your search session, infoGIST™ writes an entry in the OFCCP Log. If you refine your results using the Refine Results feature, infoGIST™ will record in the OFCCP Log the search string you last entered.

You have the option to invoke a feature that will allow you to enter comments in a Comments field when you initially create a search. At the end of your search session, you will have the opportunity to append your comments. All information you enter in the Comments field will be recorded in the OFCCP Log.

All information is recorded in the OFCCP Log when you end your search session, specifically, before you start another search or shut down the application.

infoGIST™ Support for OFCCP Compliance

OFCCP Log Activation

To activate the OFCCP Log feature, open your Platinum Recruiter product, select the Options menu, and select OFCCP Log from the drop-down list as shown below.

After you select OFCCP Log from the drop-down list, a checkmark will be placed next to OFCCP Logging… and the following dialog box will appear.

To activate the OFCCP Log feature, click on box next to “Enable OFCCP logging to this folder:” after which time a checkmark will appear. You can choose to save the OFCCP Log by: 1) Date; or 2) by your Req Number; or 3) by Date, then by Req Number. While the default option is Save by Date, then Req Number, you may want to choose to save the data by your Req Number or by the Date the search was run. You are in control of choosing the option that best meets your individual needs. To choose a specific option, select the radio button next to your option of choice.

You also have the option of invoking a Comments field that will allow you to enter any information you deem pertinent related to your search such as your selection criteria. The Comments field will appear when you initially create a search and again when you end your search session, i.e. when you start another search or shut down Platinum Recruiter. All comments entered will be cumulative and will be recorded in the OFCCP Log. To invoke this option, check the box next to “Prompt for final comments before new search is started.

A second option allows you to save each resume with your OFCCP Log in your OFCCP Log folder. With this option invoked, you can click on a link in the OFCCP Log that will open the full-text resume.

To invoke either option, click on the box next to the option and a checkmark will appear.

infoGIST™ Support for OFCCP Compliance

OFCCP Log Activation OFCCP Destination Folder

In creating the OFCCP Log, infoGIST™ will create a folder called My infoGIST Data in the My Documents folder on the current user (account) of the computer – and within the My infoGIST Data folder a sub-folder called OFCCP. You can change the destination folder location by clicking on the green arrow. For example, you could change the destination folder location to write the OFCCP Log to a folder on a LAN-connected PC.

To view the OFCCP Log, see the instructions found on Page 9.

OFCCP Log De-Activation

To deactivate the OFCCP Log feature, click on the OFCCP Logging… from the Options drop-down list after which time the check mark will disappear.

infoGIST™ Support for OFCCP Compliance

OFCCP Log While Searching

With your infoGIST™ Platinum Recruiter product, you can search Internet sites in one of two ways. First, you can select a Toolbar Category, and a sub-category as appropriate, then and enter your search terms in the ensuing dialog box, then click on the “Run Search” button to launch the search. This is commonly referred to as a GUI search. You can also use the Search Manager feature to save search profiles then run them on demand or schedule the searches to run at a user-defined designated time.

GUI Search

When performing a GUI search while the OFCCP Log feature is activated, after you click on the Run Search button to launch the search, an OFCCP Information dialog box will appear that will prompt you to enter a Job Title or Requisition Number and, at your option, information in the Comments field. If you leave the Job Title or Requisition Number field blank, you will receive a message indicating you must enter the information before you can run the search. The dialog boxes are outlined as follows.

infoGIST™ Support for OFCCP Compliance

OFCCP Log While Searching

Search Manager

When creating and saving Search Names using the Search Manager while the OFCCP Log feature is activated, after you select Search from the drop-down menu and choose New from the drop-down list to set up a new Search Name, a New Search dialog box will appear. The New Search dialog box requires you to enter a Job Title or Requisition Number and, at your option, information in the Comments field. If you leave the Job Title or Requisition Number field blank, you will receive an error message indicating you must enter the information before you can run the search. The dialog boxes are outlined as follows.

infoGIST™ Support for OFCCP Compliance

OFCCP Log While Searching

Refine Search

After you run your initial search, infoGIST™ will retrieve and score each result and place them in the results list. Prior to taking any actions on your answer set, you can use the Refine Results feature to re-score your initial answer set based on new search criteria. To do this, select Refine Results from the toolbar and in the ensuing Refine Results dialog box, enter your new search term(s) or append your original search term(s) with additional term(s) and click on the Refine Results button. infoGIST™ will re-score each resume based on your new search string and re-sort the answers based on each resume’s relevancy score. The total number of resumes in your results list will not change, only the relevancy scores will change. You can refine your answer set as often as you like prior to taking action on the answer set.

In addition to recording your initial search string in the OFCCP Log, infoGIST™ will record your last Refine Result search string in the OFCCP Log.

infoGIST™ Support for OFCCP Compliance

Accessing the OFCCP Log

To access the OFCCP Log, go to the My Documents folder of the current user (account) of the computer and open the My infoGIST Data folder then open the OFCCP folder. The OFCCP folder will contain entries based on the organization criteria you chose as outlined on Page 5, i.e. Log by Date; Log by Job; or Log by Date and Job as follows:

	If you chose to save your OFCCP Log by Req Number, infoGIST™ will create a file name that corresponds to the entry you made in Req # / Job Title field in the GUI or Search Manager dialog box. Searches run on multiple days for the same Req Number / Job Title will be recorded in the same file. For example, Req 78842.xml will be the file for all searches done for Req 78842, regardless of when the search was run.
	If you chose to save your OFCCP Log by Date, infoGIST™ will create a file called “yyyymmdd.xml”. Every search that was run on that date will be recorded in this file. Searches run the following day will be recorded in a second file having the same yyyymmdd name format, but with a different date. For example, 20060823.xml will be the file for all searches done on August 23, 2006, regardless of the requisition number used.
	If you chose to save your OFCCP Log by Date, then Req Number, infoGIST™ will create a folder that corresponds to the date the search was run – and create a file name within the date folder that corresponds to the entry you made in Req # / Job Title field in the GUI or Search Manager dialog box.

infoGIST™ Support for OFCCP Compliance

Contents in OFCCP Log

To view the contents in the OFCCP Log, locate the .xml file and open it as outlined on Page 10. The contents of the file will open in your Internet browser. Each search will detail your specific search criteria followed by a list of each specific result retrieved. Each specific result will note actions taken, if any.

An example of your search criteria is given below:

infoGIST Platinum Recruiter OFCCP Log

---

Search:	Resume Search - Web Search Engines
Start Time:	2006-10-11 09:33:43
End Time:	2006-10-11 09:34:37
Job ID:	Req 1234
Comments:	Search for software developer then refine for key skills.
Key Terms:	[Any] "software developer"
Within Days:	90
City:
State:	CA
Zip Code:
Radius:
Industry:
Education:
Experience:
Refined Terms:	[Any] "software developer" C++
Refined Within Days:	90
Refine State:	CA
Results:	21