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Recruiters Making Alternative Plans
Options are still unclear for employers that use America's Job Bank to meet federal EEO and OFCCP requirements. The government-backed site closes at month end.
Before the vault door of America's Job Bank slams closed on June 30, federal contractors, other employers and recruiters will be searching for another online spot where they can invest their efforts to meet federal requirements when it comes to posting jobs. And while some early alternatives are emerging, as of right now, the options aren't all that clear -- or easy to use. America's Job Bank, the government-backed free site which opened 1995, currently lists more than 2.1 million jobs and more than 682,000 resumes. But the Department of Labor, citing high operating costs (as much as $27 million in some years), chose to cut off AJB's funding. The DOL's reasoning, in part, was that private-sector job boards should be able to fill the gap. But in one major area -- federal compliance -- AJB's closing creates some difficulties for employers, especially those that are federal contractors. For that group, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program rules stipulate that a federal contractor must "immediately list all of its employment openings with the appropriate employment service delivery system." Until June 30, that "delivery system" is AJB. And now, federal contractors and subcontractors are wondering where to post job openings to make sure they comply with OFCCP regulations. AJB has been also used by employers as a way to adhere to the guidelines of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Since AJB operates in conjunction with state employment agencies and is open to all U.S. citizens, posting jobs there showed a good-faith commitment to job seekers, regardless of race, ethnicity, age, gender, religion or sexual orientation. Of course, openings could also be posted to other for-profit job boards or the employer's own Web site. According to Kurt Ronn, president of Atlanta-based recruiting firm HRworks, which specializes in the OFCCP recruiting space, two early AJB "replacements" have emerged. One is the JobCental National Labor Exchange, an Indianapolis-based nationwide job board managed and owned by the DirectEmployers Association, a nonprofit consortium funded by large U.S. employers. Ronn believes that for larger companies that join the DirectEmployers Association, it's a good alternative. The second alternative, America's Job Exchange, is owned and operated by NaviSite, of Syracuse, N.Y., the same company that currently operates America's Job Bank. America's Job Exchange promises to carry on the AJB tradition, but rather than Uncle Sam footing the bill, the site will adopt an ad-revenue model. In its online FAQs, NaviSite states independent consultants have studied this revenue approach and confirmed it as a viable means to operate and enhance the site. A third, but much less appetizing alternative for demonstrating a good-faith effort for both OFCCP and EEOC compliance, is posting jobs on a variety of sites -- including each individual state site; mainstream employment sites, such as Monster, CareerBuilder and Yahoo! HotJobs; and "diversity" sites that cater to candidates of a particular race, ethnic group or sexual orientation. All in all, the third option entails a massive amount of work for employers, large and small. Mark Mehler, co-founder of CareerXroads, a staffing-strategy consulting firm in Kendall Park, N.J., says that until the federal government clarifies its new guidelines for OFCCP and EEOC, employers have no clear-cut direction. "There are some who say their sites meet the federal guidelines for posting jobs, but I'd ask them where their endorsement letter from OFCCP is. Anyone who produces that letter is the AJB successor," Mehler says. HRwork's Ronn says he's leaning towards JobCentral, mainly because members get about the same distribution and technology they received from AJB. "JobCentral offers all the cross-postings an employer would need to meet compliance requirements," he says, adding that the only caveat is you have to be a JobCentral member to get the full benefits. But for all employers, federal contractors or not, now is the time to act. "There are than two million jobs posted on AJB, and they have to get cross-posted somewhere, so there is no reason to wait," Ronn says. "An employer should be dealing with either JobCentral or America's Job Exchange, or both, to get their jobs out there." Dave Marrujo, operations manager of Kenexa Government Solutions, based in Englewood, Colo., says he's hopeful the DOL will get its final regulations out to the federal contractor community sooner than later. "They owe us some clarification," he says, adding that if America's Job Exchange steps in and says it can do everything AJB was doing compliance-wise, that would be a place to start. "For smaller employers, you need a truly free posting ability," Maurrjo says. "In the case of JobCentral, it's free. But you only get the real benefits if you pay the $12,500 annual fee. So it's not really free." In the end, Marrujo says, employers will probably need to use a combination of free sites like AJE, Craigslist and HireMeNow.com; pay sites (if they can afford it); and diversity sites. "It's really going to be up to federal contractors and vendors ... to see how creative we want to be in a multi-source environment," he says.
June 12, 2007 Copyright 2007© LRP Publications |
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