America's Job Exchange 123

Posted by OFCCP Specialist

Throughout 2011 via several NPRNs, the OFCCP has continued to communicate the idea of companies creating linkage agreements.  But what does this mean?  The official definition states:

 “Linkage is the connection between contractors and appropriate recruitment and/or training sources. When an underutilization of minorities or women in a job group is found and there are recruitment/training resources available that are able to refer qualified applicants to the contractor for consideration, the EOS will attempt in a Letter of Commitment or Conciliation Agreement to execute a linkage agreement with the contractor.” Read more…

Posted by OFCCP Specialist

As integral cogs of the recruitment efforts in the U.S., the states themselves are working to ensure they are actively putting as many of their citizens as they can back to work.  With unemployment rates still hovering in the 9% range nationally, and some states still seeing double-digit unemployment, states need to prove they are making an impact.

For recruiters working with federal contractors this means states want to know the jobs listed on their career sites are fresh and actively being worked. Read more…

Posted by OFCCP Specialist

2012 will be a year of significant change in the federal contractor community.  Gone will be the notion of “good faith effort” as it applies to affirmative action planning and record keeping.  The OFCCP’s new mantra of “What gets measured gets done” will have far reaching implications moving forward.  The NPRM recommending changes to VEVRAA caused a flurry of commentary and are still not fully resolved at this point, but industry experts predict these rules will be finalized in spring of 2012 with enforcement beginning in 2013.  Read more…

Posted by OFCCP Specialist

The states of Idaho, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York and Oregon were granted more than $7.6 million dollars to create and implement new re-employment strategies.  These initiatives designed to re-employ thousands of displaced workers represent a significant investment in reducing the number of unemployed U.S. workers.  Hilda Solis, Secretary of Labor said that “Getting America back to work is a top priority of the DOL.” The DOL recognizes that getting this done will require more creative thinking and innovative solutions than those tried in the past.  The hope that is these grants will help drive the next steps needed to improve services to unemployed workers.  Read more…

Posted by OFCCP Specialist

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) pledged to open up career-paths beyond nursing and expand opportunities for veterans to become physician assistants.  Colleges and universities with programs to train physician’s assistants will be given priority in grant awarding to expand opportunities for veterans to advance beyond their basic training to fill these roles.  The Affordable Care Recovery act in 2010 and 2011 over $45 million has been awarded and there are currently 57 active physician’s assistants training grants. “To expand the number of training programs that accommodate veterans, the Administration also will identify model programs that offer expedited curricula for veterans and that offer enhanced veteran recruiting, retention, and mentoring services,” according to the Obama Administration.  These actions will put vets with medical expertise back to work sooner allowing them to move forward with their civilian careers.  Read more…

Posted by OFCCP Specialist

The Obama administration has issued a challenge to Community Health Centers – hire 8,000 veterans in the next 3 years.  “The health reform law provides funding for community health centers to serve more Americans and hire more workers. Additionally, HHS will ask centers to start reporting on the number of veterans that they employ. The Departments of Health and Human Services, Defense, Labor, and Veterans Affairs will work together to connect veterans to the health clinics’ job openings. The National Association of Community Health Centers will also contribute to this effort and joined the Administration in announcing this Community Health Center Veterans Hiring Challenge,” according to White House Press Secretary. Read more…

Posted by OFCCP Specialist

America’s Job Exchange, one of the premier diversity recruiting web sites, and OFCCP compliance service provider, is pleased to announce the most recent update to our robust job distribution service.   AJE distributes jobs to all corners of the U.S. to ensure our customers meet the OFCCP requirement to list federal contractor jobs with the appropriate state agencies.  Now when OneStop offices and veteran’s representatives (LVERs and DVOPs) receive our job distribution email they see a clickable list of job titles, where the employers offering the positions and the location where the job is offered.  Read more…

Posted by OFCCP Specialist

President Obama recently related a story about a combat medic who earned a Bronze Star.  This individual was instrumental in saving a French soldier’s life from a gunshot wound to the head, and was also instrumental in saving 42 people from a flooding river. However, when this soldier returned home to Wyoming he could not get a job as a first responder.  Nick had to enroll in classes he was qualified to teach just to get the civilian accreditation he need to get a job in his chosen field. Read more…

Posted by OFCCP Specialist

These days being audited is not a matter of if…it’s a matter of when.  And while you’d  like to assume each audit will go smoothly and all the data that you have been meticulously tracking is in order, chances are OFCCP will find something to question. Read more…

Posted by Rathin Sinha, President

Last week I had the opportunity to present at the 14th annual compliance conference in Phoenix. The event was organized by the Arizona Affirmative Action Association and attended by a large number of compliance managers and recruiting specialists from various organizations in the area. Compliance Officers from the OFCCP district, including the district director, presented during the conference covering a broad range of issues such as OFCCP priorities, review of the regulations, case studies, best practices and more. Read more…