Active Applicant Management

The Department of Labor requires federal contractors to invite applicants to self-identify their gender, ethnicity, veteran status and status as an individual with a disability both at the pre-offer and post-offer phases of the application process, using language prescribed by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP).

Applicants are invited to take the Diversity survey as part of the Recruit applications process, and Departments may run Diversity Analysis Reports directly from the Recruit system at any time. Regarding the diversity survey, applicants should be advised that:

• The information is provided voluntarily.
• The information will not be included with other materials in the application file.
• The information will not be given to the search committee and will not be considered in the review of the application materials.
• The information, whether voluntarily provided or declined by the applicant, will not affect the individual's employment.
• The information is used only for statistical purposes in compliance with federal regulations.

The OFCCP has what is called the Internet Applicant Rule. There are four criterion a person must satisfy to be considered an applicant. These criteria are:

• They need to give an expression of interest. On this campus, an expression of interest is defined as completing an application through Recruit. ​
  • Recruit prevents Search Committee members from viewing incomplete applications. ​
• The complete application was reviewed against the qualifications for the position to determine if the applicant satisfies or “meets” the stated basic qualifications. ​
• The applicant needs to meet those basic qualifications. ​
• At no time during this hiring process can the applicant withdraw from consideration.

Determining if an applicant meets or does not meet basic qualifications is the first step in the selection process. The stated basic qualifications must be equally applied to all applicants. This is to ensure that our recruitments are truly an equal employment opportunity.

Basic qualifications also establish a clear baseline to identify qualified applicants.

Once all applicants in the review window have been reviewed, the applicants who meet basic qualifications will make up the qualified pool from which the shortlist will be selected.

Analysts will need to make sure all applicants within the review window have been designated as meets/does not meet basic qualification.

Applicants who do not meet basic qualifications need to have a disposition reason selected for which basic qualification they did not meet. A disposition is a final determination on why the department did not move forward with an applicant.

Applicants can withdraw at any time for any reason during the hiring process. Applicants can either self-withdrawal or notify the committee or analyst of their withdrawal. There are two processes for each that requires documentation management.

When an applicant self-withdrawal, Recruit:

• Automatically documents the disposition reasons and comments, if any.
• Removes the applicant from the qualified pool.
• Removes the committee access from the applicant’s application.

When an applicant can notify the committee or analyst of withdrawal by:

• Emailed stating they are no longer interested in being considered further.
• Not available during the interview window – except an applicant is requesting a religious accommodation on when they can interview.
• Did not respond to multiple attempts to contact them for inquiries or interviews.

The OFCCP requires withdrawn applicants to be properly documented with information about the reason for withdrawing in the disposition comment field and records of calls, emails, or a log of attempts to communicate with the applicant where there was no response. Analyst will be required to make sure this documentation is uploaded into Recruit under the Documentation Section under Letters and Memos. 

Until the all the hires for the recruitment are made, departments should be actively managing their recruitments. OARS recommend a minimum of one review date per quarter.

Example of the full search process active management:

Example of abbreviated search process active management:

It is the policy of UC San Diego that its employees shall not engage in any activities that place them in a conflict of interest between their official duties and any other interest or obligation.

Conflict of interest may arise when a search committee member has a current or previous personal or working relationship with a candidate; is related to the candidate, or uses information not directly related to work experience to affect their decision making.

Please note that it is your responsibility as a committee member to notify search chair, recruitment analyst, or department chair of any conflict of interest at any stage during the recruitment process. At the start of the applicant review process; we advise that you check the list of candidates to ensure that there is/are no conflict(s).

Examples of conflicts of interest could include, but are not limited to the following:

• Where a committee member is involved in the shortlisting and/or interviewing of a candidate who is a spouse, partner, close friend or other family member.
• Where a committee member is a supervisor or co-supervisor of (ex: PhD candidates) or has a close working relationship with (ex: Principal Investigator) a candidate who has applied for a job.
• Where a committee member is a co-author on more than one journal article or publication with a candidate who has applied for a job.
• Where a search committee member applies for the job s/he is serving as a search committee member for.

Declare your conflict of interest to your designated search committee chair, recruitment analyst, or department chair for resolution.

The Office of Academic Recruitment Services should be made aware of any recruitment where COI may have occurred.

Once a conflict of interest arises and is reported, the reviewer or report approver must recuse themselves from the recruitment as long as the applicant is still under consideration.