Due to the amount of compliance mis -or- disinformation in the market, mainly revolving around distribution methods for Federal Contractor Job Listings (FCJL), I wanted to share the following pamphlet dropping spin, which I copied straight from a vendor website. The names have been changed to protect the innocent, most of all the poor misguided souls who actually work for this company.

Enjoy the “Vendor spin” in red and my comments, bleeding with the usual sarcasm, in regular type..

Let’s start with the most ironic piece of this farce tale. “Compliance” is actually misspelled in the title. I could stop there… But you know I won’t.

VENDOR’S OFCCP Job Posting Complaince Solution
Clients who use Product A or Product B can access our existing network of State Workforce agencies. Our alliances with two key technology providers, Provider C and Provider D, will allow us to directly submit your jobs to 17 states. This is the optimal method of transmission.

Scattered delivery to 17 out of 50 states is NOT optimal for anyone who must meet FCJL compliance and what about federal contractors with mandated delivery to local veteran representatives? So really, this vendor’s use of the word “optimal“, has nothing to do with actual “compliance”, just mere product selling spin.

Additionally, we are adding direct support for posting jobs to additional states. We have also successfully developed a computer-driven process for automated posting of jobs on state sites that traditionally require human data entry. This process will allow us to provide technically superior support for a large portion of the remaining states.

Direct support = Manual entry? Computer driven process? Technically superior? Oh you mean standard feeds, WOW that’s amazing! OK.. well.. ummm… you caught me, nothing here is amazing at all, it’s merely self promoting sales drivel. Superiority will not reside on the technical end of distribution, rather the relationships and proper direct delivery to state and local workers, which this vendor does not believe is useful. (see next paragraph)

The competitive advantage of our solution is that your jobs will be entered directly into a state’s system, whereas other services may rely on a fax or email - both of which are time-consuming and expensive, and both of which leave your organization’s compliance completely in the hands of the workers at the state agencies.

Fax and email are both electronic, meaning cheap, these days fella. And the regulations are meant to facilitate distribution into the workers hands at the State and Local levels, which demonstrates once again this vendor’s inability to understand the actual purpose of Jobs for Veterans Act.

Our investigations have shown that there is a good chance that job postings submitted in this manner will not be retained or used after they are received. The key benefit to working through Vendor’s system is that jobs entered will be more likely to receive referrals from job counselors during the life of the opening, and your organization will be able to better prove compliance in the event of an audit.

This vendor’s “investigation” must not have gone further than plain old interpretation of the black and white. It’s kinda like reading a foreign language for the first time and translating many of the words incorrectly. Including the translation of their key benefit, which has nothing to do with actual compliance although, is very key for this vendor’s spin.

Federal contracting companies need to understand the FCJL regulations are put in place to provide job preference for Veterans (JVA) and proper, auditable, delivery to state and local systems will be facilitated through a myriad of feeds, formats, and technologies, not a magic wand.

Remember, the OFCCP has clearly stated, “A contractor remains responsible for ensuring that its job listings are received by the appropriate employment service delivery system, whether the contractor submits job listings directly to the appropriate employment service delivery system, or uses a third party to deliver the job listings on its behalf.”

Related posts:
- One New Start to a National One Stop
- Building a labor rocket ship
- America’s Job Bank: A Corporate Solution

Social Bookmarks

Comments(2)

Last month, The American Institute for Full Employment’s President, John W. Courtney, published an article, providing a positive spin and some needed fresh air to AJB’s demise and JobCentral’s new role. Mr. Courtney also unveils keen insight into this shift with a clear concise writing style, devoid of the heavily laden regulation-speak we are all tired of reading around.

We appreciate the kind words and encouragement from Mr. Courtney. He is correct, this is just the start and DirectEmployers Association will continue working hard to achieve the labor market efficiency goals set forth by our Executive Committee, the States, and job seekers everywhere.

Remember, Rome was not built in a day, although I bet watching the build was quite amazing!

Social Bookmarks

Comments(0)

Building a national labor exchange might not be “Rocket Science“, although it’s far from an easy task and does not happen overnight.

Last week I was lucky enough to spend some quality time with the Connecticut Department of Labor staff, as a consultant, helping with the transition from America’s Job Bank to the new JobCentral, National Labor Exchange. I was happy to hear about JobCentral’s immediate and extremely positive impact on “the long tail” of employers and job seekers in their market, not solely the Fortune 500. Unfortunately most “industry experts”, who are the outside of this science, cannot comprehend more than the web they know; since connecting with the tail is far more than providing slick technology or distribution services.

As I sat in meetings throughout the week, I recalled my early days of online recruiting at Online Career Center, and even later during the launch of Monster.com, when seekers weren’t so savvy and employers needed much more hand-holding. This new labor exchange effort is bringing a segment of workers and employers to the web that are NOT 2.0, and in more need of this tool than ultra-savvy Starbucks wielding corporate hipsters, like me.

Stories have been written, and will be written again, about how AJB is dearly missed and how Chicken Little was right, although as we move forward I believe we all need to remember that change and adversity bring out the best in all of us. Just remember the sky isn’t falling, it’s just approaching much faster due to this new labor exchange rocket ship built through continued collaboration of state workforce and companies nationwide, fueled by evolving labor market efficiencies and opportunity.

Hmmmm, maybe it is rocket science after all?

Social Bookmarks

Comments(0)

Last week BusinessWeek.com published “America’s Job Bank: A Corporate Solution” by Kurt Ronn, a very good read, which addresses Corporate America stepping up and footing the bill for a National Labor Exchange now that AJB is closed.

In addition to Kurt’s article, a breath of fresh air came in the form of a Mandatory Job Listing Requirement Update posted on the OFCCP’s website. The OFCCP provides a “grace period” and very clear guidance, which means companies and states have some breathing room and time to do the job right.

Social Bookmarks

Comments(0)

Social Bookmarks

Comments(0)