The University of California, Los Angeles is a federal contractor and, therefore, must follow the guidelines from the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) on how to report applicant pools. If a job has clear basic requirement(s) for potential applicants, an applicant who does not meet this requirement or these requirements should be flagged as “Unqualified.” UCLA Academic Recruit will then automatically exclude Unqualified applicants from the official applicant pool reporting, in accord with OFCCP instructions.
The OFCCP Definition of Basic Qualifications
The "basic qualifications" which an applicant must possess means qualifications that the Federal contractor advertised to potential applicants or criteria which the contractor established in writing in advance. In addition, the qualifications must be:
- Non-comparative among job seekers in the applicant pool. Acceptable example: three years' experience as a college-level lecturer. Unacceptable example: being one of the top five candidates in years of experience as a lecturer.
- Objective. Acceptable example: a bachelor's degree in accounting. Unacceptable example: a bachelor’s degree in accounting from a highly ranked school.
- Relevant to performance of the particular position.
The Purpose of Basic Qualifications
In order to be considered for a position, an applicant must possess the basic qualifications (if basic qualifications have been pre-established). Flagging those applicants who are unqualified removes them from applicant pool reporting, which creates a more accurate report. This classification should only be used to eliminate applicants who clearly do not meet basic qualifications and would not be considered qualified under any circumstances. It should not be used to screen out or separate applicants who meet the basics but are less qualified than others.
Determining Whether a Qualification Standard Is Objective
A basic qualification is objective if a third-party, with the contractor's technical knowledge, would be able to evaluate whether the job seeker possesses the qualification without more information about the contractor's judgment.
