I am going to let you in on a secret. If a company is a government contractor they have A LOT of hoops to jump through in the hiring process. I am not telling you this to make you feel bad for the HR people but rather to give you an understanding of why some things happen.
First of all, government contractors are periodically audited by the OFCCP. I speak from personal experience that an OFCCP audit is no bueno. One of the first things to keep in mind that each government contractor must maintain an AAP. Also, 7% (sometimes more) of a government contractor’s hires must be veterans. Lastly, in each category of jobs, a government contractor must have 7% of their hires be IWDs.
In and of themselves, these are not “bad” but they do drive some behavior that is VERY frustrating for candidates. Plus, if you are not disabled and not a veteran there are a potential of 14% of jobs at each company that you are not going to get.
The first hurdle is that you cannot just submit a resume to a government contractor. You must be an “applicant.” I know, that sounds stupid but it is a VERY important part of the process. Why? Because a government contractor MUST report certain information to government on their applicants. What do the companies report you ask? Why many things that are illegal to ask:
- Race
- Gender
- Are you disabled?
- Are you a veteran?
Yep, THE Man wants to know it all. The REAL crazy thing is that on IWDs and Vets you can only ask after they are hired so there is not way to see what the candidate pool is like. So, to be considered for employment with government contractors you MUST first be an applicant. With most companies that means is you must fill out an application including a self identification form so THE Man can get his information.
So just keep in mind when filling out all that paperwork to apply, not all companies want it that way.
The Man
Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.
Ronald Reagan