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Veterans' Program Letter No. 4-97
Memorandum for: All Regional Administrators and Directors for Veterans'
Employment and Training and All State Employmnet Security Agency Administrators
(SESAs) and All Regional Administrators, Employment and Training
Administration
From: Preston M. Taylor Jr.
Subject: Federal Contractor/Subcontractor Job Listing through America's
Job Bank
I. Purpose: The purpose of this Veterans' Program Letter is to inform
State Employment Security Agencies (SESAs) and Veterans' Employment and
Training Service (VETS) field staff of the new options open to employers, in
particular Federal contractors/subcontractors, to list job openings directly
with the America's Job Bank (AJB). Electronic direct entry constitutes an
alternative method of listing openings with the local job service office in the
fulfillment of the mandatory listing requirement under Title 38 U.S.C., Section
4212.
In conjunction with this new option open to Federal contractors, VETS
has undertaken a new initiative to provide VETS staff, Disabled Veterans'
Outreach Program (DVOP) staff and Local Veterans' Employment Representative
(LVER) staff with the technology to access America's Job Bank via the Internet.
AJB has arranged to provide special access to the Federal contractor portion of
the job listings on America's Job Bank to facilitate priority referral of
veterans in this new technological environment.
II. Background: Federal contractors and subcontractors are required by
law to list immediately with the local state employment office all of their
employment opening, and each such local office shall give such veterans
priority in referral to such employment openings (Title 38 U.S.C., Section
4212). Amendments in January 1995, removed the regulatory restriction limiting
the listing requirement to only jobs at $25,000 per year or below (P.L.
103-446). Such listings are intended to operate with other protections to
maximize access for Vietnam era and special disabled veterans to the Federal
contractor jobs for which they are qualified. Job openings traditionally were
accomplished through the local Job Service office by writing job orders and
performing a manual search for qualified veterans to refer. Through the use of
computer technology, employers now have the ability to list openings directly
to America's Job Bank where they are available for browsing by those who have
the capability of using search engines on the Internet.
The introduction and expansion of the America's Job Bank has led to a
vast increase in use of the public labor exchange by employers. Thousands of
large employers have listed jobs directly with America's Job Bank. Working with
IBM as the first customer, a new public interface has been developed that
allows employers to directly link vacancy information in employer human
resource systems with America's Job Bank.
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), the
Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and the Veterans' Employment and
Training Service have been working together to assure that the plans and
provisions for Internet/AJB technology foster veterans' priority and address
concerns with regard to compliance by employers.
III. Options Available to Employers: There are now three ways to comply
with the mandatory listing requirements:
- Employers may post their jobs with the nearest employment service
office as they have in the past.
- Employers may enter the job listing through AJB's current direct
entry system. This manual process was explained in Employment Services Program
Letter No 1-96 issued by ETA to all SESAs on October 13, 1995 and implemented
in November 1995.
- Now employers may enter the job listing through the new "mass
entry"system on AJB. This consists of establishing a routine linkage between
the employer human resources computer system and America's Job Bank which
automatically lists all jobs on America's Job Bank. This public interface is
described on the Internet at www.ajb.dni.us/ajbpi.html.
Direct listings of jobs on the AJB, however, presents a new challenge to
local employment office staff : ensuring that veterans continue to receive
priority services in the referral process. The Department recognizes the value
of effective working relationships between the local employment office and
local employers, especially those created through the efforts of the Local
Veterans' Employment Representatives and Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program
staff. The new services are intended to increase the level of jobs accessible
to veterans and increase employer satisfaction with the services they receive.
The new services do not obviate the need for continued support for existing
local practices which have been effective in increasing veterans' employment
opportunities.
To assist local offices in meeting the challenge, the America's Job Bank
has created the mechanisms to:
- Ask employers who desire to list jobs directly with AJB if they are
Federal contractors/subcontractors.
- Create a summary of all job vacancies received from Federal
contractors identified above for local and State veterans staff. Local and
State staff will then have the opportunity to initiate candidate searches of
registered veterans. Local and State staff can then provide a referral for
qualified candidates and reference the goals of the statute in the referral.
- Offer Federal contractors/subcontractors identified above the
opportunity to include the equal employment opportunity self identification
form as part of the job seeker application process on the Internet. Employers
will recognize this service as a substantial reduction in their perceived cost
of compliance with the statute.
- Maintain automated records of employers who list directly and
provide technical assistance to OFCCP in the use of these records for
compliance monitoring purposes.
The Department of Labor has agreed that listing by means of any one of
these processes meets the requirements of the statute. A new brochure on the
Vietnam Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act developed by the three agencies
informs employers of the three options regarding mandatory job listings and
will be issued soon. Copies will be made available to SESAs under separate
cover.
IV. Federal Contractor Database within America's Job Bank
Veterans specialist staff will be able to access the Federal contractor
job database through a specific password. Thus searches can be conducted for
priority referral of registered veterans.
The type of job searches that can be conducted on the Federal contractor
database are the same as within the regular AJB (menu, keyword and code
searches). However there are some unique advantages to the Federal contractor
database:
- Federal contractor jobs in AJB are identified and listed in the
Federal contractor database which is only accessible by those veterans staff
given access. Although these jobs appear in the general AJB repository at the
same time, they are not identified as Federal contractor jobs.
- New Federal contractor jobs will be identified which are less than
one day old (versus seven days for the regular AJB job listings).
3. DVOP and LVER staff can conduct a job search of Federal contractor
jobs and all other jobs in AJB while in the Federal contractor database.
4. DVOP and LVER staff will be able to perform sorts by occupation,
location (State and city) salary and very importantly, by the "newness" of the
job. This is a key feature for focusing in on new jobs in the locality to which
veterans might be referred.
Federal contractors must list their jobs "immediately" according to the
statute. Through accessing the Federal contractor database in "real" time, DVOP
and LVER staff will have immediate access to these jobs daily or even more
often.
V. Access to the Internet:
It is recognized that at present, not all local veterans staff have
immediate access to the Internet. ETA has made funds available toward equipping
each local office with Internet access. VETS has taken the initiative to
provide funds, as they become available, to States to provide DVOP and LVER
staff with the equipment necessary for Internet connectivity. Those with access
to the Internet can download any and all of the contractor job listings on a
daily basis (or more frequently if they wish).
ETA is also proceeding with the development of AJB's "Job Scout"--a
program that will permit DVOPs and LVERs to establish up to 20 recurring
searches targeted for the occupations they are seeking on behalf of the veteran
customer. The "Job Scout" will look for jobs within the contractor pool or the
full AJB collection and e-mail the results directly to the DVOP/LVER.
Overall it is expected that the changes and advancements in technology
will result in increased availability of mandatory listings, increased
timeliness of posting those openings and immediately give DVOP and LVER staff
access to the openings with a powerful and exclusive search tool.
VETS is committed to training for DVOP and LVER staff in the new
Internet technology. The Federal contractor data base can be accessed now and
this will be a priority area for sharing knowledge on its use. Available
materials will be distributed and others developed. Other resources also will
be used, such as the National Veterans Training Institute.
VI. Action: Please advise all appropriate staff of the change in policy
which now permits Federal contractors to list directly with America's Job Bank
in fulfillment of the mandatory listing requirement. DVOP and LVER staff and
other appropriate staff should be advised that Federal contractor jobs within
AJB can be accessed separately for veterans priority referral purposes as
described in this letter. Also, it should be conveyed to veteran staff that the
new "mass entry" job listing option discussed in Section III. of this
letter can be an effective marketing tool when presented to employers.
VETS National Office will transmit the password information necessary to
access the Federal contractor data base to VETS Regional Administrators and all
DVETs in the immediate future.
As local employment service office DVOP and LVER staff come on-line with
the Internet, password information will be disseminated to SESAs by the DVET so
that this information is available to veteran dedicated staff for their
immediate use in accessing the automated Federal contractor listings. DVETs
should work closely with the SESAs to assure that DVOP and LVER staff are aware
of this new feature on America's Job Bank and implement practices and
procedures to make this electronic job search work for targeted veterans
clients.
Enclosed with this letter are two handouts which provide instructions on
how to use the AJB/Internet Federal contractor search application. Although
similar, one is directed to the user and the other to a trainer.
VII. Inquiries:
Inquiries from SESAs should be directed to the appropriate DVET.
Inquiries regarding the Federal Contractor Job Listings Program should be
directed to Eileen Connors at (202) 219- 9110. All other inquiries should be
directed to Paul Hinkhouse at (202) 219-9105.
Enclosures: Searching America's Job Bank for Employment Listings (2
documents)
Expiration Date: September 30, 1997
VETS-D EConnors:bvf:11/6/96:FPB:Rm.S-1316:219-9110
Wilson:Official File;Pending:File:B: AJBVPL
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