Hot on the Hotline: Compliance Requirements for Job Descriptions

Description:

In this episode, we will be discussing the compliance requirements for job postings, a topic that is frequently requested by MRA’s HR Hotline callers.

Ensuring that job postings are compliant with current laws and regulations can be a daunting task, but it's essential to avoid costly legal issues and attract a diverse pool of qualified candidates. We'll cover the key compliance areas that you need to be aware of, including equal employment opportunity, labor laws, and necessary disclosures.

Our expert guest, Nicole Morehouse, Manager, HR Hotline will provide practical advice and insights based on the hotline team's experience helping employers create compliant job postings. She’ll share real-life examples of common compliance pitfalls and how to avoid them, as well as tips for creating inclusive and accessible job postings that attract a diverse talent pool.

Whether you're an HR professional, a hiring manager, or a business owner, this episode will provide you with the knowledge and tools you need to create job postings that comply with current laws and attract the best candidates for your organization.

So, tune in to the 30 minute THRIVE podcast and stay informed on the latest compliance requirements for job postings.

Resources:

MRA's 24/7 HR Hotline 

MRA Membership 

About MRA 

Let's Connect:

Guest Bio - Nicole Morehouse 

Guest LinkedIn Profile - Nicole Morehouse 

Host Bio - Sophie Boler 

Host LinkedIn Profile - Sophie Boler 

Transcript:

Transcripts are computer generated -- not 100% accurate word-for-word.

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Hello everybody and welcome to 30 minute Thrive,

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your go to podcast for anything and everything HR.

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Powered by MRA, the Management Association.

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Looking to stay on top of the ever changing world of HR?

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MRA has got you covered.

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We'll be the first to tell you what's hot and what's not.

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I'm your host, Sophie Boler, and we are so glad you're here.

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Now it's time to thrive.

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Hello, everybody, and welcome to episode number 35 of 30 minute Thrive.

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I'm excited to talk about a topic that's called on

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quite frequently on our HR Hotline here at mra.

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And that is job postings.

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So i'm here with Nicole Morehouse.

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She's our hotline manager at MRA.

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And Nicole, you'll be answering a lot of the questions that you hear from

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our members on a daily basis. So.

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Excited to talk to you.

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Think you nice to be here again? Absolutely.

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Well, let's start through why we're talking about job postings,

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because we usually hear about this more from a recruiter side.

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And usually people think of recruiters when you talk about job postings.

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But how do they necessarily fit under the hotline category,

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which is more of a compliance and regulation based topic?

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Right.

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So you brought me here.

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No fun, Nicole, compliance perspective. So.

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All right.

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Sounds good.

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Yeah, we do get some questions on the hotline about job postings.

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A lot of times that stems from,

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you know, certain state requirements are a little more requirements.

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So more commonly is question is, you know, compliance guidance

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when it comes to AP transparency most recently got you a while

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like you just had a big question revolves around pay transparency.

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So do you or should you or can you

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post salary information in your job postings?

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Yeah.

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So back 2021, Colorado

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was first to hit the scene with, hey, employers,

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you know, you have to post if you're not at a job posting out

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and you might hire someone in Colorado, then you have to have the Pay range.

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So since then, several cities and states have joined in on that.

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So if you are posting a job where the candidate might be working

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in any of those locations, there's a good chance

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you either have to put the reach or that you have to have some sort of disclosure

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about the Pay range at some point in the recruitment process.

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Yeah, I feel like that's for a topic that's kind of changed recently

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because I feel like years ago you didn't see even pay ranges

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in job postings and now it's like pretty transparent for sure.

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Yeah, for sure.

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If you're a larger organization,

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you're probably doing that right, you know, because you're open

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to hybrid work and for regions, you're open to remote work every event

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and those sorts of things.

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So if you're a multi state employer, there's a good chance

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you're already used to putting some Pay range information in there already.

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If you're not, get ready for it because there's pending legislation

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to see how these 17 different locations that have that that's growing,

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I think it will be a big thing to be on the lookout for in 2023.

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It's a good catch up.

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So what other rules and regulations do

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employers really need to keep in mind when crafting a job posting?

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Yeah, so I think I mentioned earlier, right?

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If you're a federal contractor, your equal employment opportunity,

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perhaps you have to put some language about, you know, veterans or, you know,

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certainly disabilities and those sorts of things.

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So the Americans with Disabilities

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Act is something to think about when you do a job hosting.

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Other things that you might want to keep an eye out for is any language

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that really creates a barrier between a candidate and you as the employer,

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because using certain language could unintentionally

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create some sort of discriminatory hiring practice.

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I don't think employers go in

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with the intention that they're trying to discriminate against anybody

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for including certain words can unintentionally give the reader

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a perspective about what the employer is looking for.

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Absolutely.

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And this kind of break down

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what you said a little bit, you mentioned inadvertent discrimination.

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So let's kind of talk more about that and what that means.

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So can you kind of give an example of what it is or definition

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of what inadvertent discrimination means when we're talking about job postings?

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Sure. Yeah.

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I mean, it could be a very subtle thing, just a very subtle word choice

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using the word stronger or using the word firm,

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you know,

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those sorts of like words that maybe unintentionally,

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I think at LinkedIn, maybe in 2018 did some sort of survey and

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that could draw meal applicants

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and you unintentionally

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your entire candidate for meal, maybe because of the words that you used

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and the and the job posting and you don't really know that it's

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going to have that sort of impact and in the aftermath of doing that.

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But conversely, you could use the word like soft or compassionate

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and then, you know, is your candidate for female.

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Really?

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That's why I think, yeah, I wouldn't think about using those words

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or that that would cause discrimination bias.

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You're coming, right?

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The bigger ones are probably going to be more like recent college graduates

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or green or, you know, entry level sometimes can imply that you're looking

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for younger workers

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of the Equal Opportunity Commission specifically points out like,

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hey, employers

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don't use recent college graduates and there is some recent case law, Right.

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You know that candidates are saying that they were discriminated

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against because of their age.

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Well, the older. Yeah, Yeah. Well, for sure.

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Well, we're kind of talking before the podcast, but they always recommend

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putting some, like pizzazz or sizzle into your job description.

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So what are some suggestions so that the Post doesn't

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lead to that inadvertent discrimination with that pizzazz?

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Sure. Yeah, I've been on that and some things, right?

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I've been the recruiter putting a job posting out there and, you know, kind of,

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you know, trying to take the job description and then put it in

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kind of a marketing language. Right.

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Like trying to appeal to people and get people to read it

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and to then apply it and sell your company.

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I would just be very careful with word choice that has become a highly litigious

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sort of environment when it comes to these job postings and discrimination.

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And again, it's probably inadvertent, but be very, very careful about your

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word choice.

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Like I said before, you know,

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like saying things that are going to specifically appeal to a young person

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or to, you know, a person of any specific group,

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male, female or any individual group,

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you want it to be a posting that will appeal to most everyone.

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And I know that's challenging because

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it's in the eyes of the reader, right?

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You know, so how are how are you?

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You know, how you have to look at it from their lens if you're a candidate?

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Yeah, that kind of just like reminds me of putting emojis in like a job posting.

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Like, does that create some sort of inadvertent discrimination?

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Because usually younger folks use those emojis?

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I don't know.

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Like, it's a little complicated, I'm sure, because I think that there is, you know,

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some, you know, literature out there that disparages emojis

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and professional business writing right now, emails or letters

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and those sorts of things, because emojis

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have a picture, right?

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So that picture could be interpreted by one age group different

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than in another age group.

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So I have a, you know, 20 something year old son.

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If I share an emoji with him, it might mean a completely different thing.

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But I think it.

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And so yeah, so the thing with job posting. Yes.

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Oh, that's good.

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Well, do you have any advice for employers on staying up to date

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with all these rules, job postings and regulations?

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Right.

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So if you're not fortunate to have an employment attorney

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at your disposal, 24 seven you do want to rely on knowledgeable resources.

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I think the h.r. Advisor hotline

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certainly is a really, really good option.

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We really are going to be very quick to find the because there's local law.

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It's not just that it's cities within states.

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Some of my work, you know, there's like three cities

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within the state of new york that has some sort of transparency law.

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So we're going to be very quick to be able to find, you know, the location.

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You know,

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you're posting a job like where are you posting it?

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Are you intending attracting remote workers?

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And, you know, so there's a lot of factors to consider before you finalize

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whether or not you include pay information, for example.

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So I guess I'm curious to know some of the common mistakes

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that employers also make when creating these job postings,

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and that may put them at risk for noncompliance.

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So how can employers really avoid

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creating a job posting that doesn't comply with compliance?

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I'm not sure what that could be.

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A whole other kind of.

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Yeah, that's a great question.

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I don't know that I really could sum that up

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very easily.

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But, you know,

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anything that you run into in the employment

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arena can also apply to job postings.

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So the things, things that you think about for your current employees,

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you also want to think about in your job postings.

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So a lot of it has to do with,

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you know, fair chance at

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employment, you know, and for your chance at a competitive rate.

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And those are things that employers are thinking about

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for their current employees.

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So just spin it from the perspective of a candidate, you know,

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But then there's,

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you know, things that maybe employers have been putting in job postings

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previously that they didn't really realized were prohibited,

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like the Department of Justice, for example, in 2022 when after

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several companies for putting language about immigration status

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in the job posting and the civil penalties that, you know, got close to $1,000,000.

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Yeah.

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You know, and so it's the things that you

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traditionally think about

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and in the employment sense,

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just apply that to your candidate

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when you gave some examples of this prior.

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But do you have any specific keywords that you want to mention

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to absolutely avoid in job postings?

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Not absolutely.

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But you might want to consider quite word.

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Where do I start?

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I mean, I think I'm just going to go back to the previous example about the easiest

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one is, you know, a younger worker.

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You know, you don't want to say anything about like that.

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You want like young recent college graduate, green.

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Those all imply that if you were not

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of a certain age or young age,

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that you're not going to be qualified for the position.

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Certainly job descriptions have to describe the duties

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and the requirements in it in a way that's defendable.

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Right. You know, so even college

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degrees,

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why is it required for the position?

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And you could be unintentionally discriminating

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against a group of individuals that largely don't have college degrees

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for make sure if you put a college degree in there

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that you have a defendable reason why that's a selective criteria.

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Yeah.

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So it would be really hard to just throw in a couple of things other than that,

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you'll have an easy example.

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But you know, those are some other right, you know, kind of examples,

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like all those are good examples to keep in mind.

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So as we wrap up here, just want to emphasize resources

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that employers have available to them on job posting compliance.

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So if you want to reiterate where they can find that resource.

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Yeah.

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I mean, if you don't want to call a hotline advisor,

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I don't know why you wouldn't want to, but if you don't want to call a hotline

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advisor, then you certainly, you know, going straight to the location

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covered like that gov website.

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Right.

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You know, so if you're hiring in San Francisco,

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go check out San Francisco's employment laws, right?

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Make sure you're very knowledgeable.

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Our members also have access to some online tools

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that are more robust or comprehensive.

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And so, yeah, so that's something that if you don't know how to use those tools

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and you remember,

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you can call the hotline

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and we'll walk you through and then you can use them forever more.

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So there are some tools at your disposal, but you know, hotline

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the tools that you have through your membership

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and then make sure you actually go wherever you're recruiting.

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So if you have a job hosting that, apply, you're going to you're open

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to remote work anywhere, right?

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That's pretty overwhelming because that means that you have to check

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every city and every state to make sure you're in compliance.

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So that's why I think if you don't have an attorney that's driving decisions

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for you, you know, contacting the hotline, using the resources

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that you have through your membership is probably the best deal around.

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Yeah, I second that, I'm calling the hotline.

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I hope it's great.

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Well, I want to thank you for being on 30 minute Thrive today and sharing

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all of that advice and good knowledge to our members and listeners today.

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So to our listeners, if you like this chat in this topic,

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I would just encourage you to like the episode, leave a comment,

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share it out with your friends and your coworkers, and consider

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joining MRA, If you aren't a member already,

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like Nicole said, We have all the resources you need

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and we have resources in the show notes below, so take a look at those.

00:13:50:13 - 00:13:54:03
Otherwise, we have Nicole's bio and her LinkedIn profile

00:13:54:03 - 00:13:57:12
on the show notes so you can get in touch with her easily there.

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But thank you for tuning in today.

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And thanks again, Nicole.

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And we will see you next week.

00:14:03:17 - 00:14:06:11
And that wraps up our content for this episode.

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Be sure to reference the show notes where you can sign them to connect.

00:14:09:16 - 00:14:11:08
For more podcast updates,

00:14:11:08 - 00:14:15:02
check out other MRA episodes on your favorite podcast platform.

00:14:15:02 - 00:14:20:01
And as always, make sure to follow MRA’s 30 minutes Thrive so you don't miss out.

00:14:20:02 - 00:14:23:01
Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next Wednesday to carry

00:14:23:01 - 00:14:24:15
on the HR conversation.