Recruitment Conducted Outside of Cornerstone

Voluntary Information Request (VIR)

Oklahoma State University is a federal contractor and is required by Executive Order 11246 to record race and gender information for all job applicants or candidates for the purpose of evaluating and improving the university's Affirmative Action Program. Federal regulations mandate that all applicants or candidates for all open positions be provided the opportunity to self-identify in certain protected categories.

 

This information is solicited through the application process for positions listed on and applications accepted through Cornerstone (OSU's applicant tracking system). It requires no additional work by hiring managers or committees. 

For positions recruited and filled utilizing resources other than Cornerstone, which includes a good number of faculty and very few staff positions, the hiring manager, committee chair, or designee is responsible for fulfilling the following steps:

 

1. Conduct a lawful, ethical, comprehensive recruitment process.
   • Recruitment resources
     • On-Demand Search Committee Training
     • Faculty Authorization to Fill (ATF)
     • Best Practices for Faculty Search and Screen Committees at OSU
2. Utilize this spreadsheet to track ALL applicants.
   • • Executive Order 11246 and its implementing regulations require OSU to monitor applicant pools closely; if you are not using Cornerstone, which automates applicant tracking, you will need to manually track the applicant pool using this spreadsheet. For your convenience and to provide university-wide consistency, the Office of Equal Opportunity has created the spreadsheet to track applicants. This is a requirement for internal tracking.
3. Send the Voluntary Information Request Form to ALL applicants.
   • • As responses are received, enter data into the spreadsheet referenced in Step 2.
4. Once a candidate has been hired, send the completed spreadsheet to eeo@okstate.edu.
   • • For EEO purposes, when an applicant is hired, please finalize the spreadsheet found here and email it to eeo@okstate.edu with the subject “Candidate Spreadsheet [POSITION NUMBER].” This spreadsheet is not optional. This information is required under federal EEO laws, and your compliance in this regard is imperative. We expect to receive the completed spreadsheet within two weeks from completion of the recruitment process. You may elect to scan the request to staff and include it in the same email.
5. Request a background check for the individual who accepted the employment offer.

Regarding inviting applicants to self-identify, the search committee chair (or designee) is required to individually direct each applicant to complete/submit the voluntary self-identification information utilizing the form above. This should be done when the committee chair acknowledges receipt of the application material.  

 

If you receive questions regarding the Voluntary Information Request process, please know:

The applicant is not obligated to respond (OSU must ask the question, the applicant is not required to answer); however, the applicant may choose to do so at the time of request or in the future.

• • Individual responses will remain confidential within the Office of Equal Opportunity.
  • Responses will be used in aggregate and only for the necessary information to include in our Affirmative Action reporting requirements.
  • The information provided is not part of the applicant’s official application for employment.
  • Refusal to provide this information will have no bearing on the selection process and will not subject the applicant to any adverse treatment.

Please contact the Office of Equal Opportunity at 405-744-1156 with any questions or to schedule formal search committee training, which is available upon request.