What are Disposition Codes? How do I set them up? How do I use them?
Updated 7 years ago
What are Disposition Codes?
Disposition Codes track why candidates didn't work out, primarily for OFCCP (Office of Federal Contractor Compliance Program) purposes. There are two types of disposition codes in JobScore:
Declined codes track why you decided not to move forward with a candidate.
Withdrawn codes track why a candidate chose to opt out of your interview process.
How do I turn on Disposition Codes?
From the Admin menu in the primary navigation select the Disposition Codes option. At the top of the page, there is an option called "Enable Disposition Codes." This option is turned off by default. To enable Disposition Codes for your account, select one of the options that start with "Yes"
There are three different disposition code modes you can choose from:
No: Disposition Codes are completely turned off. Users will not be prompted to enter a disposition code when declining or withdrawing candidates.
Yes - Disposition Codes Required | Necessary for OFCCP Compliance: Users will be prompted to enter a disposition code every time they mark a candidate as declined or withdrawn. This means that there will be a code for every candidate in your OFCCP applicant log detail compliance report.
Yes - Disposition Codes Optional: Users will be prompted to enter a disposition code when declining or withdrawing candidates, but are not required to do so.
Select the mode based on how you intend to use disposition codes.
If your firm is a federal contractor (meaning you currently do business with the United States Federal Government) it's a no-brainer choose: "Yes - Disposition Codes Required | Necessary for OFCCP Compliance" and work with your compliance consultant to set up specific disposition codes and train your team to use them to ensure you remain compliant. We've added a few starter codes that a former OFCCP auditor recommended, but we strongly recommend you hire your own compliance consultant to review and set up your codes in the event of a future audit.
Select "Yes - Disposition Codes Optional" if your firm doesn't have compliance needs but wants to get better at recruiting. This option WILL NOT help you with your compliance needs, but rather helps capture the reasons why you are declining candidates and why candidates are choosing to withdraw from your recruiting process. In this mode, because the disposition codes are optional & for internal tracking/analysis purposes only feel free to add whatever codes you'd like to the Admin > Disposition Codes console.
What codes should we use?
If you are a federal contractor and need OFCCP we strongly recommend working with an external compliance consultant to set up your disposition codes and train your team to use them. That said, we've seeded your account with some codes that a few compliance consultants recommended:
Default Disposition Codes in your JobScore account:
Default Declined Codes:
Not Considered
Doesn't Meet Minimum Qualifications
More Qualified Candidate Selected
Salary Requested is Too High
Applied After Offer was Extended
Unable to Work in the United States
Position on Hold / Cancelled / Not Filled
Default Withdrawn Codes:
Unable to Contact
Not Interested in Job
Not Interested in Salary
Failed to Show for Interview
Offer Rejected by Candidate
Accepted Another Job
If you want to remain compliant and be more specific about what's happening there are a few more recommended codes you can add:
Specific Declined Codes:
Not Qualified: Education
Not Qualified: Experience
Not Qualified: Certification
Not Qualified: Security Clearance
Not Qualified: Can't Travel
Not Qualified: Can't Relocate
Specific Withdrawn Codes:
Not Interested in Hours / Shift
Not Interested in Travel
Not Interested in Location / Can’t Relocate
If you are trying to remain compliant the goal is to ensure that your codes don't indicate any sort of discrimination. There are a few examples of "dos" and "don't-s:"
Appropriate Codes:
Falsified or Misrepresented Application
Unacceptable References
Unverifiable References
Failed Exam (Medical)
Failed Exam (Other)
Gov't / Client Rejected
Inappropriate Codes:
Inappropriate Behavior / Appearance
Changed Required Qualifications
Disposition Codes & Reporting
After you've had disposition codes up & running for a while, the Disposition Codes Report is an invaluable tool to help you understand why you are having trouble filling jobs. To access the Disposition Codes report, select Reports in the primary navigation and then click on Disposition Codes. The disposition codes report is only available to customers on the JobScore SCALE & Enterprise plan.
The Disposition Report provides a breakdown of the reasons why you decline candidates and why candidates withdraw from the process (turn you down). The information in the disposition codes report gives you information about why you aren't able to hire people.
Filtering by department helps understand the main reasons an organization is turning people down or losing them.
Filtering by job can provide insights into what's happening in a specific requisition if you are having trouble filling it
Filtering by user can help understand how and why a specific person is turning down candidates - or turning them off.
Filtering by status provides insight into why candidates are not working out at each stage of your hiring process.
The information on the disposition codes report can help you evaluate what criteria are holding up the process, if your recruiting sales pitch isn't strong enough to keep people interested, or even if specific people and how they interview are the root of the problem. The Disposition codes report gives you the raw data to share with the team to identify problems and then craft steps course-correct how you recruit.
If your organization is compliance-oriented the reports you'll need in the event of an audit can be found under Compliance Reports where you can download candidate data & disposition values. The report is called "OFCCP Applicant Log" - just click to get your data.