LinkedIn’s Universal Apply Button Great for Small Employers But Horrible for Large Employers

The big news in the job board world this week was the introduction by LinkedIn of what it is billing as a Universal Apply button.

How does it work? Employer career sites, job boards, and anywhere else a job posting ad appears can now be modified to include the above button so that candidates who have a LinkedIn profile and actually care to use it (two very different groups) can click the above, click another couple of times to confirm, and their LinkedIn profile information is sent to the employer as an application. The benefit to the job seeker is convenience as they save a lot of time by not having to fill out field after field of information that they’ve already provided — maybe — to LinkedIn.

That sounds pretty good and I think this button will prove to be popular with some employers, but I also believe that most in the recruitment industry have overlooked the legal problems it will create for large employers. For virtually all employers who are federal contractors (basically any employer with more than 50 employees), the federal government has a “guilty until proven innocent” policy with respect to anti-discrimination practices. Employers must prove that their employment practices are not designed to be discriminatory and also that those practices do not have a discriminatory effect.

Many and perhaps most of those employers have decided to shield themselves by not resume searching as they can’t feasibly record each and every search, the people who came up in the search results, and the resumes those people had at the time of the search. Similarly, those employers require all candidates to apply at the employer’s web site using the same process. If some candidates can apply one way and other candidates another, then the employer will have the burden of proving that the candidates in both groups are the same as far as race, gender, age, etc. go or that the minority candidates were put at no disadvantage. Good luck proving that.

So I question how any employer which is subject to an audit by the OFCCP (the federal office which regularly sues large employers and makes them prove they aren’t discriminating) can use this LinkedIn universal apply button. Third party recruiters (headhunters) will love this as it will make it easier for candidates to apply to their job postings. Rogue corporate recruiters or organizations which are ignorant or have chosen to ignore the law will also love this button. But for the vast majority of Fortune 2000 and federal government employers, this button is going to need to go unused.