Frequently Asked Questions

Equal employment opportunity prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability or military status. The goal of equal opportunity is to ensure that all applicants and employees have a fair opportunity in employment.

Affirmative action refers to actions, policies, and procedures that are designed to achieve equal employment opportunity. Affirmative action requires contractors to make a good faith effort to achieve and maintain a workforce where women and minorities are represented at levels proportionate with their availability in the labor pool from which the employer can reasonably be expected to recruit. Affirmative action also includes good faith efforts towards military applicants and individuals with disabilities.

Affirmative Action is required for federal contractors; Virginia Tech is a federal contractor.

Protected military status include: disabled military, recently separated military, active duty wartime or campaign badge military, or Armed Forces service medal military.

Visit the Department of Labor’s website for more information on the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act.

An individual is considered to have a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment or medical condition that substantially limits a major life activity, or if they have a history or record of such an impairment or medical condition.

Employees may update their race, disability status and military status throughout the year by logging into their HOKIETEAM account.

An individual with a disability seeking an accommodation should contact ADA and Accessibility Services.

Discrimination is an action that adversely affects an individual’s employment opportunities based on race, color, religion, sex(including pregnancy), age, veteran status, national origin, disability, or any other factor that under state or federal laws may not be considered as a basis for employment. Virginia Tech does not tolerate discrimination on the basis of age, color, disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, national origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other basis protected by law.

An affirmative action plan is a management tool that includes diagnostic and self-monitoring components as well as specific and result-oriented policies and procedures designed to achieve equal employment opportunity.

“An affirmative action program is, thus, more than a paperwork exercise. An affirmative action program includes those policies, practices, and procedures that the contractor implements to ensure that all qualified applicants and employees are receiving an equal opportunity for recruitment, selection, advancement, and every other term and privilege associated with employment. Affirmative action, ideally, is a part of the way the contractor regularly conducts its business. OFCCP has found that when an affirmative action program is approached from this perspective, as a powerful management tool, there is a positive correlation between the presence of affirmative action and the absence of discrimination.” (41CFR60-2.10)

Search requests are entered into the applicant tracking system at http://jobs.vt.edu/hr. 

No. Search committee members gain access to application materials by using a guest username and password that is assigned when the search is approved. Contact the search chair for this information. 

There is no set requirement as to the number of search committee members but a committee should be more than one person. Committees should include constituents who have a legitimate interest in the position. Additionally, special attention should be taken to ensure that the committee is diverse and includes a person from outside the department.

An advertising plan should be consistent with the reasonable recruitment area. A national search should include at least one national resource. A regional search should include advertising resources outside the state of Virginia. Strategic recruitment efforts should be made to recruit qualified women, people of color, military status and persons with disabilities. A list of diversity advertising and recruitment resources is available.

Employees must complete a Search Committee Charge Workshop to serve on a search committee. Employees can register for the training at training.vt.edu.