State Employees and Education Requirements

I've had four different discussions in the last week about Human Resources policies here in the state of Virginia, and the poor quality of the job descriptions that I'm seeing.

Human Resources Policy 2.10 - Hiring

Job Announcement Requirements

All job announcements must include an Equal Employment Opportunity statement and should state the scope of the position and KSA qualification requirements. All information in the job announcement must be job related. Announcements must not
specify a certain number of years of experience nor a specific educational requirement unless sanctioned by law. The following elements must be included:

• a summary of job duties;
• any educational qualifications required by law [my emphasis, i.e. MD required for medical boards, JD required to sit for the bar];
• any bona fide occupational requirements (BFOQs);
• any occupational certification or licensing required by law;
• notification that a fingerprint-based criminal history check will be required of the finalist candidate for the position if it has been designated as sensitive under Va. Code § 2.2-1201.1;
• notification that the selected candidate must complete a Statement of Personal Economic Interests as a
  condition of employment, if applicable (Va. Code § 2.2-3114);
• hours of work if less than 40 per week, with a note that health benefits are available.

Job announcements also should include:

• preferred qualifications;
• a requirement or preference for related experience (but not specific years of experience);
• any educational preferences not required by law, stated with a provision for substitution of equivalent applicable experience or training;
• notice to applicants that they may be required to demonstrate the skills and abilities necessary for satisfactory performance of the work;
• information about conditions of employment such as shift schedule, work hours, full time/part time status, restricted status, requirement for background check (for non-sensitive positions) and the extent of the back- ground check, requirement for drug testing, etc.;
• number of positions being filled from the same applicant pool, if more than one;
• a statement clarifying what application options if any are acceptable, such as resumes, faxes, etc.; and
• any other information regarding the application process that would be helpful to applicants.

Proving yet again that our Human Resources department, like most, is as bad as my spelling.