Historically, people from minority groups have experienced fewer career opportunities due to being actively discriminated against or prevented from participating in the job market. The effects of this legacy are still with us today, with many groups still being underrepresented in the workforce – particularly in positions of leadership or seniority. 

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy introduced the term “affirmative action” into federal contracting policy. However, the legal landscape has changed significantly since then. In January 2025, Executive Order 14173 revoked Executive Order 11246, ending its requirement for federal contractors to operate race- and sex-based affirmative action programs. Applicable contractor obligations under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and VEVRAA remain in effect for qualified individuals with disabilities and protected veterans.

What does affirmative action mean?

In simple terms, affirmative action means affording people from underrepresented groups equal career opportunities while implementing strategies to achieve better representation for minorities in the applicant pool. Beyond equity in hiring, your affirmative action strategy aims to attract skilled applicants from designated groups to promote workplace diversity.

Your organization may take active steps to attract applications from certain groups. For example, it might undertake outreach programmes and offer developmental opportunities such as bursaries. At the same time, it would be unconstitutional to implement a form of “reverse discrimination” in hiring decision-making. This may seem confusing since you must aim for diversity, but may not discriminate against any candidate from demographics that are already adequately represented. This article strives to clarify your role as a recruiter in implementing affirmative action in hiring. 

Examples of affirmative action in the workplace

Examples of affirmative action in the workplace usually focus on widening access to opportunities and removing barriers that may prevent qualified people from being considered.

Broaden recruitment outreach

Employers can advertise vacancies through a wider range of channels, including community organizations, colleges, professional networks and diversity job boards. These advertisements should remain open to all qualified candidates while helping employers reach talent they may previously have missed.

Remove barriers from the selection process

Affirmative action hiring can include reviewing job descriptions to remove unnecessary requirements, offering reasonable accommodations and using skills-based screening. Structured interviews and consistent scoring criteria also help ensure that every applicant is assessed against the same job-related standards.

Expand access to career development

Affirmative action can continue after recruitment through mentoring, apprenticeships, training and leadership development. These opportunities should be accessible to employees from all backgrounds, helping organizations build stronger internal talent pipelines without excluding anyone because of a protected characteristic.

Meet applicable federal contractor obligations

Covered federal contractors may still need to maintain affirmative action programs for qualified individuals with disabilities and protected veterans. The Department of Labor confirms that Section 503 and VEVRAA remain in effect, although Executive Order 11246’s race- and sex-based federal contractor requirements were revoked in 2025.

Keep hiring decisions fair

A responsible strategy expands the pool of qualified candidates without making employment decisions because of someone’s race, sex or another protected characteristic. Current EEOC guidance makes clear that protected characteristics must not motivate decisions about hiring, promotion or access to workplace opportunities.

For this reason, the phrase “affirmative action hire” can be misleading. It should never suggest that someone was selected simply to meet a demographic target or despite lacking the necessary qualifications. The aim is to make opportunities more accessible and give every candidate a fair chance to demonstrate their ability.

How does affirmative action work in the context of hiring?

Equal employment opportunity (EEO) means your hiring efforts are merit-based. But, although employment equity practices may see more minorities being hired because they have an equal chance to demonstrate merit, affirmative action in employment takes this a step further. 

As a recruiter who hopes to achieve diversity in hiring, your goal is to attract applications from skilled candidates whose representation in the workplace has been impacted by historical discrimination. Not only does this offer opportunities for groups who have been disadvantaged in the employment market, but a more diverse candidate pool means that you aren’t overlooking talented potential candidates.

What are the benefits of affirmative action in hiring?

When affirmative action measures help employers reach a broader pool of qualified candidates, organizations gain access to a wider range of experiences and perspectives. McKinsey’s updated research continues to find an association between diverse leadership and company performance, while emphasizing that representation alone is not enough. The strongest results come when wider recruitment outreach is supported by an inclusive culture and fair access to opportunity.

Public perceptions of your organization may also be bolstered – and not only among members of minority groups. Researchers found that the public sees diversity in an organization as a reflection of its moral standing. 

Reaching candidates through a broader range of channels can also strengthen your employer brand. It shows applicants that your organization is serious about fair access to work, helping you compete for skilled people who might otherwise overlook your vacancies.

It’s a logical conclusion that society benefits too. Rising above a past where certain groups were more explicitly disadvantaged allows a wider cross-section of society to enjoy successful careers. This, in turn, benefits succeeding generations who have access to better opportunities thanks to improved socioeconomic circumstances.

Finally, there are incentives. Some federal contractors continue to have specific affirmative action responsibilities, although these are narrower than they were previously. Covered contractors must continue to meet applicable requirements concerning qualified individuals with disabilities under Section 503 and protected veterans under VEVRAA. However, the former race- and sex-based requirements associated with Executive Order 11246 no longer apply. Because responsibilities vary according to factors such as contract value and workforce size, employers should consult the latest Department of Labor guidance.

What are the challenges of affirmative action in hiring?

The central challenge is ensuring that efforts to broaden opportunity do not turn into preferences based on race, sex or another protected characteristic. Current EEOC guidance states that Title VII protects all applicants and employees equally. Recruiters must therefore distinguish between widening the candidate pool and using protected characteristics to decide who receives an interview, job offer, promotion or development opportunity.

Employers must also keep pace with a changing legal environment. The 2023 Supreme Court ruling concerned college admissions rather than workplace hiring, but it was followed by greater scrutiny of employment programs. Unfortunately for the sake of diversity, Executive Order 14173 revoked Executive Order 11246 in 2025, and the EEOC – against public outcry – voted to rescind its older affirmative action interpretive guidelines in June 2026. State and local requirements may differ, so employers should review policies regularly and seek legal advice where necessary.

Perception presents another challenge. Describing someone as an “affirmative action hire” can unfairly imply that they were selected for demographic reasons rather than their ability. Clear, skills-based criteria and transparent hiring processes help employers demonstrate that every successful candidate earned the role.

Tips for incorporating affirmative action into your hiring process

As we’ve seen, implementing affirmative action in employment can be a difficult balance between achieving diversity goals and equity in the hiring process. In today’s legal environment, affirmative action hiring should focus on widening access, removing unnecessary barriers and applying job-related criteria consistently. The following steps can help you reach a broader range of qualified candidates while keeping individual hiring decisions fair.

Audit job descriptions and job ads

Recruitment processes begin with job descriptions and job ads. Your first task will be to ensure that these do not include language that implies bias that may deter applicants. MIT points out that the language of bias can be subtle. For example, “lead” has male associations while “support” has feminine overtones. On the other hand, “manage” is gender-neutral. Fortunately, there are technological solutions to help you craft gender-neutral job descriptions and job ads. 

Target your advertising

The placement of ads is also an important strategic consideration. Apart from advertising using conventional channels, you can attract a higher proportion of candidates from minority groups by actively advertising on diversity job boards targeting these groups. Programmatic advertising manages your campaigns on your behalf, allowing you to see whether you are attracting a diverse applicant pool. 

Implement targeted outreach

Search your candidate databases and professional networks for qualified people who may have been missed by your usual recruitment channels. Partnerships with colleges, community organizations, disability groups and veteran networks can expand awareness without restricting who may apply. These are practical examples of affirmative action in the workplace because they improve access while preserving consistent selection standards.

Work to eliminate hiring bias

Bias can enter hiring decisions in different ways and at several stages of recruitment. The practical response is to reduce subjectivity through job-related criteria, trained reviewers, documented decisions and regular checks for adverse impact. Taking a consistent approach can help employers address hiring bias without introducing a new form of unequal treatment.

Blind resume screening

Blind resume screening can reduce the influence of some identifying details by keeping the initial focus on relevant skills and experience. However, neither anonymization nor artificial intelligence can guarantee a bias-free result. Employers should understand how screening tools work, test them for adverse impact and retain meaningful human oversight. The EEOC’s resources on AI in employment selection make clear that technology must still comply with federal anti-discrimination law.

Skills testing

With a list of qualified candidates to choose from, the next step could be skills testing to identify meritorious candidates who will be interviewed by the hiring panel. Ensure that skills tests focus on core requirements and that the wording of questions is unambiguous. 

Interviews

With the human element now entering the selection process, recruiters must guard against any element that may introduce unconscious bias against, or in favor of certain candidates. This can be mitigated by implementing blind interviews or by assembling a diverse interview panel to reduce the effects of unconscious bias. 

Structure interviews to ensure that all applicants have the same opportunity to demonstrate their suitability for a post. Design interview questions that target key skills and develop a rating system with clear criteria that panelists must use in evaluating candidates’ responses.

Common misconceptions of affirmative action in the workplace

Affirmative action in hiring is widely misunderstood, and addressing these misconceptions about affirmative action is essential for employers and recruiters. While the intended result of affirmative action is better representation for minorities, it’s not a box-ticking exercise in which you hire people purely for the sake of minority representation.

It’s often assumed that affirmative action policies result in discrimination against skilled candidates who match a mainstream demographic. However, affirmative action hiring practices are designed to break down barriers to inclusion rather than creating a process that favors minorities unfairly. In this sense, it aligns with the constitutional principle of equality for all, regardless of individual characteristics like race or gender.

Many people believe that affirmative action in hiring means that people are hired according to a quota system. However, this is incorrect. The only scenario in which an organization may be called upon to meet rigid quotas for representation occurs when a court orders it to compensate for blatant discrimination in the past.

There’s also a widespread belief that qualified candidates from minority groups are extremely scarce. It’s believed that it may be impossible to find qualified candidates from these groups, let alone ones who can win positions in an equitable hiring process. However, in most professions, this is simply not the case.

In a similar vein, some may believe that if affirmative action policies no longer existed, minority representation, particularly in high-level positions, would also be a thing of the past. But, with the number of women and people of color earning degrees on the rise despite continued underrepresentation in fields like STEM, this again is a misconception.

Finally, the revocation of Executive Order 11246 did not end every form of affirmative action in the workplace. Applicable federal contractor obligations under Section 503 and VEVRAA remain in place for qualified individuals with disabilities and protected veterans. Employers may also continue using inclusive, open recruitment practices, provided employment decisions comply with Title VII and other applicable laws.

Finding the right tools to help you support affirmative action hiring and employment equity

Without technology to give you a helping hand, job distribution that supports affirmative action goals can be extremely challenging. The same is true when you seek to eliminate any form of bias when shortlisting and interviewing candidates. 

While there are individual tools available, the ideal choice is a suite of software solutions that work together to improve efficiency while reducing bias in the hiring process. With this in mind, Broadbean has compiled a combination of best-in-class hiring software, including our OFCCP Compliance Software, to help covered federal contractors manage applicable compliance responsibilities while supporting fair and consistent recruitment. Talk to us about your recruiting goals today.