Hiring Record Retention Checklist: What to Keep and for How Long

Once an offer is accepted, the hiring team moves on and the folder stops getting attention. That is the moment to gather everything the vacancy produced, for every applicant, not just the person you hired. A working inventory usually includes:

• The job posting, advertisements and the requirements in effect when people applied
• Applications, resumes and other employment inquiries, including from applicants who were not hired
• Screening criteria and reviewer notes
• Tests or assessments and their results, if they were considered in the decision
• Interview questions, interview notes and scorecards, such as a completed interview evaluation form
• Offer letters, rejection notices and records of candidate withdrawals
• Requests for reasonable accommodation during the hiring process, stored with restricted access

Check the less obvious places. A manager may have notes in a notebook, and a recruiter may have candidate messages in a personal mailbox. Collect or index those sources before anyone clears a shared folder or removes an account.

Three federal rules cover most private employers:

• Title VII, the ADA and GINA (15 or more employees). Under 29 CFR 1602.14, any personnel or employment record you make or keep, expressly including application forms and other hiring records, must be kept for one year from the date the record was made or the personnel action was taken, whichever is later.
• The ADEA (20 or more employees). Under 29 CFR 1627.3, job applications, resumes and other employment inquiries, records of a refusal to hire, employment tests considered in a decision, and job advertisements or notices of openings must be kept for one year from the date of the personnel action.
• Federal contractors. Separate OFCCP rules can require two years. See the next section.

EEOC coverage counts employees who worked for you in each working day of 20 or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding year. If you are below those thresholds, the federal rules above may not apply, but state law may.

Treat one year as a minimum, not an automatic deletion date. State laws can require more. California, for example, requires employers covered by its Fair Employment and Housing Act to keep applications and personnel records for at least four years. For each record category, write down the governing rule, the event that starts the clock, the retention period and the person who approves disposal, so managers follow an instruction rather than interpret several laws themselves.

Executive Order 11246 was revoked on January 21, 2025. The Department of Labor then published a final rule rescinding the Executive Order 11246 regulations, including the two-year record retention rule at 41 CFR 60-1.12, effective October 26, 2026.

That does not end contractor recordkeeping. OFCCP still enforces Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and VEVRAA, and both sets of regulations still require covered contractors to keep personnel and employment records, expressly including job postings, applications, resumes and interview notes, for two years. Contractors with fewer than 150 employees, or without a federal contract of at least $150,000 (Section 503) or $200,000 (VEVRAA), keep them for one year. If you hold federal contracts or subcontracts, confirm your status with your adviser.

A discrimination charge changes the task. EEOC recordkeeping guidance says relevant records must be kept until final disposition of the charge or any lawsuit based on it. Under 29 CFR 1602.14, relevant records include those for the person who filed the charge, for employees in similar positions, and the applications and test papers of all other candidates for the same position. Keeping only the complaining applicant's folder is not enough.

Missing records can become part of the problem. In October 2026 the EEOC announced a $500,000 conciliation settlement with a warehouse logistics company after its investigation found qualified women were turned away from pallet repairer jobs and that the company had failed to maintain employment records required by federal law. The settlement includes an annual recordkeeping audit.

Name one person managers must contact when a charge, demand letter or preservation notice arrives. That person works with counsel on the scope of the hold and pauses routine deletion everywhere the records live, including mailboxes, shared drives and recruiting tools, then confirms who received the instructions.

A complete file shows the criteria that applied and what reviewers actually recorded at the time. Agreeing on those criteria before screening, with an application review rubric, makes the closeout check much easier.

• Keep original notes. If something needs correcting, add a dated correction with the author's name instead of rewriting the note.
• Distinguish a candidate who withdrew from one the employer declined to advance.
• Do not fill blank fields after the fact to make a file look complete.

Fictional example: an applicant for a front desk role withdraws by email before her interview. The closeout owner checks that the email is saved with her application and that her status reads "withdrew," and leaves the interview rating blank rather than inventing one.

When every retention period has passed and no hold applies, the approved owner can authorize disposal. Disposal should protect the information, not just remove it from view.

If you used background check reports from a screening company, the FTC Disposal Rule applies to those reports and to information taken from them. Reasonable measures include shredding, burning or pulverizing paper so it cannot be read or reconstructed, and destroying or erasing electronic files to the same standard. Your confidential paper disposal procedure can cover the paper route.

Before marking the vacancy closed, record:

• The vacancy, location, hiring owner and the date the decision was made
• Where each record category is stored and who can access it
• The retention period and the earliest date disposal can be considered
• Any gaps, with an owner and a follow-up date

Then test retrieval. Ask an authorized colleague to find the posting, one unsuccessful applicant's application, the related interview notes and the recorded outcome. Missing links and unclear file names show up quickly.

OdyHR keeps hiring work in one place: careers-page listings, applications and resumes, candidate review, interviews, offers and the handoff into onboarding. Your retention schedule, legal holds, background check reports and disposal decisions stay with you and your advisers, so confirm how OdyHR fits those requirements before you rely on it for hiring records.

How long should I keep applications from candidates I did not hire?

If you have 15 or more employees, EEOC rules require at least one year from the date the application was received or the hiring decision was made, whichever is later. Federal contractors may need two years, and some states, such as California, require longer.

Do these rules apply if I have fewer than 15 employees?

The EEOC recordkeeping rule under Title VII and the ADA applies to employers with 15 or more employees, and the ADEA rule applies at 20 or more. State laws can cover smaller employers and set their own retention periods, so check your state's requirements.

Are interview notes and scorecards hiring records?

Yes. EEOC rules cover records having to do with hiring, and the Section 503 and VEVRAA contractor rules name interview notes specifically. Keep them with the rest of the vacancy file for the full retention period.

Can I delete hiring records exactly one year later?

Only if no longer period applies and no charge, lawsuit or preservation notice is pending. If a charge has been filed, relevant records must be kept until it and any related lawsuit are finally resolved.