Employers are required to keep records on the race, sex and ethnicity of every person who contacts them about a job, which are used to evaluate the fairness of employment practices. This process can become burdensome given the volume of unsolicited resumes that many companies receive. For this reason the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has established guidelines about who qualifies as a job applicant. According to the new qualifications a person who is not qualified for a position, does not express interest in a specific job opening or fails to follow the company's procedures for submitting an application is not considered an applicant.
See "Rule would spell out who is job applicant", T. Shawn Taylor, Chicago Tribune, March 8, 2004