The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person's race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, transgender status, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information.

From the state of Maine's Human Rights Commission.

Thousands of people report job discrimination to the government each year. Employers are rarely held accountable.

Through every step of the hiring process, recruiters can discriminate against job candidates, without meaning to. Here's how to spot these behaviors, and what to do about it.