A Principles of Professional Conduct Committee Position Paper
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| • The Commercialization of Career Centers: Ethical Considerations for Practitioners |
Ethical Considerations of the Commercialization of
Career Services and College Student Recruitment Functions
Developed by the NACE Principles Committee
Approved by the NACE Board of Directors.
The intense recruitment of college graduates, combined with the explosion of the commercial job search industry, has provided many college career centers and academic departments with the opportunity and expectation of exploiting their relationship with the corporate world for the purposes of fund raising. This has raised the specter of preferential treatment and the improper use of student confidential information provided to selected employers and organizations in return for their financial support. There is considerable alarm in the career services community about the ethical dilemma posed by these concurrent developments.
This issue and other ethical issues are spelled out in "The Commercialization of Career Centers: Ethical Considerations for Practitioners," an article in the Winter 2001 Journal of Career Planning and Employment¹. The underpinning of this article is found in the profession's three central moral precepts, namely: This
"Maintain an open and free selection of employment opportunities in an atmosphere conducive to objective thought, where job candidates can choose long-term uses of their talents that are consistent with personal objectives and all relevant facts;
Maintain a recruitment process that is fair and equitable to candidates and employing organizations;
Support informed and responsible decision making by candidates²."
As discussed in the Journal article, "These precepts convey the fundamental acknowledgement that career services professionals are expected to serve the best interest of students. Moreover, employers, while charged with 'developing effective college relations programs that contribute to effective candidate selections for their organizations,' recognize that their strategies and actions should be undertaken in a manner that respects the rights of students to make informed choices that are in their best interest.³"
Accordingly, to determine what is ethically acceptable or unacceptable, NACE urges both career services staff and employers to act in the overall best interest of their mutual customer - the student. Specifically, NACE has adopted the following position regarding the acceptance and solicitation of funds by career centers, and the offering of assistance by employers, in exchange for service, student access and employer prominence.
1. Career services professionals must endeavor to prevent practices that violate the Principles by educating the campus community about the ethical issues of concern. This includes others in student life, institutional advancement and faculty. Career services professionals should work with the campus community to educate them about the potential for ethical abuses that commercialization poses and to develop practices that respect student rights while honoring institutional needs.
2. Career services professionals must be diligent in enforcing
the NACE Principles for Professional Conduct not only as
they impact their offices, but also as they relate to faculty and
staff throughout their respective institutions. Faculty and other
campus members, including alumni, who attempt to provide employers
with information to which they are not entitled (e.g., confidential
student information) or access to only "certain" candidates
(and thus not providing all students with equal access to information
about opportunities), are breaching the ethical standards of our
profession. It is imperative that these behaviors be confronted.
3. In seeking and accepting employer contributions, career services
offices and academic departments must make every effort not to compromise
their duty to provide full and equal service to students and employers.
If employer funds provide greater prominence to the names and opportunities
of specific organizations and their industries, the career center
has an obligation to make every effort to provide students not interested
in these specific organizations or industries with contact and/or
information about alternate employers in keeping with their needs
and interests.
4. Career services professionals should not seek to charge fees or seek funds from employers to such an extent that the full range of student interests and needs are not met. For example, fees for services that prevent smaller organizations from either participating or being reasonably visible have the effect of violating all three core precepts of the Principles.
5. The career center should work with employer professionals to develop recruiting and marketing strategies that can be effective on their campuses but that do not violate the Principles.
6. Employer professionals must not seek treatment or student access in ways that violate the Principles. Attempting to trade funding or equipment for special access and/or confidential information about specific potential candidates ("the best and brightest," members of certain groups, e.g., minority computer science majors) is inappropriate. Employers who seek these individuals should work with the career services office to develop marketing strategies that will enhance the visibility of their organization while maintaining a recruitment process that is fair and equitable to all employers and students.
NACE recognizes that the pressures to meet institutional needs
and hiring needs create a difficult dilemma for career services
and employment professionals. It is not always easy or clear how
to adhere to these obligations while meeting the requirements of
one's organization. The ethical fundamentals set forth in the Principles
and strategies presented in the aforementioned Winter 2001 Journal
article are ultimately based on the firmly held conviction that
ethical practice can and will result in the most effective practice.
NACE wants to provide its members with a simple, easy to remember
guideline to help members navigate ethical considerations relating
to campus recruiting. In conclusion, NACE urges all its members
to focus on the values upon which this association is based and
act in what is in the overall best interest of their shared client
- the student.
August 2001
1. Goodman, A., Rayman, J. and Ferrell, D. "The
Commercialization of Career Services: Ethical Considerations for
Practitioners." Journal of Career Planning and Employment,
Vol. 61, No. 2, 2001, pp. 21-27.
2. Principles
for Professional Conduct. National Association of Colleges
and Employers: Bethlehem, PA, 1998, pp. 1-2.
3.Goodman et al, p. 25
