Users Guide to the Principles for Professional Conduct
| Index to Ethics Guide |
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Principles for Career Services Professionals
12. Promoting acceptance of NACE’s ethical principles within the college.
"Career services professionals will promote and encourage acceptance of these principles throughout their educational institution, and will respond to reports of noncompliance." (See Employer Principle 13)
Intent / Rational / Scenario / Resolution / Resources
The right of employers to a fair process that rewards their principled recruitment practices will be protected.
While a number of principles have been adopted which are specifically identified for career services professionals, the behavior outlined in these principles must be observed by all campus offices and employees in order to ensure recruitment processes that are fair and equitable to candidates and employing organizations. All areas of the campus should basically be expecting to "play by the same rules." Yet these other campus parties, most notably students and faculty, are generally not members of NACE. Thus it falls upon the career services professional to serve as an educator and advocate for these standards on his/her campus. This can bring him/her into conflict with campus members, primarily faculty and institutional advancement professionals, who would employ methods that violate our principles. It is a special challenge to convey the importance of these principles so that student and employer rights to a fair and equitable process are honored.
An employer does not contact the career services office, but instead, calls a faculty member whom the employer knows through an existing research contract. The employer explains that only one vacancy exists, and he would be very grateful if the faculty member would recommend the department’s top three students for consideration. The employer does not have time to recruit on campus and also does not want to receive numerous resumes that would consume valuable office time.
It is not uncommon for employers to contact a faculty member to request names of students as potential job candidates. While it may seem harmless to provide names, there are some potential legal and ethical pitfalls. By referring students for employment on a regular basis, the faculty member could be considered an "employment agency" for purposes of compliance with equal employment opportunity law. If the faculty member is, innocently or otherwise, referring male students only, or not referring minority students, the faculty member is open to charges of discrimination. When the faculty member refers only three candidates, and does not publicize the position to all who may be qualified, the doctrine of fairness is violated. The best course of action would be to contact the career services office so that the position can be listed for all who qualify. The faculty member could also post the position within the academic department and announce it in his/her classes.
NACE Principles for Professional Conduct Committee. "A
Faculty Guide to Ethical and Legal Standards in Student Hiring."
Kaplan, Rochelle. "What
Can a Faculty Member Say or Write?" Spotlight. June
15, 1998.
Kaplan, Rochelle. "Writing A Reference Letter." Journal of Career Planning & Employment, Winter 2000.
Employer
Principle 1. Refraining from Improper Influence
