Users Guide to the Principles for Professional Conduct
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Principles for Career Services Professionals
4. Providing comparable services to employers
"Career services professionals will provide generally comparable services to all employers, regardless of whether the employers contribute services, gifts, or financial support to the educational institution or office and regardless of the level of such support." (See Employer Principle 4)
Intent / Rationale / Scenario/Resolution / Resources
Students will have access to employers of all types, including those that might otherwise be precluded from participating or being presented in a fashion that they fail to garner student attention.
RationaleThe basis of this principle is fairness. The career services professional allows all bona fide employers to compete for students on a reasonably equal basis. Employers with greater resources can conduct recruiting activities in a more extensive fashion; however, success in attracting candidates or in advancing the organization's name should be the result of the quality of the recruiting effort, not from special favors granted by the career center.
Scenario/ResolutionScenario A: An employer sends a letter to a career services professional indicating that for every referred student who is hired and works a certain number of hours, the career center will receive a bonus.
Resolution: It may come as a surprise, but the employer’s offer is not totally inappropriate. Many employers provide contributions to schools—some directly to career centers, others to specific academic departments. Typically, however, contributions are made on a yearly basis, after the recruiting year ends. Some companies base contributions on the number of students hired, while others make a general contribution. Most employers do not tell career services practitioners that the level of the contribution will depend on the length of time the new hires remain with the employer.
However, while accepting a placement fee does not mean that the employer will receive special treatment, it raises the appearance of that possibility, i.e., it presents a potential for a conflict of interest. Look at the scenario from the standpoint of other employers: is one company getting more or better candidates than my company because my employer won’t pay a referral fee?
One of the career services professional's fundamental obligations is to "maintain an open and free selection of employment opportunities...where job candidates can choose optimum long-term uses of their talents that are consistent with personal objectives and all relevant facts." Students regard a career center as a student service, i.e., it is operating with the student's best interests in mind. Students who are referred to the organization in the scenario may question whether they have been sold out to the highest bidder. They may ask whether they were referred because the company and the job was a good fit or simply because the career center wanted the bonus.
When offered a fee for special services, the Principles Committee recommends that the career services director inform the organization, in writing, that based on the Principles document, accepting fees for individual placements places center staff in a situation where there is the appearance of a potential conflict of interest. The director can emphasize that the career center will continue to work with the company to make successful referrals, and can thank the employer for contributions to the school as evidence of the organization’s overall support of the college.
Scenario B: An employer that annually contributes money to the institution requests that the career services office provide a priority recruiting schedule.
Resolution: In this case the employer is not linking contributions directly to an outcome, i.e., successful referrals. Indeed, the employer may not even have mentioned the fact that his/her organization has been a regular contributor to the school. So at face value, the employer is doing nothing wrong by asking for a priority schedule. However, if the employer alludes to that contribution in the request, one interpretation could be that funding will dry up if special treatment is not provided. This may be seen as coercion. Or if the employer provides contributions with the expectation, explicit or otherwise, that special treatment will ensue, he/she is walking on the unsteady ethical ground of bribery.
One prominent theory of ethics states that actions are ethical if they lead to the greatest amount of benefit for all affected. From this perspective one might support the decision of a career center to grant the employer's special request. It would appear at first glance that nobody would be harmed, and that a considerable good could result. The money the school receives from the institution could certainly benefit many people. Moreover, the employer presumably wants to hire students, and by granting the favor the career center would be increasing the likelihood of that taking place. However, what can be said about the effect on other employers who want to hire students but do not have the resources to contribute to the institution? Are they not harmed by not receiving the same treatment? The answer is:
Even if there is no harm to the other employers, what about fairness? The underlying "morality" of our economic system is that of free competition. Ostensibly, those who work the hardest, are the most ingenious, and do the best job should be the most successful. According to our notion of fairness (justice), that is proper. And the result should be the most benefit to society as a whole, as it is receiving the best products and services. Applied to recruiting, employers may compete fairly with each other for the best candidates, and they are both entitled and encouraged to use the most effective, ethical methods at their disposal. However, if an organization's success in recruiting is due to buying special favors, then competence and hard work have not been rewarded. That is unfair.
From a career center's perspective, there may be no harm in granting special favors such as priority schedules to organizations that make contributions to the institution. Moreover, when gifts are received, even if there is no expectation of reciprocation, there is a subtle understanding that there is a bottom line for the employer, i.e., maintaining or enhancing its relationship with the school, and, in the employer's mind, the school fully understands that. That concept is even strong, one could argue, if the school solicited the contributions. However, where does this stop? What favors are appropriate, which are not? Is one not in danger of creating an environment where student interests are subordinated to the institution's desire for research money or new equipment for the career center? While this may seem a bit far fetched, there is a real risk of losing sight of the primary objective, i.e., serving student needs.
In conclusion, it is recommended that requests for priority schedules or other favors be evaluated on their merit, not on what the organization has given the institution. The career services professional should ask three questions:
(1) Would it grant this request for any "legitimate" organization that was recruiting at the school?
(2) Can granting a special favor be supported if challenged as unfair by organizations who would not receive this favor?
(3) Is the career center putting itself in a real or potential conflict of interest by granting this request?
If the career center would not grant this favor to any organization, and it must answer "yes" to either questions two or three, it should strongly consider turning down the request. Instead, it should explain to the employer that in keeping with the Principles document, i.e., the principle of providing comparable services, it cannot grant this request. At the same time, it would be happy to work with the organization to identify the best ways of maximizing the effectiveness of its recruiting efforts.
In doing so, the career services professional removes him/herself from a potential conflict of interest. A conflict of interest exists when an individual has a personal interest in a business transaction that might lead him/her to act against the best interests of his/her employing organization. If a career services practitioner provides special treatment to employers who make special contributions, the practitioner risks ignoring his/her primary responsibility to maintain a fair and equitable recruitment process and to support informed and responsible decision making by candidates.
"The Commercialization of Career Centers: Ethical Consideration for Practitioners." Journal of Career Planning and Employment, Winter 2001.Kaplan, Rochelle. "What to Say to a Firm Offering Third-Party Alumni Career Services." Spotlight, February 1, 1995.
Principle 5. Establishing
guidelines for access to services by employers
