Playing Fair—Your Rights and Responsibilities as a Job Seeker
by the National Association of Colleges and Employers
Principles for Professional Conduct Committee
Choosing and attaining meaningful post-graduation employment is an important
challenge for college students. To aid this process, your career center
and employers develop connections and programs, such as on-campus recruiting,
resume referral services, and job fairs, in which you and your fellow
students are active participants. In order for this process to be successful,
everyone involved must work together. NACE's Principles for Professional
Conduct provide guidelines for that process in order to guarantee:
- that students can openly, freely, and objectively select employment opportunities, making these choices based on their assessment of the best use of their abilities, their personal goals, and other pertinent facts;
- a recruitment process that is fair and equitable to students and employers alike;
- support for informed and responsible decision making by students.
Here's What You Can Reasonably Expect From Your Career Center...
1. Confidentiality.
Career staffs are expected to exercise sound judgment and fairness in
maintaining the confidentiality of student information, regardless of
the source, including written records, reports, and computer data bases.
Disclosure of student information outside the college/university should
only be made with your prior consent unless health and safety considerations
necessitate the distribution of such information.
2. Freedom of choice.
You're entitled to be assisted by the career staff in developing a career
plan and making career decisions without having staff members' biases
or personal values imposed upon you.
3. Access to all services and events.
Career centers may charge students for registering or taking part in certain
services or events. Such fees should be sufficiently nominal so as not
to hinder you from participating.
4. Access to career information.
All students, regardless of personal or educational background, should
be provided by career staffs with equal and full access to information
on career opportunities and types of employing organizations. Career staffs
are also expected to inform you how and where to obtain information which
may influence your decisions about an employing organization.
5. Testing information.
Career staffs should inform you of the availability of testing, the purpose
of the tests, and the disclosure policies regarding test results.
...And From Employers
1. Confidentiality.
Employers are expected to maintain the confidentiality of student information,
regardless of the source, including personal knowledge, written records/reports,
and computer data bases. An employer shouldn't disclose information about
you to another organization without your prior written consent, unless
necessitated by health and/or safety considerations.
2. Accurate information.
Employers are expected to provide accurate information about their organizations
and employment opportunities. This includes, but is not limited to, positions
available, responsibilities, career advancement opportunities, and benefits.
3. Freedom from undue pressure.
Employers are expected to provide you with a reasonable amount of time
to make a decision about accepting an employment offer.
They are also expected to provide you with
a reasonable process for making your decision. An unreasonable process,
for example, is one in which the student is told that the offer is good
for a set amount of time; unbeknownst to the student, the same offer has
been made to others—and the student who accepts first gets the job.
In addition, it is improper for employers
to pressure you to revoke your acceptance of another job offer.
4. Timely communication.
Employers are expected to inform you of your status in the hiring process
and communicate hiring decisions within the agreed-upon time frame.
5. Fair treatment.
If an employer is required by changing conditions to revoke a job offer
that you've accepted, you're entitled to a fair and equitable course of
action. That can include, but is not limited to, financial assistance
and outplacement service.
6. Testing information.
Employers should inform you in advance of any testing, the purpose of
the tests, and their policies regarding disclosure of test results.
7. Nondiscrimination.
Employers are expected to avoid discrimination in their recruitment activities
and to follow equal employment opportunity and affirmative action principles.
What's Your Part in This?
1. Provide accurate information about your academic work and records,
including courses taken, grades, positions held, and duties performed.
You can, however, refuse to provide an employer with specific information
about any job offers you may have received from other employers. You do
not have to name the organizations that have made you offers, nor do you
have to provide specific information about what salaries you've discussed
with those organizations. Instead, you can give broad responses to such
questions, naming types of employers—"I've interviewed with employers
in the retail industry"—and offering salary ranges rather than
specific dollar amounts—"The salary offers I've received have
been in the $30,000 to $35,000 range." Incidentally, it's in you best
interest to research salaries and to let employers know that you have
done so.
2. Interview genuinely.
That means interviewing only with employers you are sincerely interested
in working for and whose eligibility requirements you meet. "Practice"
interviewing is misleading to employers—wasting both their time and
money—and prevents sincerely interested candidates from using those
interview slots.
3. Adhere to schedules.
Appear for all interviews, on campus and elsewhere, unless unforeseeable
events prevent you from doing so. And, if you can't make the interview
because of an unforeseeable event, notify your career center or the employer
at the earliest possible moment.
4. Don't keep employers hanging.
Communicate your acceptance or refusal of a job offer to employers as
promptly as possible, so they can notify other candidates that they are
still being considered or that the position is filled.
5. Accept a job offer in good faith.
When you an accept an offer, you should have every intention of honoring
that commitment. Accepting an offer only as a precautionary measure is
misleading to the employer and may restrict opportunities for others who
are genuinely interested in that employer.
6. Withdraw from recruiting when your job search is completed.
If you accept an offer or decide that full-time graduate or professional
studies are for you, notify your career center and withdraw from the on-campus
recruiting process immediately. And, let employers that are actively considering
you for a job know that you are now out of the running.
By informing everyone that you've got a
job or are headed to graduate school, you not only get the chance to brag
but also to help your friends who are trying to get on interview schedules
or who are being considered for positions.
7. Claim fair reimbursement.
If an employer has agreed to reimburse you for expenses you incur in its
recruitment process, your request should be only for reasonable and legitimate
expenses.
8. Obtain the career information you need to make an informed choice
about your future.
It's up to you to acquire the information about career opportunities,
organizations, and any other information that might influence your decisions
about an employing organization.
9. Any information you post on the web is considered public information, including your personal web site, a blog, or personal information posted on a social networking site. Of course, any public information could be used to evaluate your suitability for employment. It's best to review a site's privacy policy before publishing any personal information. Make sure you know who will have access to your information (and under what circumstances) and whether you can remove information or photos at a later date.
This article appears in Planning Job Choices: 2000. Reviewed and updated
May 2006.
