Spotlight Online for College Employment and Recruiting Professionals, October 29, 2008

Here’s the scenario: An upper-management type at your company calls you to tell you that her son is in the market for a summer internship. Although his major isn’t in line with your need, the manager assures you that the son is a hard worker and a quick learner. You have been down this road before when it comes to intern referrals at your company. You feel forced into assigning one of your valuable internship spots to a student more interested in getting some copy on his resume than in gaining key experience and contributing to your organization while evaluating it as a possible career destination. How do you handle this situation?

That’s the question NACE posed to members of its RecruitTalk listserv. For some staffing professionals, such as those at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, relative referrals are not permitted.

“Because of the advocacy issue, we instituted a policy prohibiting the hiring of relatives for noncompetitive positions, such as internships,” says Mike Mrozowski, the commission’s chief of recruitment and development branch of the human resources division. “However, we do provide referral services, as well as advice and counseling on employment issues—searches, interviewing tips, resume reviews, and more—to relatives of our employees.”

For other professionals, early communication and established policies and procedures that address referrals to the internship program have been the most effective approaches.

Cathy Nugent, of strategic staffing and university relations at Hannaford Bros., says that during the intern budget planning stage she has a candid conversation with senior leaders who are the key stakeholders of the college recruiting program so everyone is clear about the expectations about referring relatives to the program.

“I explain the implications of simply placing a relative into a role without going through a screening process, especially when the fit is not great,” Nugent says. “I explain [several] points, and leaders tend to see the logic and agree to follow the recruiting process.”

The points, she says, are as follows:

• Other interns soon realize the situation and tend not to create relationships with the intern who has a relative at the organization, causing that intern to suffer socially.
  
  
• Word sometimes gets back to campus about relatives via other interns, so a negative buzz could spread that affects the efforts of the campus recruiting team.
  
  
• Intern recruiting fills the talent pipeline, so a bad fit is a waste of money and time.
  
  
• Managers who have been “assigned” an intern who has a relative at the organization may develop a negative view of the internship program.

“Also, I have seen managers spend energy 'competing' with each other to see who has the power to get his/her kid placed, so the intern program can turn political and lose its impact,” Nugent adds. “I find that addressing this issue early on helps to minimize this.”

Everyone who is interested in an internship with Colorado Springs Utilities has to apply for it, no matter who the interested party is related to. Internships are posted on the department’s site like regular jobs, and when the posting closes, human resources screens for qualifications.  

“If the applicant does not meet the qualifications, he or she is not referred,” says Jose Hernandez, staffing specialist with Colorado Springs Utilities’ HR workforce planning. “Our hiring authorities can request applications we did not refer, but if a person who does not meet qualifications is hired, we will ask why this person was chosen. We review all interview questions and matrices used to interview to make sure the process is fair and defensible.”

If an intern with a relative is hired, Colorado Springs Utilities has a nepotism policy stating that relatives cannot work in the same groups or any group where there is a chance one relative can supervise another.

“If a relative refers someone for an internship in another group and the person meets all qualifications and the hiring process was good, there isn't a problem as far as HR is concerned,” Hernandez adds.

Another staffing professional who requested anonymity says that she frequently receives referrals.

“We have worked very hard to be consistent and ask people to follow the process, [that potential interns] express their interest to interview on campus at one of the universities we recruit at or one of the many recruiting conferences we attend,” she says. “We cannot prevent people from circumventing this, and many do try to find their way up through a hiring manager or higher level manager. I have always taken the stance of compliance and fairness in order to stand my ground.”

Still, she adds, no matter how interns get into the interview pool, they are still required to go through the same interview and rating calibration as all of the organization’s candidates. If they do not come out with a high enough rating, they will not be considered no matter who they know.

“I have actually had to tell some fairly high-level executives that we were not going to extend offers to their relatives because they did not meet the standards we were looking for,” she says. “Most have understood and it has helped to have clear selection criteria to explain why we made our decision.”

She points out that while her company has an employee referral program for experienced hires, it does not have a referral program for interns or college hires.

“It would be too easy for someone to say a candidate they met on campus happens to be a friend,” she explains.

Dan Alexander, director of talent and development at Glazers, says that senior executives often assume that their children or children's friends will make great interns.

“While it’s true in most cases, those cases where it’s not make for very difficult circumstances,” he explains. “Whenever we receive one of those referrals, we reply back reminding the referring executive of our criteria and thanking him or her for the referral.”

If human resources elects to not move forward, as a courtesy, a staff member will advise the referring executive of the decision.

“We keep the reasons as vague as possible to protect the intern candidate,” Alexander explains. “Occasionally, an executive will seek to circumvent the process and push the intern candidate forward, but strong support from our HR leadership team usually protects the integrity of the process. So we always provide visibility to our senior HR executives when an executive referral candidate enters our intern candidate pool.”

He says the most successful approach has been to have clear intern requirements and a well-defined process, and to educate executives about the risks incurred when the company circumvents or disregards those established guidelines and procedures.

ICAP North America guarantees at least a final-round, in-person interview for any referral. The company’s process is three steps: application, phone interview, and face-to-face assessments.

“After this, we provide feedback to the individual referring the candidate and let him or her know our decision,” says Stephanie Foley, ICAP North America’s human resources manager. “We've had to reject the CEO's relatives and it's not fun, but as long as we are systematic about our evaluation process, the outcomes are accepted.”