Career Development Center

Professional Conduct

The following principles are intended to provide a framework for the professional relationships among the colleges and universities, employing organizations and candidates involved in the recruitment of college graduates.

Colleges
Career development practitioners are responsible for establishing and monitoring practices which ensure the fair and accurate representation of students and the institution in the recruitment process.

Career development practitioners should promote and follow nondiscriminatory practices.

If the charging of fees for career services becomes necessary, such fees shall be appropriate to the budgetary needs of the office and shall not hinder student or employer access to services. Career development practitioners are encouraged to counsel student and university organizations engaged in recruitment activities to follow this principle.

The candidate's freedom of choice in the selection of a career or a position should be protected from undue influence by faculty, career development staff, and recruiters.

Career development practitioners should inform students of obligations, both financial and otherwise, when utilizing the services of agencies or other organizations performing recruiting services for a fee.

Recruiting Organizations
Organizations are responsible for the ethical and legal conduct of their representatives throughout the recruiting process and must assume responsibility for all representations made by authorized representatives.

Recruiters should be qualified interviewers and informed representatives of their organization and should respect the legal obligations of career planning and placement offices and request only those services and information that legally can be provided.

Recruiters should honor the policies and procedures of individual institutions and should refrain from any practice that adversely affects the interviewing and decision-making processes.

Recruiters should make a full and accurate presentation of all relevant information during the recruiting process and should advise the career development center of all recruiting related activities not conducted through that office.

An employment offer that is accepted is a contractual agreement that is expected to be honored.

Candidates
Candidates should honor the policies and procedures of their institutions and should adequately prepare for the interviewing process and accurately present their qualifications and interests.

Candidates should sign up for interviews only when seriously considering the position for which the organization is interviewing and should notify the career development center if they must cancel an interview appointment and the employer if they must cancel a plant/office trip.

Candidates are responsible for notifying organizations of their acceptance or rejection of offers by the earliest possible time and no later than the time mutually agreed upon.

Reimbursements for visits at an organization's expense should be only for those reasonable expenditures pertinent to the trip. If other organizations are visited on the same trip, the candidate should inform the organizations and prorate the costs.

An accepted offer is a contractual agreement that is expected to be honored. After accepting an offer, candidates should withdraw from the interviewing process and notify the career development center and other organizations with offers pending.

© The National Association of Colleges and Employers