On-Campus Recruiting Policies for Employers

Dear Employer,

The Staff at Fordham University Career Services would like to thank you for your interest in participating in our 2009-2010 On-Campus Recruiting Program, and for your continued interest in recruiting our students. We would like to take this opportunity to update you on our policies for on-campus recruiting supported by NACE (National Association for Colleges and Employers), which will be implemented this year.

Please feel free to review the following with your colleagues:

Employment Offers and Acceptance Policy:

The On-Campus Recruiting Program is designed to give Fordham students ample opportunity to interview with various employers and make an informed decision on their employment search. In order to give students sufficient time to complete their searches, we will ask employers to abide by the following for our 2009-2010 program:

For fall on-campus recruiting, we ask that employers making an offer on or before October 31st give students until the Thanksgiving Holiday (November 27th) to make a decision. We also ask that employers making an offer after October 31st give students until the last day of on-campus interviews (December 10th) to make a decision. The following policy also applies to all offers made via resume drops. Employers may refer to our recruiting calendar attached for on-campus recruiting dates.

For spring on-campus recruiting, we ask that employers making an offer on or before February 28th give students until the day before Easter break (April 1st) to make a decision. We also ask that employers making an offer after February 28th give students until the last day of on-campus interviews (May 6th) to make a decision. The following policy also applies to all offers made via resume drops. Employers may refer to our recruiting calendar attached for on-campus recruiting dates.

We ask that employers refrain from pressuring students on acceptances and understand the importance of letting candidates make an informed decision. Exploding offers and special incentives such as diminishing bonuses and location preference should not be held out to induce a student to accept an offer early. Pressure on students to accept early makes it difficult for us to enforce our policies against students reneging on job offers.

No Alcohol Policy in On-Campus and Off-Campus Recruiting Processes

Fordham University is a member of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), the association for human resources and career services professionals. As members, we abide by the Principles for Professional Conduct, an ethics document that serves as the framework and foundation for practices within the career planning, placement, and recruitment processes.

The Principles document tells us that serving alcohol to job candidates is inappropriate and inadvisable. The principle states "Serving alcohol should not be part of the recruitment process on or off campus. This includes receptions, dinners, company tours, etc."

That means, having an open bar, a paid bar, or holding a recruiting event in a bar is inappropriate. Given the whole notion of alcohol abuse and the problems college campuses are having with alcohol among students, serving alcohol at a reception is sending the wrong message. Further, many college students are younger than the state's drinking age, and many college campuses now have a zero-alcohol-tolerance policy in effect. Therefore, serving alcohol could be in violation of a state's law and a school's policy.

If you would like to read the Principles for Professional Conduct document in its entirety, you can find it on NACE's web site, NACEWeb, at www.naceweb.org/principles/principl.html. If you would like to read the history of why this principle is included in the Principles document, you can read an article composed by the NACE Principles for Professional Conduct Committee on NACEWeb at www.naceweb.org/about/legal98sm.html.

If you should have any questions regarding our new polices for on-campus recruiting, please feel free to contact our Career Services Office at careerplan@fordham.edu or call 718-817-4360.