Principles of professional conduct

The mission of Lehigh’s Center for Career & Professional Development is to provide career education and employer partner connections that support student success in their career journey. We fulfill this mission with a focus on students and a commitment to their ethical and professional growth as individuals and future employees. As such, we expect students and employer partners to adhere to certain policies and responsibilities that promote ethics and professionalism in the recruiting and job search process.

Principles for Professional Conduct

Career services and employment professionals are involved in an important process: helping students choose and attain personally rewarding careers while assisting employers in developing an effective college relations program that contributes to effective candidate selections for their organizations. These processes require commitment from employer partners and students, alike, to follow principles for professional conduct.

These principles are intended to serve as a framework within which the career planning and recruitment processes should function and as a foundation upon which professionalism can be promoted. Lehigh’s CCPD Office is dedicated to:

• Maintaining an open and free selection of employment opportunities in an atmosphere conducive to objective judgement;

• Maintaining a recruitment process that is fair and equitable to candidates and employing organizations;

• Supporting informed and responsible decision making by candidates.

Section A - Employer’s Principles

1. Be responsible for the ethical, legal, and professional conduct of your organization’s representatives throughout the recruiting process.

2. Use qualified, informed, and trained interviewers who abide by professionally accepted recruiting, interviewing, and selection techniques. These individuals should maintain equal employment opportunity (EEO) compliance, follow affirmative action principles in recruiting activities and offer practices as specified in:

   • NACE Principles for Ethical Professional Practice

   • Lehigh University Non-Discrimination Statement and Title IX Notice of Non-Discrimination

   • Title IX 

   • Policy on Harassment and Non-Discrimination 

   • US Department of Labor

   • PA Department of Labor and Industry

   • US Department of Labor Internship Fact Sheet

   • NACE Internship Criteria

3. Make a full and accurate presentation of your organization, employment opportunities, and any other relevant information during the recruiting process.

4. Maintain the confidentiality of student and alumni information shared in the recruitment process. Sharing information regarding a candidate with another company or third party organization is not permissible unless the company receives prior written consent from the candidate. 

5. Cooperate with the policies and procedures of the CCPD Office. This includes honoring scheduling arrangements and recruitment commitments, notifying the department of all job offers and final acceptances, and honoring all employment offers that are accepted as a contractual agreement.

6. Respect the legal obligations of CCPD and request only those services or information that legally can be provided.

7. Advise CCPD of all recruiting-related activities not conducted through that office.

8. Reimburse student expenses that are incurred on plant/office visits.

Section B - Student’s Principles

1. Honor CCPD policies and procedures.

2. Prepare for the job search and interview processes; research companies and accurately present qualifications and interests.

3. Request interviews only when genuinely interested in the position for which the organization is interviewing.

4. Follow the interview process steps and adhere to the interview schedule .

5. Notify organizations of the acceptance or rejection of offers by the earliest possible time and no later than the time mutually agreed upon.

6. Honor an accepted offer as a contractual agreement. Once an offer has been accepted, withdraw from the recruiting process and notify CCPD, as well as other employers that have extended offers.

   1. Reneging on a job or internship offer (failing to fulfill the obligation made to an employer after accepting their job/internship offer) is never permitted, sanctioned, or condoned by CCPD.  Reneging on an internship and/or job offer is a serious violation of CCPD’s Principles of Professional Conduct and will result in immediate suspension of all recruiting privileges and the student’s Handshake account being deactivated.  Students who violate this policy will be required to meet with a representative from CCPD.  Future recruiting privileges will be determined pending the outcome of that meeting.

   2. Reneging implications with CCPD:

      1. If a student reneges on an internship or  full-time offer, the  student will be suspended from using Handshake and any alumni services provided by CCPD until the issue is resolved. In order to resolve the situation the student will need to complete the following:

         • Meet with a representative of CCPD and

         • Write a letter of apology to the employer for your actions and copy the CCPD representative 

7. Expect reimbursement of expenses incurred during plant/office visits only for those expenditures pertinent to the trip.

8. Notify CCPD of post-graduate plans including offers and acceptances, graduate school choice, etc.

These principles have been reprinted with the permission of the National Association of Colleges and Employers, copyright holder.