Ethics & Protocols in Today's Workplace

Entering the job market enables you to market yourself in a number of important ways. Resumes, cover letters, interviews and job offers all provide opportunities for you to sell yourself to prospective employers as a person of intelligence, experience, manners, and integrity. The absence of integrity in interactions with prospective employers renders intelligence and experience mute. In your eagerness to secure a position, it is critical that you secure a foothold in your career honestly and ethically. Committing faux pas or blatant breaches of ethics or protocol may have long-term ramifications on your career, your reputation, and on The College's reputation. Job searches can raise many ethical challenges for candidates.

Fact: You increase your chances of moving to the front of the "pack" when you use resourcefulness & integrity, rather than negative competition.

It is important that you maintain:

1. Flexibility: Be willing to relocate to a new office or department or adjust your work schedule.
2. High energy: Demonstrate your ability to multi-task and meet organizational goals in a timely manner.
3. Knowledge of Organization: Research the company's mission, work environment and goals.
4. Teamwork: Illustrate your ability to move the organization forward, not just your own goals.

You are honest and ethical, right?

Take this simple quiz & test your knowledge of ethics in a job search!

1. Base your resume on your merits, not your imagination.
   Company A advertised for a bi-lingual (Spanish & English) candidate for their international office. You enjoy Spanish, taking four years in high school & two semesters at TCNJ. You haven't practiced much in years. You really want the interview with A, so you...
   1. Indicate on your resume that you are fluent in Spanish with the intention of practicing diligently in case you are invited to interview.
   2. Be honest about the degree of your proficiency in Spanish & emphasize other attributes and experiences that support your ability to do the job.
   3. Interject a few Spanish phrases in your cover letter to impress the recruiter with your language skills
   
   The answer: "2". Articulate your education, skills, and experiences in the most positive way possible. At the same time, be sure your eagerness to impress does not lead you to stray from the truth of your accomplishments. "Little white resume lies" have cause individuals to lose face, lose offers, and lose jobs. When describing your language ability, for example, do not say that you are fluent when proficient or basic knowledge is more accurate.
   
   
2. Exercise interview ethics.
   During an interview, you are asked to give an example of an experience, but you never had that exact experience. You..
   1. Make something up.
   2. Reinterpret the question to something you are more comfortable with and answer that question.
   3. Acknowledge that you have not had this experience, but offer the closest experience you have had.
   You are asked to tell why you left you're previous position. You were let go, so you...
   1. Blame the employer for making a bad decision.
   2. Skirt or dance around the subject.
   3. Explain the situation as tactfully as possible. Take responsibility for your part in it and tell what you learned from the experience.
   
   The answer to both of these: "3". Telling your employers what you think they would like to hear or what you think will get you the job is not productive for you or the employer. If they discover that you have been less than forthright, you may be eliminated from consideration. Also, people who secure an offer they obtained while being less than forthright often find that either thay are unhappy, the employer is unhappy, or both. In the end, it is non-productive.
   
   
3. Treat employers fairly.
   You are a very busy person and your calender is full of commitments! You submitted your resueme to BCD Inc. for a campus interview, but you are beginning to feel like the interview would not be a good match. You...
   1. Skip the interview if selected.
   2. If selected for an interview, meet with BCD representative just for practice.
   3. Make the best of the opportunity by researching BCD to learn more about them and ask intelligent questions during the interview.
   You have been selected for an on-campus interview and signed up for an interview time. The next day you receive a message from another organization in which you are more interested that they would like to interview you at their site on the same day as the on-campus interview. You...
   1. Skip the on-campus interview.
   2. Wait to call the off-campus recruiter until after the on-campus interview. Go to the on-campus interview.
   3. Return the recruiter's message in a timely fashion. Express genuine, professional interest and excitement and attempt to set up a different day to interview.
   
   The answer to both is "3". Once you have submitted your resume through LionsPro, it is expected that you will accept the interview if accepted. Failure to interview reflects negatively on your integrity and TCNJ.
   
   This approach allows you to keep your employment options open, allowing for an informed career decision. You may discover they offer appealing training. If not, though you should accept the first inteview, you are not required to accept any offer. When conflicts arise regarding your availability, contact The Career Center for on-campus interview or employer directly off-campus interviews. Alternate arrangements may be possible. If the employer insists on that day, see if you can work with the employer and The Career Center to manage both interviews.
   
   
4. Responding to multiple job offers.
   Two Organizations, ABC & XYZ have expressed interest in hiring you. You accepted ABC's verbal offer and your written response is expected in three days. Before you sign the contract, XYZ also makes an offer with $2,000 more in salary. You...
   1. Don't send the written response & accept XYZ's offer.
   2. After thanking ABC profusely, tell them you are no longer interested.
   3. Accept the offer at ABC and work hard; look for opportunities to learn, grow, and contribute. If you still want to work for XYZ after 2 or 3 years, reapply to them.
   
   Answer: "3". KEEP YOUR WORD! Once you have accepted an offer and signed a contract, it is unethical to continue interviewing! You should inform prospective interviewers and withdraw from remaining interviews. To accept a position, and then renege on it for a better offer, is poor form and may result in legal action against you. "It's a small world" and decision makers may learn that a candidate is interviewing after an offer has been made. To avoid this situation accept offers only after careful consideration. Think critically rather than grabbing the first offer out of fear or desperation.
   Fact: It is unethical to continue to interview after accepting an offer and/or to renege on an accepted position.
   
   
   
5. Being competitive and being ethical are not mutually exclusive.
   Just as employers are interviewing more than one candidate, you will most likely interview with more than one organizaiton. If asked by a prospective employer, it is fine to indicate other organizations with which you are interviewing. This information may be used to understand the thoroughness of your search, evaluate your knowledge of the process, and determine their competition.
   
   
6. Maintain realistic expectations and optimism in your job search
   In a strong economy, the average job search takes 6-9 months. Ideally, job seekers begin their search during fall semester prior to graduation. Resist becoming discouraged if you do not walk from your commencement ceremony to your dream job. An optimist is more attractive to prospective employers than a pessimist. Remember, the world doesn't operate on semesters.
   
   
7. Show respect to every person you encounter during your job search.
   You are interviewed by six executives and an office manager during your visit to XYZ Organization. You have finals and papers due for classes, which does not leave a lot of time to send thank you notes. You...
   1. Send a thank you letter to the Office Manager with a note asking that he make copies for the 6 executives.
   2. Send one copy to the top executive.
   3. Create one thank you letters to each executive and the Office Manager.
   
   Answer: "3". Send thank you letters to each individual with whom you interview. Be on time; better yet, arrive fifteen minutes early. Treat all members of an organization with respect - it is the right thing to do. Further, you never know when a secretary or cleaning person may have the ear of the decision makers.
   
   
8. Unethical behavior on the part of the employers is rare. However...
   You leave an on-campus interview feeling uncomfortable about some of the questions asked by the interviewer and wonder if Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) guidelines have been breached. You..
   1. Send an e-mail to the interviewer's boss to complain about the interviewer.
   2. Call or e-mail the interviewer for clarification on the questions.
   3. Discuss the situation with a Career Center counselor to get a second perspective on the situation.
   
   Answer: "3". Your career counselor is available to discuss this with you and advise appropriate action if required.

Conclusion:

We've all heard the saying "Treat others as you would expect to be treated yourself." This is the root of acting in an ethical manner. So, with this in mind, treat everyone, form the cleaning person to the chief officer of every organization in which you interact with respect. It is the correct thing to do, reflects positively on your character, and typically feels good - besides, you never know who has influence on hiring decisions today - or in your future!

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