CACEE Ethical Recruitment Guidelines

This document sets out guidelines for ethical recruitment at post-secondary educational institutions. These guidelines are intended to provide a framework for the professional relationships between employers, students, third party recruiters and career educators. The guidelines are based on industry research, have been generally agreed upon by employers and educators, and are advocated by CACEE for national implementation.

Employers

It is the employer's responsibility to:

• Comply with all relevant federal and provincial legislation as well as to follow federal and provincial privacy regulations.

Information Sessions:

Guideline:

• Information sessions will ideally begin no earlier than the first Monday following Labour Day, but employers can request earlier dates to support their recruitment process.

Interviews:

• Advise students of any compensation for site or interview visits to employer or off campus locations.
• Keep students updated on their status during the interview process.

Guideline:

• On-campus and off-campus interviews will ideally begin no earlier than the first business day in October, but employers may request earlier interviews to support their recruitment process.

Job Offers:

• Provide a reasonable amount of time (five to ten business days is recommended) for students to respond to job offers.

Guideline:

• Full-time job offers to students attracted via on-campus recruitment will have a reasonable amount of time for an acceptance deadline which is suggested to be at least 5 to 10 business days, however shorter timelines are anticipated within specific industry sectors, including, but not limited to capital markets and consulting.

Students

It is the student’s responsibility to:

• Comply with all relevant federal and provincial legislation.
• Provide accurate and appropriate information on resumes, application forms and in interviews.

Interviews:

• Prepare for the interview.
• Notify the career centre well in advance if interviews must be rescheduled or cancelled.
• Acknowledge invitations for site visits or second interviews promptlywhether accepted or rejected.
• Notify employers well in advance if site visits or second interviewsmust be postponed or cancelled.
• Accept interview invitations (second and subsequent) only when seriously considering a position with the employer.

Job Offers:

• Discuss offers with employers to verify terms and reach mutuallyacceptable responses.
• Respond to every offer whether it is to be accepted or rejected.
• Notify employers of acceptance or rejection of an offer as soon as adecision is made.
• Notify the career centre immediately upon confirmation of a job acceptance to withdraw from the recruitment process.
• Honour the acceptance of the offer as it is a contractual agreement with the employer.

Career Educators

It is the career educators' responsibility to:

• Comply with all relevant federal & provincial legislation as well as to follow federal and provincial privacy regulations.

Interviews: 

• Accommodate employer’s reasonable requests for interview times and space when available.
• Interview rooms should be assigned on a first come, first served basis.
• Ensure that students have a reasonable amount of time from the start of the school year to prepare for the on campus recruitment process prior to the commencement of interviews.

Other:

• Follow relevant federal and provincial privacy regulations as well as legal and ethical guidelines in providing student information to employers.
• It is the Career Educator’s responsibility to address any questionable recruitment practices.

Third Party Recruiters

Third party recruiters are agencies, organizations or individuals recruiting students for employment opportunities with other organizations.

The following guidelines for third party recruiters have been established to best meet the needs of students, employers and career educators.

• No direct referrals will be made for vacancies listed by third party recruiters without posting and/or contacting candidates with the information relating to the position.
• Third party recruiters will be asked to identify their employer clients; career educators will treat this information as confidential.
• Candidates' resumes must not be held in the files of the third party recruiter for later referral to other positions unless authorized by the candidate.

Guidelines Management:

• When scheduling on-campus recruitment activities, both employers and career educators should respect dates of religious and cultural significance.
• Guidelines should be determined and managed locally.
• Penalties for non-compliance should be:
  • determined locally;
  • have local jurisdiction, be relative in severity to the associated infraction.
  • clearly indicated to employers, well in advance of the recruitment season.

In the event of an unresolved dispute between parties engaged in on-campus recruitment, CACEE members are invited to refer the matter, and any identified penalties, to the CACEE Ethics Committee for review and recommendation via the CACEE website at www.cacee.com.