Faculty Referrals: Minefield or Opportunity?
Spring recruiting is in full swing, bringing with it the unique legal and
ethical implications that colleges and universities must be aware of when
faculty members refer students for employment.
Faculty, administrators, and career services professionals must navigate
safely through the minefield of employment discrimination laws while
providing opportunities, such as a career network and additional resources
for students to access employment opportunities, says General Counsel
Shelly Kaplan of NACE (National Council of Colleges and Employers).
“There is no question that students look to their faculty to provide
guidance,” says Kaplan, who discussed the legal and ethical issues
surrounding faculty referrals during a recent NACE virtual seminar. “These
are the people with whom students have interacted most closely for the past
four years.”
Consequently, in the roles of adviser, resource, reference, referral source,
and job source, faculty members talk to employers, refer students, and give
references. However, the legal and ethical issues surrounding faculty
members’ involvement in the student job search must be considered.
Career services should have the institution’s legal counsel review how the
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws impact the referral process. These
laws guarantee the right of all persons to apply for and be evaluated for
job opportunities (hire, promotion, and transfer) without regard to their
race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, mental or physical
disability, or veteran’s status.
Employers, unions, and employment agencies must all comply with EEO laws.
However, “employment agency” is defined as an individual or organization
that regularly refers individuals for employment.
“Under the law, the definition is broader than you would normally consider,”
Kaplan says. “These are not just businesses that are referring students, but
also individuals. This means you may not discriminate against any students
in your referrals.”
While Kaplan strongly discourages administration, faculty, and career
services from selecting or referring specific students for employers to
interview, those who do so should first discuss their referral practices
with the legal counsel to ensure that they are referring students in a
nondiscriminatory basis.
However, ethics also play a part in the referral process. Kaplan cited
NACE’s Principles for Professional Conduct for ethical considerations.
Kaplan said faculty referring students should notify students that have
declared an interest in positions and encourage them to apply, post the
position in their department and announce in their classes, advise those
organizations that represent minority students of the job posting, provide
reference-not selection, and partner with the university career center to
provide full resources to students.
Before providing references, career services should be familiar with the
Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and defamation issues, in
order to give students objective evaluations of skills and abilities, and
job-related information to employers upon request.
Kaplan offered the following 10 tips for providing references.
- Obtain written permission from the student.
- Discuss your reference with the student.
- Provide only information based upon firsthand knowledge.
- Avoid personal matters.
- Nothing is “off the record” or “confidential.”
- E-mail is no different than any other form of written communication.
- Base personal opinions on fact; don’t guess or speculate.
- Respond to the specific inquiry regarding the student’s ability to do the job.
- Follow your institution’s policies regarding references letters.
- If you need to change or withdraw the reference, advise the student.
From NACE Journal, 2004