Recently, the Principles for Professional Conduct Committee examined some current recruiting practices, including the "exploding offer." An exploding offer requires a student to choose a job offer within a very short amount of time or face having the offer rescinded. The Principles Committee developed the following position paper, which was approved by the NACE Board of Directors.

When the job market for graduates is robust and fast paced, some employers attempt to mitigate the effects of job market competition with recruiting practices that threaten the integrity of the recruiting process. These practices include providing giveaways (such as laptop computers) to students between the offer and the decision; providing financial incentives for accepting an offer; requiring the job offer to be accepted within a short time frame; and requiring that the offer be accepted by the beginning of the traditional recruiting season. In a number of instances-sometimes because of these practices-some students accept offers, continue their job searches, and renege on their accepted job offers once "better deals" were found.

One questionable practice is that of the "exploding job offer." Consider this real-life example:

An engineering student receives an attractive job offer at the beginning of on-campus recruiting and is given one week to accept the offer. The Principles Committee believes that the practice of exploding offers is an issue for both career services and employment professionals, as it affects their mutual customers-students. The best employment decisions (for both students and employers) are those that are made with the greatest amount of information. Students given sufficient time to gather thorough information related to all available job opportunities are more likely to make good long-term employment decisions and less likely to renege on job acceptances. By the same token, however, the committee recognizes that there are legitimate business reasons for an employer to have an offer accepted or rejected within a specific time frame.

Deliberation

The NACE Principles Committee examined the issue based on a number of basic precepts for career services and employment professionals, including the preamble to the Principles for Professional Conduct document that directs members to:

• Maintain an open and free selection of employment opportunities in an atmosphere conducive to objective thought, where job candidates can choose optimum long-term uses of their talents that are consistent with personal objectives and all relevant facts.
• Maintain a recruitment process that is fair and equitable to candidates and employing organizations.
• Support informed and responsible decision making by candidates.

The committee's opinion also drew upon several specific principles from the Principles document, including:

• Employment professionals will refrain from any practice that improperly influences and affects job acceptances. Such practices may include undue time pressure for acceptance of employment offers and encouragement of revocation of another employment offer. Employment professionals will strive to communicate decisions to candidates within the agreed-upon time frame.
• Career services professionals will provide students with information on a range of career opportunities and types of employing organizations. They will inform students of the means and resources to gain access to information, which may influence their decisions about employing organizations. Career services professionals will also provide employing organizations with accurate information about the educational institution and its students and about the recruitment policies of the career services office.

The committee also considered similar issues that were addressed in Spotlight (June 15, 1994, and May 3, 1999). According to Spotlight (June 15, 1994), "A student must be given a sufficient opportunity to consider an offer. Certainly, if the student is offered a cash incentive and is also told that he/she must accept the offer within a short time frame, then there is improper influence."

The committee decided that while cash incentives certainly influence a job decision, the short time frame in which a person must make a decision to accept or reject an offer should be considered "improper influence."

Conclusion

The NACE Board of Directors approved a recommendation by the Principles Committee that employers give students a minimum of three weeks to return a decision on a job offer. The Board and the Principles Committee understand that not all employers recruit during certain times of the year, e.g., fall semester or spring semester, and that recommending specific calendar dates would not be appropriate. The Board believes, however, that providing time frames on offers and acceptances will assist employers in planning their recruitment strategy and allow students a sufficient period of time to evaluate the employment opportunities offered to them while allowing them to participate fully during the recruiting season.

The Principles Committee recommends that employers who make job offers at the beginning of a semester consider keeping their offers open until the end of the semester so that students can fully explore other opportunities and, ultimately, make the wisest decisions for all concerned.

Reprinted from NACEWeb with permission of the National Association of Colleges and Employers, copyright holder.