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More on Full and Honest Disclosure: Terms of Interview

9 January, 2015 - 09:41
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Full Disclosure also pertains to providing full disclosure of the terms of the interview as well as full disclosure of the terms of employment should the search reach this point.

  • Full disclosure would include providing the job candidate with a detailed itinerary of the interview process. As we will see in the case below, some interviewers deliberately leave of certain items to create surprises.
  • Full disclosure of the nature of the job should include a detailed description of routine activities as well as non-routine possibilities. An example of a significant non-routine task would be that occasions may arise where an employee may at some point be called upon to work on a weapons project.
  • In short, the job candidate should be given, during the interview, an orientation on work responsibilities, places in which the work will be carried out, and the colleagues with whom he or she will be working.

8. Oh, by the way...

Pedro, who will graduate at the end of the current semester, is a student at a well known Hispanic serving university. He and two of his classmates are flown by Comp-Org for an interview at company headquarters. During a phone conversation with the company representative setting up the interview, he asks if there is anything he should do to prepare for the interview. The company representative answers, "No." Pedro receives a faxed itinerary of the interview it looks routine. So Pedro and his classmates board the plane and arrive at their destination, the company headquarters. The company official who meets them at the airport tells them that the first item on the interview agenda is a drug test. When Pedro objects “Why weren't we told about this before we agreed to the interview?" �he is told that if this is unacceptable to him, he can get right back on the plane because the interview is over for him.

What should Pedro do?

  • He should get on the plane. This act on the part of the interviewer violates his right of prior disclosure of the terms of the interview.
  • He should submit to the drug test. After all, he should have reasonably expected that the company would do something like this. Since whether or not he has a drug habit is highly job relevant, the company has a right to this information.
  • He should file a grievance against the company for discriminating against Hispanics.
  • Your solution....

Employers should also treat information about job candidates and employees asconfidential

In the following case, examine whether information about why a former employee with your company had been fired is or is not confidential and should or should not be included in any recommendation you write for that employee.

9. The Recommendation

A worker under your supervision has recently been fired for incompetence and repeated violations of confidentiality. Several weeks later, the worker returns to ask you for a letter of recommendation. He says you owe it to him; you fired him and he has not been able to find any work and has a family to support.

What should you do?

  1. Write the letter and withhold information about the employee being fired. While he may be a slacker, you should help him as a means of helping his family.
  2. Write the letter but include the information about the employee being fired. If you frame it properly, maybe he will get a job and be able to support his family.
  3. Refuse to write a letter. If you leave out what the prospective employer considers crucial information you may be liable for any harm this slacker causes. And you wouldn't be doing the former employee any favor in writing the letter because you would be wrong to conceal information about his being fired.
  4. Your solution....

Finally, interviewers and employers have the obligation to treat job candidates and employees with dignity. This includes respecting privacy and refraining from harassment. The following case raises interesting questions about just what constitutes harassment during an interview.

  • A recent graduate from University X, Marta has a strong and successful interview with a representative from a local, respected company. She discussed her skills, experience, and asked several perceptive questions about working conditions, job responsibilities, and benefits. The interviewer, obviously impressed, asked Marta back for a second interview with his supervisor.
  • The second interview followed a different course. The interviewer, an older man, did not ask her about her skills or experience. Instead he reminisced about his days as a college student. He talked about his children what they were studying and their career plans. He mentioned his wife in passing. Then he told Marta that the people who do well in his company are hard workers. "The strongest person," he said, "will do whatever is necessary to survive in a harsh, competitive environment." Then he looked at her hands and asked if she was single and if she still lived with her parents.
  • How should Marta answer these questions?
  • Do these questions invade Marta's privacy?
  • Do the interviewer's questions, comments, and gestures constitute sexual harassment?