Industrial and Organizational Psychology Analysis

Deanna Schwarz

Applying I/O #1

3/1/13

Career Fair Recruitment: What is Ethical?

The Career Fair is a very exciting time at university. Undergrads and recent graduates all flock to the career center in hopes to obtain a job or internship to solidify their place in the unstable work force. Like all the jittery first timers, I walked into the Career Fair with a game plan of the order in which I wanted to visit companies, saving the most intimidating for last. I visited Target and got an interview on the spot, so with a slightly swelled head I attempted a more intimidating company, General Electric. There I was summarily dismissed and insulted for wasting their time due to my lack of experience.

I was a little disheartened after this and was walking to the ‘student lounge’ area for a bottle of water when I met eyes with an Apple recruiter. Apple was the last on my list of visits and thus in my head, the most intimidating and lofty of my stops. To my surprise, I recognized one of their recruiters. We attended the same high school, and hadn’t seen each other in 8 years. I thought I might have gotten lucky so I took a deep breath and dared to deviate from my schedule. When it was my turn to speak with him, I extended my hand for the traditional greeting but was surprised when he wrapped me in a very tight hug. My first thought was is this acceptable behavior in a professional setting? I was sure it wasn’t okay to show preferential treatment openly to a recruit, especially in such a competitive, open setting. I immediately felt dozens of eyes burning into my back, with either jealousy or judgment.

The conversation was easier than it should have been (for which I was grateful), and the research I did on Apple impressed the recruiter. I knew exactly which positions I was applying for, which happen to be low in popularity for Apple. My friend asked the other recruiters to spend some time speaking with me, so I was able to spend an entire hour talking to my top...