(NACE) Alcohol Policy

The Executive Committee of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) turned over the issue of whether alcohol should be served during the recruiting process, including on and off campus receptions, dinners, etcetera.

The Principles Committee was asked to consider:

• How does the alcohol issue fit into the Principles of Professional Behavior document?
• Is it ethical to serve alcohol to students at a recruiting function?
• What does the Principle Committee recommend to employers?

By the end of a detailed discussion, committee members concluded that alcohol should NOT be a part of the recruiting process.

In the employer’s portion of the ethics document, employers are ‘strongly discouraged’ from serving alcohol as part of the recruitment process. Further, if an employer chooses to serve alcoholic drinks, the ethics document recommends that the amount be limited and handled in accordance with the law, with the college’s policies, and with the employer’s policies.

The committee concluded that it is wrong to require students, either implicitly or explicitly, to attend a social event where alcohol is served in order to obtain company information or be considered for an interview. A company that requires a job candidate to endure a situation that has nothing to do with the actual position for which he or she is interested in goes against the principle of “a recruitment process that is fair and equitable to candidates.”

The committee said recruiters should be concerned about the message given by the company to students if an entire evening is spent at the bar with job candidates. The committee urged employers to leave alcohol out of the recruiting equation by refraining from ordering alcohol themselves, even wine with dinner, if students are present.

If the employer is using the reception to test a job candidate’s ability to handle alcoholic beverages at a work related function or other social skills, the employer should check with the organization’s legal counsel concerning any discriminatory impact such selection criteria might have and whether the ability to drink alcohol is a job-related criterion. A student should be told it is acceptable to order a soft drink instead. Students who do drink should be advised that the reception is a professional function and they should not treat it as a party.