Recruiting Policies

Nondiscrimination | First-Year Recruiting Period | Offers | Adverse Actions to Offers | Grade Nondisclosure Policy

Nondiscrimination
To interview at The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, prospective employers of students or alumni from Chicago GSB must evaluate candidates without consideration of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, or veteran status.

First-Year Recruiting Period
First-year recruiting should not be held before the recruiting period begins.  We ask that first-year students have a window of academic acclimation and an opportunity to learn about myriad career paths before recruiting begins.  We ask that no internship interviewing take place on or off campus before the on-campus recruiting period begins. This policy gives employers equal access to qualified candidates, gives students equal access to interesting positions, allows students to participate in our entire job search preparatory program, and protects students from making premature commitments that undermine the integrity of the job search process for all participants.

Offers
A company's decision to hire an employee is an important one, requiring an assessment of a candidate's skills and fit with an organization. From a candidate's perspective, the decision to accept an offer requires a great deal of thought as he/she assesses fit with the organization, balances personal goals, and evaluates other employment opportunities. To balance the needs of both students and employers, the Chicago GSB has established the following guidelines for companies:

• Employers making offers to Chicago GSB students must give students a reasonable amount of time to make a decision.
• Reply dates must not preempt a student's ability to participate in on-campus recruiting.
• As a guideline, we recommend that students considering full-time offers be given 30 days to make a decision. For students considering intern offers, we recommend 20 to 30 days. Decision timeframes must not preempt a student's ability to participate in on-campus recruiting.
• We realize that for summer interns, as the summer approaches, response times can be legitimately curtailed, but we ask employers to continue to give students adequate time to truly consider a decision. Issuing offers which explode without a reasonable consideration period violates the spirit and intent of these guidelines.

If a student feels that the amount of time is not sufficient for him/her to make a decision, the student should communicate to the firm how much time is required and why the time is needed. When asked by either the student or the firm, we will attempt to facilitate and find a mutually agreeable time frame.

Adverse Actions to Offers of Employment and to the Recruiting Process
Chicago GSB has a Full Disclosure Policy with respect to adverse actions taken by employers, such as rescinded offers, postponement of start dates, etc. This policy also applies to offer and recruiting guidelines. Our objective is to provide information that may be relevant for students when making recruiting and/or employment decisions.

In adopting this policy, the GSB has decided against a sanctions approach, recognizing that penalizing employers stands to 1) hurt alumni who are employed by these firms, and 2) reduce potentially valuable employment opportunities for current and future students. The GSB has also decided against a laissez-faire approach about adverse actions for two reasons.

1. The Full Disclosure Policy is consistent with the GSB's efforts to support our students in their job searches. Knowing that a firm did not honor the terms of an offer to one of our students gives all students more complete information to incorporate into their decision-making process.
2. By collecting and evaluating such information, Career Services is better able to engage employers in constructive dialogues about hiring GSB students and alumni. Indeed, when adverse actions have been reported to Career Services, in some cases the school has been able to work with employers and students to reach a mutually-satisfactory solution. Career Services also asks corporate partners who may take an adverse action to inform the school beforehand and to minimize the consequences for our students. Such actions have served to create goodwill between parties.

The GSB encourages students to report actions that may be within this set to Career Services. GSB policy is to communicate with that employer about the matter, assess the facts from both perspectives, and attempt to resolve the actual case of adverse action. The GSB posts on its web site for three years adverse actions that are not resolved.

Furthermore, we request that employers notify Career Services of any students who have accepted more than one job offer or are continuing to search for positions after accepting an offer. Such behavior may be a violation of the GSB's Standards of Scholarship and Professionalism, which govern student behavior.

Identified Adverse Actions
Chicago GSB considers the following to be adverse actions:

• A commitment (e.g., verbal offer) which is withdrawn
• An offer which is withdrawn before the student has accepted or declined
• An accepted offer which is rescinded
• An offer which is not accompanied by a reasonable amount of time to make a decision, i.e., an "exploding offer"
• A summer internship which is truncated (shortened internship duration from original offer)
• A delayed start date (start date pushed back from originally agreed-upon start date)
• A significant change to an agreed upon offer, such as salary or location
• An internship interview and/or offer initiated by the firm before the start of the first-year recruiting period

Grade Nondisclosure Policy

In 2001, full-time MBA students in the Class of 2002 adopted a policy of grade nondisclosure. Current full-time students have not taken the required actions to reverse the policy, and hence most students in these classes take the view that the policy is in effect.

However, the grade nondisclosure policy is not an official policy of Chicago GSB. The school, its faculty, and its staff neither monitor student behavior nor enforce the policy in any way.

According to the policy initiated by students in the Full-Time MBA Program:

1. Students are not to disclose their GSB grades / GSB GPA on any written media (i.e. resumes, cover letters, e-mails) to any potential employer.
2. Students are not to verbally or in any other way disclose their GSB grades / GSB GPA to any potential employer (i.e. on campus, off campus, business, law firm) during on-campus and/or off-campus interviews (including informational interviews).
3. Students are not to disclose Dean's List, as detailed in points 1 and 2 above, during MBA internship recruiting.
4. Students may disclose undergraduate grades/GPA, other graduate school grades/GPA (including other University of Chicago graduate programs) and GMAT scores. 
5. Students may disclose academic honors earned as an undergraduate or as a student of another graduate school (including other University of Chicago graduate programs).
6. Students may disclose Dean's List and other academic honors earned at the GSB for full-time recruiting only.
7. Students may disclose their GSB grades / GSB GPA in applications for other academic programs.
8. Upon accepting a full-time offer, students may release their GSB grades / GSB GPA to their future employers. 
9. Upon graduation, alumni may release their GSB grades / GSB GPA.