4.4 Being an ethical job candidate  (Page 8/9)

Employers should also treat information about job candidates and employees as confidential

9. the recommendation

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?

Decision making exercise and ethics tests

Your task

• You will be divided into groups and assigned a scenario.
• Each scenario involves a difficulty with interpreting and applying an employee guideline concept.
• Interpret and apply the concept as best you can.
• Develop a value integrative solution that resolves the decision point of your scenario.