Professionalism Policies
One of the unique demands on business students is the management of the fluid boundary between being a student and a working professional. Students have exposure to future employers and alumni as many employers participate in guest lectures, student events, and alumni gatherings at the College of Business.
Every interaction with faculty, staff, employers, and alumni involves developing your personal brand, reputation, and professionalism. Therefore we expect you to act with the highest standards of integrity, good judgment, timeliness, honesty, and open communication and will hold you accountable for your decisions and behavior. Consistently making the right choice will build your professional reputation while positively impacting every College of Business stakeholder, including fellow students, alumni, employers, faculty, and staff.
Please take a moment to review the College of Business Student Professionalism Policies. All College of Business students are expected to adhere to these policies.
Contact Business Academic Advising & Career Services at baacs@ohio.edu with any questions regarding these policies and your responsibility to uphold these policies.
Student Professionalism Expectations
Printable Professionalism Expectations [PDF]
Building Your Professional Reputation While Building Your Career
One of the unique demands on business students is the management of the fluid boundary between being a student and a working professional. Students have exposure to future employers and alumni as many employers participate in guest lectures, student events, and alumni gatherings at the College of Business. Every interaction with faculty, staff, employers, and alumni involves developing your personal brand, reputation, and professionalism. Therefore, we expect you to act with the highest standards of integrity, good judgment, timeliness, honesty, and open communication and will hold you accountable for your decisions and behavior. Consistently making the right choice will build your professional reputation while positively impacting every College of Business stakeholder, including fellow students, alumni, employers, faculty and staff.
Expectations and Student Responsibilities
Treat all your commitments as if they are business meetings and apply the same standards
- Arrive on time, be prepared, and be ready to engage. If you have tasks due from previous meetings, bring them completed to your appointment.
- If you RSVP “yes,” then be sure to attend. If you cannot attend or are running late, cancel with at least 24 hours. Otherwise, you are expected to be present. If an emergency arises at the last minute, notify the host as soon as possible in a professional manner.
Exercise good judgment in your attire for College of Business events (anything with an employer or alumni present)
- Women: Skirt or pantsuit. Alternative - quality pants or a skirt with a pressed blouse. Adding a blazer is preferable. Appropriate footwear (no flip flops or tennis shoes). Conservative jewelry, light or no perfume.
- Men: Full suit. Alternative - wearing a blazer over a pressed white shirt, with or without a tie, and good quality slacks would be our strong recommendation. Appropriate footwear, well groomed, light or no aftershave.
- If attending an employer-specific event, be sure to abide by the employer’s institutionalized dress code.
Represent yourself accurately and honestly
- Update your Handshake and LinkedIn profiles and resume regularly with academic, co-curricular, and work information.
- Be sure that your profile photos are appropriate and updated.
- Include only activities or information that have already happened on your resume, not what you think will occur in the future. Answer interview questions fully and honestly.
- Ensure emails, cover letters, resumes, and online profiles are error free and have a professional tone. When in doubt, ask yourself, “If this was on the front page of a newspaper or came up in a Google search, would it represent me well?”
Conduct your internship and job search with integrity
- Pursue positions in which you have a genuine interest and that fit your qualifications. Only apply if you would accept an interview and the position if offered.
- Withdraw your candidacy as soon as possible if during the process you lose interest or accept another offer. This allows other interested students to apply.
- Accept interview invitations only if you are fully prepared for the interview, can adjust your schedule to participate, and are committed to pursuing the position.
- Notify the career management team in a timely manner if you cannot fulfill your scheduled on- or off-campus interview commitment due to an emergency so that the recruiter can be notified of the schedule change.
- Send a thank you note within 24 hours of an interview and indicate if you are still interested in pursuing the opportunity.
- Meet with a Career Coach when you receive an offer if you need assistance assessing the offer and negotiating.
- Accept or reject an offer in a timely and gracious manner so you continue to build your relationship and provide the opportunity for other students to secure a job they really want.
- Upon accepting an offer, notify other employers you are engaging with of your decision, withdraw from upcoming interviews, and no longer pursue positions with other employers.
- Do not accept (verbally or in writing) multiple offers. Going back on your commitment will not only have the possibility of tarnishing your own professional brand but also the future of recruitment of business students.
Communicate your job and internships
- Notify the College of Business of your acceptance so we can celebrate your good news and turn our focus to assisting students still searching.
- Provide (at a minimum) the employer name, job title and salary data for each internship and full-time job offer you receive. All information is kept confidential and used only in the aggregate or with permission.
- Complete First Destination Survey at the end of your senior year. We aggregate this data and send it to external ranking organizations (e.g., BusinessWeek, US News & World Reports, Princeton Review, etc.) which improves the value of your degree.
Manage your reputation
- Accept an offer only when you are ready to make a meaningful commitment and agreement with the employer. Breaking the commitment may be unethical and irreparably harms not only your reputation with that employer, but the College of Business relationship and reputation as well as other students’ reputations. Withdraw from any outstanding searches within a reasonable amount of time so you are not tempted to continue your search.
- Meet with a Career Coach as soon as possible after receiving an offer if you have any doubts about accepting the offer or are feeling pressured to make a decision prior to exploring all of your options.
Impact of Unprofessional Behavior
Building a good professional reputation requires consistent positive decisions and actions; one negative act can damage your reputation and possibly impair your career. Similarly, as part of the College of Business community, your individual actions help (or negatively impact) the College of Business brand and all of its stakeholders, most importantly current and future students.
As a student of the College of Business, you have been notified of the Student Professionalism Expectations and Recruiting Policies and therefore you are accountable for your actions in the presence of your peers, faculty, staff, alumni, and employers.
As part of its mission to provide lifelong career management skills, the College of Business enforces consequences for unprofessional behavior that align with those that will occur in your future workplaces and career. Our guiding questions in enforcing professionalism: What would your boss do if you performed this way on the job? How are the College of Business relationships and reputation impacted by your behavior?
When your conduct does not align with the above expectations and you fail to meet your responsibilities, the College of Business will address the situation so you can learn and proactively resolve the situation professionally. Examples of failing to meet these expectations include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Missing an event to which you have RSVP’d
- Failing to participate in a scheduled on-campus interview
- Misrepresenting yourself in your Handshake and/or LinkedIn profiles, your resume, cover letter, or in an interview
- Dressing inappropriately for an event
- Reneging an internship or job offer
If the College of Business perceives you have behaved unprofessionally, you will be notified in a timely manner to meet with the Assistant Dean of Student Success to discuss the incident.
In the interim, access to the College of Business resources including Handshake may be suspended. Consequences will be determined by the Dean’s Office based on the severity of the negative impact of your action, and can include the following:
- Loss of access to the College of Business resources and/or services
- Inability to attend College of Business functions (Career Fairs, Information Sessions, Interviews)
The duration of loss of services and requirements to regain eligibility (such as writing an apology letter to an employer or alumnus) are at the discretion of the Dean’s Office.
If you have any questions about these expectations or need clarification, please contact the Business Academic Advising and Career Services at 740-593-2042 or baacs@ ohio.edu.