Interview ethics

January 23, 2011 4:59 PM

I'll be graduating from college this spring and am looking at jobs. I'm also in the running for a scholarship to go abroad, which I have about a 50 percent chance of getting. Should I mention this to potential employers, and if so, when and how?

I realize that there's not much point in mentioning it early in the job hunt process, but there are a couple of places that have invited me in for a few rounds of interviews. I would love to work for either of them, but there's no question that I would rather take advantage of the grant if it works out. I'm interested in the best way to be ethical without hurting my chances too much.

Complicating factors:

1. It's reasonably likely that if I DO receive a job offer, it would be before I found out about the scholarship.
2. I'll be asked point-blank at the interviews about other things I'm considering for after graduation.

(I tried to include everything relevant but I'll update through the mods if necessary)

posted by anonymous to work & money (12 answers total)

Don't tell them. You can talk generally about things you're considering doing after graduation, but no need to give details about your options. If you get a job offer before you hear about the scholarship, you can cross that bridge then.
posted by prior at 5:02 PM on January 23, 2011 [3 favorites]

If one of these potential employers lost the funding for your position or realized they didn't actually need you, they'd rescind your job offer. They might be sorry about it, and they'd try to give you as much notice as they could, but they wouldn't keep you on if it wasn't viable for them. You owe them precisely the same courtesy. Interview for jobs. Do your best. Hope to get a job. If you get another offer you like better, apologize and give them as much notice as you can if you're not going to start work, but take the offer that is best for you.
posted by decathecting at 5:05 PM on January 23, 2011 [4 favorites]

Do not tell them that you have a 50% chance at the scholarship. You might as well not go on the interview if you do.

You don't have any ethical responsibility to give an exhaustive account of your other opportunities, just like they don't have to let you know that they might downsize you, change your duties, pigeonhole you, etc.

If you do get a job, start and then receive notice of the scholarship opportunity, you will burn some bridges, but that's unavoidable sometimes. Just be as prompt as possible.
posted by bluejayk at 5:09 PM on January 23, 2011 [2 favorites]

Don't think of it as having a 50% chance of a scholarship to go abroad. It was just another job interview and you just happen to know the chances for it a little better than most.

...and remember: no one is forcing you to list jobs on your resume and these days a bit of a blank spot between graduation and a job is practically expected. If you take the job and realize your scholarship went through, well, nice knowing everyone at the office and it's off to wherever-the-hell. As far as future employers are concerned, that job never even happened.
posted by griphus at 5:16 PM on January 23, 2011

griphus: sure, a blank spot post-graduation is not uncommon these days, but is a blank spot necessarily better than a job held for a short period of time? (This is a serious question.)
posted by madcaptenor at 5:18 PM on January 23, 2011

Oh, and...

I'll be asked point-blank at the interviews about other things I'm considering for after graduation.

Unless they have you strapped into a polygraph, you lie in a way favorable to them: "Working in [field of job you're being interviewed for]" is good. "Living in [country abroad]" is not.
posted by griphus at 5:18 PM on January 23, 2011

You're under no ethical obligation to talk about this at all during the interview process.

If they ask about your other opportunities, it's generally best to mention similar opportunities (for instance, not the scholarship). You want to signal "I want to do this type of job," not "Eh, I dunno, I might want to go in a very different direction." You have no ethical obligation to list every one of your options.
posted by John Cohen at 5:20 PM on January 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

...but is a blank spot necessarily better than a job held for a short period of time?

Very much so, in my opinion, assuming the blank spot isn't too long. "Had to work at it to find a job" is definitely a better thing for people to divine from your resume than "quits after a month." Employers do not, generally, look favorably upon transience in non-freelancers.
posted by griphus at 5:21 PM on January 23, 2011

If your field of study has job offers coming from it, I would seriously think twice about accepting a scholarship and leaving actual employment for a trip abroad. Seriously. The job market is tough and anyone who thinks it will be significantly improved within a year is dillusional... I look at labor rates, wages, and business indicators every month... seriously...

So yeah, you can participate in the workforce, but understand, if you land a job, the next opportunity will be much later.

And no, do not tell an employer. You are making it clear tthat you aren't serious about work if you tell them - which while that may or may not be the case -doing so does not help you land a job.
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:30 PM on January 23, 2011

Do not mention the scholarship abroad opportunity unless and until you get it. When you're looking for jobs, it's a given that you're looking multiple places until you get the job. Not mentioning the scholarship thing is NOT unethical.
posted by J. Wilson at 5:55 PM on January 23, 2011

In OP's place, I would weigh the relative benefits of the scholarship and the potential job.

On one hand, it could be a very prestigious scholarship like the Marshall or the Rhodes. These things open doors and build bridges, and I would not hesitate for a second to drop almost any job offer to have that kind of opportunity.

On the other hand, it could be a pleasant and interesting short-term scholarship to go abroad, but certainly not something that would reliably put one on track for something in the future.

Alternatively, if I got a job offer from a prominent employer, for an interesting and challenging position with a defined promotion track, it would be hard to persuade me to drop it for a chance to study abroad… unless it was the aforementioned Marshall/Rhodes/Fulbright.

I would also want to make sure that my expectations to secure the scholarship were realistic. I'm not sure how the OP knows that the odds are 50/50, and I can't think of many situations where there would be a way to know with that certainty.
posted by Nomyte at 6:14 PM on January 23, 2011

Nomyte: perhaps the 50 percent figure comes from the fact that there are twice as many people still in the running as scholarships available. In the absence of any other clues that would logically be the best estimate for the OP to make.
posted by madcaptenor at 8:32 PM on January 23, 2011