Carnegie Mellon University

Consequences for Ethical Job Search Policy Violations

  • 1st offense:   Students who fail to cancel their interview (on-campus or on-site) before the interview cancellation date found in Handshake OR who do NOT show for an interview will be temporarily blocked on Handshake and will need to schedule an appointment to meet with their career consultant to discuss the reasoning behind the late cancellation.  Students will also be expected to send a letter of apology to the recruiter after receiving approval from their career consultant. 
  • 2nd offense:   Removal from Handshake, including campus job search, interviewing access, and appointment scheduling privileges for the remainder of the current and next full semester (fall/spring).
  • 3rd offense:  Complete removal of job search and interviewing access including deactivating student’s Handshake account

If you need to cancel an appointment, please do so through your Handshake account at least 12 hours in advance.  If it is less than 12 hours prior, call the CPDC Advising Center at (412) 268-2064 to cancel your appointment (leave a message if necessary).  Please keep in mind that same day cancellations (especially repeats) may be subject to the No Show/Late Cancellation penalty (see below) at the discretion of the CPDC staff.

[Note: If you arrive late for your appointment, it may be considered a “missed” appointment and you may be asked to reschedule.]

  • 1st Offense:  will result in an email being sent, from the Career Consultant, inquiring about why you missed your appointment  
  • 2nd Offense:  will result in a warning email stating that the CPDC has an Appointment No Show/Late Cancellation policy (link to the info below)
  • 3rd Offense:   will result in your Handshake privileges (interviews and appointments) being revoked

Appointment No Show/Late Cancellation Policy
If you miss a 3rd appointment, then your Handshake account will be blocked until you contact your primary Career Consultant, schedule a meeting, show up for the appointment and discuss the missed meetings. For this meeting, you can either email the Career Consultant your availability or call the Consultant, depending on the Consultant’s preference.

The mission of the Carnegie Mellon Career & Professional Development Center (CPDC) is to maximize the career and life potential of our students.  One of the ways we accomplish this is by creating opportunities for our students that connect them to employers with whom we have developed relationships. It is important for the development of each student that they conduct themselves in an ethical manner. Not honoring agreements with recruiters reflects poorly on the university and impacts the organization's actions regarding future recruiting activities at Carnegie Mellon.  

It is for these reasons that we hope you represent CMU in a positive manner when conducting your job search. This includes attending 1:1 sessions with employers at Career Fairs as scheduled as well as any employer sessions that require advance registration.  If you have scheduled a session with an employer but are no longer able to make the meeting as scheduled, you should cancel the session within Handshake/deregister.  If for any reason you are not able to cancel the session, you should email recruit@andrew.cmu.edu with your name, the company name, and the session time to request a cancelation.  This should be done prior to the fair/session starting whenever possible. 

If an employer reports that you have missed a scheduled 1:1/advanced registration session, the below consequences will apply: 

  • 1st offense:Students who fail to cancel their individual 1:1 session/advanced registration session (within Handshake directly or by contacting recruit@andrew.cmu.edu prior to the start of the career fair/event) AND who do NOT show for a scheduled individual 1:1 session will need to communicate with their Career Consultant via a scheduled appointment or email to discuss the reasoning behind the No Show. Students who do not connect with their career consultant may be blocked from Handshake temporarily.
  • Multiple Offenses (No Shows) for one Virtual Fair:Possible removal of certain privileges from Handshake for the remainder of the current semester.
  • Multiple Offenses - More than one Virtual Fair/Employer Event within an academic year:  Possible removal of certain privileges from Handshake for the remainder of the current semester and next full academic semester.

 If you have any questions, please reach out to your designated Career Consultant. 

    • 1st Offense:  Removal from Handshake, including campus job search, interviewing access, and appointment scheduling privileges for the remainder of the current and next full semester (fall/spring)
    • 2nd Offense: Permanent deactivation of student’s Handshake account

Note: For any student who reneges on an employment acceptance, in addition to the consequences mentioned above, he or she is required to meet with a designated senior academic official within the student’s home college.

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