Career Q & A: Ethics

What if my friend or relative is the hiring manager of a company or library?

Meredith Lavine, Artfulresumes.com:
Librarianship is a small world. Since it is advised to network during the job search, this tends to be a common situation. There are going to be times when you and the manager know each other.

If any of your old and new managers know each other, they may very well talk during the interviewing and/or promotion decision process as well.

This situation does change the dynamic of a relationship. There may be feelings on your end that will naturally need to be resolved and checked outside of the door when you come to work. You will need to vent frustrations, and doing so with said friend could strain the relationship. Find a neutral and highly trusted party, (outside friend or relative) to work out your reactions to possible work scenarios.

Back at the workplace, you and the friend/manager will also need to delineate when you are interacting as manager/employee or as friends. This is a situation which calls for utmost professionalism on your part.

Do not expect any sort of preferential treatment or expect to have lunch or coffee with your friend as much as before. In fact, some managers may lean in the opposite direction of favoritism to assure the rest of team it isn't happening. Stay away from the water cooler gossip and concentrate on being a valuable contributor. The team may ask you to play "double-agent" between them and your manager. Stay neutral and take the high road no matter what.

If you find this situation difficult and would like an outside perspective, you may want to consider turning to a life or career coach or possibly therapist to examine your feelings and workplace dynamics, identify your professional attributes and define positive actions to propel your career forward.

Kathleen Schmidt, Recruiter, LAC:
Again, a personal decision. Frankly, it is doubtful that most companies would extend a job offer or hire someone who is overqualified because they want to retain employees. Never fail to behave as the information professional you are. If you choose to apply for a job for which you feel overqualified, manage your expectations and keep yourself focused on the big picture. Maintain your professionalism, a strong service orientation and exercise good judgment and courtesy at all times. Working at a job for which you are overqualified can be incredibly frustrating if you don't manage your expectations and see the position as a means to an end. At the end of the day, if you take a job you won't feel satisfied doing you have only yourself to blame.

Is it ethically sound to take a full-time job I feel overqualified for?

Keith Gurtzweiler, VP of Recruiting, LAC:
It depends. I wouldn’t say it’s unethical, but chances are you’ll give yourself away to the Hiring Manager during the interview, and they won’t want you most likely. Most HM’s want someone who is *excited* about the position, b/c they feel the position offers them something. Someone well overqualified tends not to show the same levels of enthusiasm and tend to make the mistake of saying how (instead of the position), their motives are better hours, or commute, or something not specific to the position or the organization. Huge mistake to make in front of hiring managers.

Brad Rogers, Recruiter, LAC:
I think the only unethical thing would be to present yourself in a light that is not really you. If you are open and honest about your situation and present yourself as such, I would not say it is unethical. However, it will be very difficult to get an interview let along convince a hiring manager that you would be a good fit for the job. When someone makes a hire, they think of it as a long term solution and not a temporary fix