How to exit an interview process for ethical concerns without burning bridges?

Question

Suppose you have a few early rounds of successful interviews with a company: they seem to like you, you seem to like them, and the position seems mutually interesting to both parties.

While the interview process is on-going, you are still doing due-diligence research and you come across information which raises concerns. In my case, the issues are ethical in nature and involve legal issues with the company from a few years ago.

Questions in this situation:

1. How can I ask politely about the ethical concerns / legal issues, but also achieve two things at the same time: (a) not appearing confrontational or burning bridges, and (b) making it clear that I won't find HR-approved, watered-down, prepared statements to be convincing and need them to more candidly "level with me" about the realities of the issues.

2. Currently I am in the middle of a take-home skills assessment project. I have already spent a number of hours on it. If I submit the solution the company may waste time evaluating it when, pending the ethical issues, there might be no way they could convince me it is OK to take the job. Should I just tell them now that I am not interested? I'm happy to leave the ethical questions out of it entirely, but I worry that if I don't give a reason for dropping out of the interview process, it will reflect badly and burn bridges. At the same time, I do not want to make up a different "reason" for ending the interviewing process.

Answer 1

If the company ran into legal issues a few years ago, it is unlikely that you will find official statements from the company that are not just HR-approved but approved by their internal counsel.

And don't expect them to cite independent sources to you that are critical of the company's management unless they can simultaneously produce official statements that tell their spin on the events.

If you expect them to "candidly level with me" because you ask, then either you are very naive, you have an inflated sense of your own importance, or you don't realize that they don't talk that way to government officials, journalists, opposing counsel or even to each other internally. Because every word they say that can be quoted can be used against them in a court of law and they sure don't want to give ammunition to their internal whistle blowers.

If you come across as a potential whistle blower after the legal trouble they just went through, they'll probably spare themselves the headache of figuring out the risk level you bring in and get somebody else.

Having said that, it is fully legitimate of you to raise your concern about the legal issues the company faced and courteously i.e. no hint of accusation and no use of a prosecutorial tone, ask for links to OFFICIAL statements or documents stating the OFFICIAL from the company regarding the legal issues. That is, those links that you can't find on the company website. You can then compare the official position of the company with the news stories and make your own determination as to whether the company has responded adequately to your ethical concerns.

When making the request, you definitely want to come across as non-judgemental, open minded, willing to hear their side of the story and willing to make up your own mind and draw your own conclusions. And you definitely want to come across as someone who will not blame the employees of the firm as a group for the actions of a few - It is not only good sense not to assign collective guilt, it is also an act of compassion for the working stiffs of the company who had nothing to do with the saga of the company's legal issues including most likely, your interviewers.

Answer 2

If you have ethical concerns about the company, you shouldn't be applying. There are quite a few companies that I would never apply for due to their involvement in supporting actions of the U.S. Government that I find reprehensible. I don't expect to get them to "level with me" about whether they knowingly committed crimes by their actions in a job interview.

You made your choice about whether or not you are willing to work for the company when / if you accept employment. I'm certain they have done due diligence on checking your background. You must do the same on theirs.

If you want a clear conscience, work for the Salvation Army. If you want to work for Raytheon, you need to make peace with what they do before you accept the job. If you want to control what a company does, you need to purchase large blocks of their shares.

Answer 3

I'd go with "Hey, I heard about the business with Fillinda Blank a few years ago. I don't remember offhand how that turned out, and I'm sorta interested in how companies in our field handle that kind of issue. Would you happen to know where I could find your company's statement on that?"

You should probably ask this of the HR department's rep -- or, perhaps better, ask their PR department entirely outside the context of the interview! -- since unless the issue is DIRECTLY related to the job you're being hired for, the folks who are interviewing you probably won't have that info handy and won't be especially interested in looking it up for you.

I wouldn't worry about the political aspect of this so much as the risk of giving the impression that you aren't willing to do your own research.

As far as exiting the process, if you decide to do so: You don't have to give any reason. Just say "Thanks for your time, but I think I've found something that is a better fit for me" and leave it at that.

Answer 4

Summarizing your problem: There is a job that you are interested in and where you are well qualified. You found there are stories that some time ago there was seriously unethical behaviour at the company. If these stories are true and still relevant, you don't want the job. If the stories are false, or exaggerated, or if the company has cleaned up its act, you want the job.

Nobody, including that company, can blame you for not wanting to work for an unethical company (unless they are unethical, in which case they wouldn't want you - but that should be fine, right? ) If they were and are still acting unethical, then they obviously won't tell you. What you need to avoid is missing out on a job at a good company (and the company missing out on a good employee) because you don't handle the situation right.

You might just advise them that it is important to you that a company you work for has strong ethical principles and acts accordingly. Obviously they will agree :-) They might find out unexpectedly that you are not quite the right person for the job - in that case you know they weren't the right company for you, and you haven't lost anything.

Answer 5

A job interview process is no more different than any other interview process to evaluate collaboration.

Some time ago, I worked for a company that had been bankrupt 2 years back, and bought by another investment company. I always appreciated clients asking: "I did a search on google for your company, and the first hit was 'Company X bankrupt.' What is up with that?". So at least let them tell their version of the story. They have every interest in being as frank with you as they legally can. If you join them, you will probably find out anyway. And of course, do this in person or over the phone, not in e-mail.

If, after their explanation, you cannot continue the interview process in good conscience, clearly explain that to them. You will not burn any bridges, but will be remembered for your professionalism.

As for the assignment, you have two options. Either you telephone them immediately, explaining that you would first like to talk about this either over the phone or in person (before wasting anyone's time with the assignment), or you make the assignment but bring up the legal issues when you hand it in.