Recruiters & Career - Recruit Darden Talent - Hiring Policies

2025-26 Policies and Guildelines

Academic Commitments

The academic calendar is the main driver of recruiting dates and availability.

• Darden students may not miss class or academic commitments for any recruiting-related activities.
• Employers cannot require a student, as a condition of employment candidacy, to interview at a time that conflicts with that student’s academic schedule.
• First Year students are expected to meet with their Learning Teams Sunday through Wednesday afternoons. Participation in Learning Teams is an academic commitment that is critical to student success in Darden's Case Method learning environment.
   

Recruiting Activities

Recruiting events for full-time hiring begin on 26 August 2025. Recruiting events for internship hiring begin on 8 September 2025. Event dates are not guaranteed and will be scheduled on a first-come, first-serve basis. It is our goal to maximize student attendance. We will focus on coordinating across industries, functions, and target audiences.

Employers are not approved to host company events during August pre-matriculation, final exams, or on other specific dates. 

Minimal event conflict is in the best interest of students and employers. If an employer is working directly with a student club, it is a best practice to proactively contact the Recruiting Operations team with any questions, and/or to gain holistic insights on the recruiting calendar/scheduling. 
 

Interviewing at Darden

Interviews for full-time hiring begin on 22 September 2025. Interviews for internship hiring begin on 5 January 2026. Your Recruiting Operations partner will work with you to determine a date that is most appropriate for your on-Grounds or virtual interviews. We highly encourage you to identify a minimum of two (2) alternate candidates for every 10 invited candidates.

Recruiters should give students sufficient notice (and maintain flexibility where possible) for second-round interviews or other events held out of town. Students may have other obligations, including other interviews, which cannot be rescheduled on short notice without penalty to the student.

Contact our Recruiting Operations team for a detailed schedule.

Resume Books

The Darden Career Center provides employers with access to resume books at no cost. Once released, a resume book request widget will be active on your homepage within our online portal - Darden Career Link. To gain access, we invite you to log in or create an account in Darden Career Link.

Access Resume Books

Early Recruiting

Darden recognizes that some companies participate in early recruiting and fellowship programs that involve opportunities for early internship interviews and offers. Darden will not reinforce recruiting policies on those arrangements. Students and companies entering employment contracts do so at their own risk.

We support these early opportunities subject to the following conditions:

• Candidates are given at least ten business days to consider such offers. Best practice is to keep offers open until 31 January to give students time to make an informed decision.

Severe Inclement Weather Policy

As soon as we know the school is closed, or on a modified schedule, the Employer Engagement team will reach out and work with our recruiting partners to make alternate arrangements, which may include rescheduling, switching to a virtual format, or remaining as scheduled.

Employer and Student Standards of Conduct

UVA is committed to providing a working and learning environment free from unlawful discrimination and harassment. Discrimination or harassment based on age, color, disability, family, medical or genetic information, gender identity or expression, marital status, military status (which includes active-duty service members, reserve service members, and dependents), national or ethnic origin, political affiliation, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status will not be tolerated. Learn more through the University of Virginia’s Policy on Preventing and Addressing Discrimination and Harassment.

We ask all Darden employers to accommodate students with disabilities throughout the recruiting experience by providing contact information for students requesting accommodations, acknowledging support for students with disabilities during your recruiting process (job postings, recruiting events), and being prepared to make reasonable accommodations as needed (e.g., extended time on assessments, interview questions mailed in advance, etc.) If you have any questions about accommodating students with disabilities, please contact S. Kellogg Leliveld at LeliveldS@darden.virginia.edu.

Student Standards

Darden students are held to high professional standards. We require that all students agree to the Darden Career Center Code of Conduct, which explicitly provides expectations regarding interviews and job offers/acceptances. If a student misses an interview or otherwise behaves improperly, we ask that you please share this information with our team immediately so we can address the issue and take swift action. If a student reneges on an offer, please notify the Assistant Dean of the Career Center, Jeff McNish, at +1 434-297-7971, so that we can take the appropriate and necessary actions with our student.

Student Privacy

FERPA (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CF Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all educational agencies and institutions that receive funds under any program administered by the Department of Education including the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. No student data will be disclosed to any outside sources without the written consent by the student.

Reimbursement for Travel/Interviews

Typically, employers will reimburse students for travel-related expenses for second- and final-round interviews. Students are advised to divide expenses among recruiting companies when more than one company is visited during their trip.

Alcohol Policy

For all events that are held at Darden that have alcohol, companies must purchase alcohol through the Abbott Center. Externally purchased alcohol is not allowed on the premises. Please read UVA’s full alcohol policy.