Recruiters & Career - Recruit Darden Talent - Hiring Policies

Recruiters & Career

Recruiters & Career - Recruit Darden Talent - Hiring Policies

Hiring Policies

We appreciate your commitment to hiring talent at Darden and willingness to partner with the School's faculty, students and Career Center.

Top MBA Talent for the World’s Top Companies

Darden believes that our combination of student and employer policies enables employers to develop valuable long-term relationships with the School and provides students with optimal career opportunities.

The policies and guidelines outlined below have been developed to provide a fair recruiting process for all students, faculty and corporate recruiters. This allows our students time for evaluating opportunities, and our employers equal and timely access to all of our talented MBA and MSBA students.

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. 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.

Recruit at Darden

These policies, guidelines and dates apply to any company that utilizes Darden's recruiting platform, Darden Career Link, Career Services, or partners with a student club to promote, market, or showcase their job opportunities to students through events or interviews - whether held on Darden Grounds or virtually.

If you are interested in recruiting at Darden in 2025-26, please reach out to the Recruiting Operations team for additional details. We look forward to working with you.

Email Darden Career Center Recruiting Operations

Key Recruiting and Academic Dates

 
11 - 15 August First Year Launch Week (Orientation)
18 August Classes Begin
26 August Full-Time Recruiting Begins
8 September Internship Recruiting Begins
9 September No internship recruiting - First Year academic commitment
11 September Internship/Full-Time Career Expo
19 September Darden DC Connections Networking Event
22-24 September Minimal recruiting - Rosh Hashanah
29 September Full-time interviews begin
1-2 October No interviews/minimal recruiting - Yom Kippur
3-12 October No recruiting - exams & Fall Break
13-17 October No recruiting  - Darden Career Week
20 October

Quarter 2 Begins

20 October Internship Recruiting Invite-only Events Begin
24 October DC Tech Connect
4 November Election Day (No classes)
26-30 November Thanksgiving Break
10-16 December Q2 Ends & Exams
17 December - 11 January Winter Break
5 January Internship Interviews Begin
12 January Q3 Begins
19 January MLK Holiday (No classes)
26 February - 4 March Q3 Ends & Exams
5-15 March Spring Break
16 March Q4 Begins
30 April - 5 May Q4 Ends & Exams
11 May Internships may begin
15-17 May Final Exercises Weekend (Graduation)
14 August Internships must end
Two students in stairwell at Sands Family Grounds with abstract swirl overlaid

Hire Darden Talent Today

Darden Career Link offers employers the opportunity to post roles when the time is right for you. These opportunities can be targeted to students in all degree formats as well as Darden alumni.

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