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Jamie Dimon says business school graduates who accept jobs at private equity firms while already working at JPMorgan are ‘unethical’

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Jamie Dimon says business school graduates who accept jobs at private equity firms while already working at JPMorgan are ‘unethical’

It’s not uncommon for big names in business to be poached by big corporations. Take the recent example of Brian Niccol, the former CEO of Chipotle who was poached by Starbucks last month.

But this behavior started with the professionals early in their careers, and Jamie Dimon doesn’t like it. Dimon, the illustrious CEO of JPMorgan Chase, spoke last week about his disdain for private equity’s predatory practices during a talk at Georgetown University’s Psaros Center for Financial Markets and Policy.

“I know a lot of you work at JPMorgan, you take a job at a private equity shop before you even come to us,” Dimon told a group of undergraduate business school students. “I’m going to say something different, okay, because I haven’t talked about character. The most important thing about character in people, I think is unethical. I don’t like it.”

Dimon is referring to the shaky practice of private equity firms aggressively recruiting junior bankers who have just graduated from their careers, and sometimes even before. But the peculiarity of private equity’s recruitment practices is that the jobs they try to lure young graduates into often don’t start until well into the future, usually around two years.

The students watching Dimon’s interview knew exactly what he was talking about, and the audience responded with laughter. But Dimon was not amused by this reaction, which only emphasized the seriousness of the situation.

And JPMorgan has been working on the case for some time now.

“We understand that the practice of interviewing and accepting a position at another company has been accelerated and is occurring even earlier in your career with us,” JPMorgan wrote to new bankers in a communication shared by the Litquidity account on Instagram, according to Company Insider. The message is no longer visible.

Eliminate competition

Not only does Dimon hate the poaching of private equity players, he is also a leader in trying to end it altogether.

“I can eliminate it, no matter what the private equity guys or the people in the company say first, I’m not going to pay for it,” Dimon said. “They’re not mercenaries. And I think it’s wrong to put you in that position.”

Dimon doesn’t like it because many of these junior bankers being poached have already undergone some training and had access to confidential information before making the move to private equity.

“It puts us in a bad position, and it puts us in a conflicting position,” Dimon said. “You’re already working somewhere else, and you’re dealing with highly confidential information from JPMorgan, and I just don’t like that.”

Plus, it’s unfair to recent graduates, Dimon says, who have to go through rigorous interviews and complete projects for jobs they won’t be able to start for years.

“It puts the child in a terrible position,” Dimon said. “I think that’s wrong.”

But Reena Aggarwal, founder of the Psaros Center and Dimon’s interviewer, pointed out that banks also start interviewing undergraduates much earlier. In the past, banks would hire students for internships after their junior year, but it’s going earlier, she said, even before they’ve chosen a major.

“You’re right. You know what? You need to get some schools and some banks together… and we need to come up with policies,” Dimon said. “We need to put procedures in place to prevent this from happening.

But ultimately, Dimon still places the responsibility for making the right choice with the young professionals themselves.

“You’re going to be faced with these ethical decisions. Think about it,” Dimon said. “How would you feel if you were on the other side of that thing? Or would you want to be treated that way? Is it fair?”

This story originally appeared on Fortune.com

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