Recruiting Guidelines and Policies

We are working to reduce the number of offer renegotiations ("reneges") through student education and employer policy.

Return offers after summer internships: Students should have until Oct. 31 to accept/decline offers. 
Full-time and internship offers: Students should have at least two weeks from the receipt of the complete written offer to accept/decline offers.

We discourage employers from using "exploding offers" or other practices that would improperly induce early acceptances any time of the year.

The University of Massachusetts makes its facilities and services available to employers who do not unlawfully discriminate in the selection of employees on the basis of basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex, age, marital status, national origin, mental or physical disability, political belief or affiliation, veteran status, or sexual orientation. 

All hiring tests must comply with Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) standards and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). 

We are proponents of the NACE Ethical and Legal Standards regarding staff and faculty candidate referrals.

The Immigration and Nationality Act prohibits citizenship status and national origin discrimination with respect to hiring, terminating, and recruiting or referring for a fee (source). Employers should follow the best practices set forth by the Department of Justice. For example, the Department of Justice sanctioned language for employers to use when they don’t want to engage in immigration sponsorship is the following: “Applicants must be authorized to work in the U.S.”

Employers are allowed to ask questions regarding an applicant’s work authorization in the U.S., namely:

• Are they currently work authorized?
• Will they now or in the future require work authorization sponsorship from their employer?

Employers may not ask a candidate specifics about work authorization or ask them to produce documentation until an offer is accepted and in preparation for completing Form I-9.   

Employers are not obliged to sponsor a candidate for work authorization, i.e., immigration sponsorship. Immigration sponsorship can be temporary (e.g., H1B) or permanent (green card). This is discretionary and an employer is allowed to disqualify a candidate on the basis of lack of work authorization status.

All job listings are posted at the discretion of the UMass Amherst Career Centers. We reserve the right to decline posting jobs that do not support the interests of our university and students.

CICS Careers does not approve postings that:

• Require a fee for training or participation.
• Would employ students at a private residence.
• Would employ students by a private individual with an unestablished business and no employment or work-for-hire contract. These parties are encouraged to post their openings on the UMass Amherst Student Job Board or in other outside sources, such as Craigslist or the local newspaper.

Unpaid internships must meet the requirements set by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

As defined by NACE, third-party recruiters may post jobs under the following conditions:

• They must fully disclose the name of the client that the third-party recruiter is representing and to whom the students’ credentials will be disclosed.
• They must keep all student information obtained confidential unless receiving additional written student consent. This standard complies with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
• They must not retain any student résumés for future placement unless given additional student written consent.
• They must not charge a fee to the applicant.

Employers are expected to abide by all UMass policies, including those related to alcohol and drugs, as well as tobacco.