Policies & Resources

To foster a strong working relationship, we ask that employers work with the University Career Center and/or our campus partners in the School of Business & the School of Engineering when recruiting at UMD. We look forward to welcoming you onto campus!

Organizations using UMD programs and services must maintain equal employment opportunity (EEO) compliance and follow affirmative action principles in a manner that includes recruiting, interviewing, and hiring individuals without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, age, national origin, political affiliation, physical or mental disability, religion, protected veteran status, genetic information, personal appearance or any other legally protected class, or on the basis of the exercise of rights secured by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Please see the Employer Recruiting Guidelines for the University of Maryland’s nondiscrimination policies in full, as well as a summary of other recruitment policies & procedures at UMD.

Employer Registration and Job Posting Guidelines

The following guidelines apply specifically to employer accounts and position postings on Handshake:

Organizations recruiting employees are required to abide by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Principles for Ethical Professional Practice.

Employer registration accounts should include the following:

• Organization name and full name of organizational contact.
• Corporate email address clearly associated with the organization website domain (e.g. jsmith@company.com, not Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.) Individual contact names and email addresses should match whenever possible.
• Corporate website address that clearly relates to your organization and contains helpful information about your organization for the potential candidate; website should not be in pre-launch/beta phase no contain “coming soon” language. Social media sites should not take the place of an organization's website.
• Corporate address is preferred (no personal residences or P.O. Box). In cases where there is not corporate address (outside of a home office / P.O. Box), all meetings with students should be conducted in a public setting (coffee shop, library, rented workspace) or virtually.

Positions posted should provide the following:

• Detailed position description with a thorough overview of candidate responsibilities and necessary qualifications.
• Compensation information.
• Startups: The University Career Center & The President's Promise has established the below parameters for posting opportunities in our database. The startup organization must be sufficiently established to the point where it can:
  • Provide a company name, website and email address, and identify a point of contact. It is preferred that a corporate address is provided but in cases where that is not possible, all meetings with students should be conducted in a public setting or virtually.
  • Verify that they are seeking employees and not investors/company stakeholders.

Prohibited Postings include:

• Positions that do not meet the policies mentioned in this agreement;
• Positions or programs requiring a fee, program payment, upfront product or service purchase;
• Positions that support a pyramid or networking structure requiring the recruitment of others
• Positions whose payment structure is commission-only.
• Positions that relate to the use or distribution of recreational or medical marijuana. 

The Career Center reserves the right to deny or revoke services to any organization at any time.  Common reasons for denying or revoking services include, but are not limited to:

• Misrepresentation or absence of information related to employment or internship positions, services or products offered, etc.
• Complaints by students, alumni, faculty, or staff.
• Employers and/or positions that the Career Center regards as unsuitable for students.

 

Job Offer Deadline Policies

Employers are asked to provide candidates with a reasonable amount of time to make employment-related decisions. Our students often find themselves under pressure to make an early decision about where to start their careers. Although we would never condone it, unfortunately, we have seen a rise in students reneging on offers because they are forced to decide too quickly. It is the Center’s policy that “a reasonable amount of time” equates to at least three weeks from the date of a written offer to make a decision. Employers are reminded that the campus recruitment process is as much about building a trusted brand identity as it is about recruiting new talent.

Placing undue pressure on students to make decisions or engaging in questionable recruiting practices not only jeopardizes an employer’s ability to recruit students but may adversely affect an organization's corporate image for an extended period of time.

The School of Engineering and the Department of Computer Science each have their own offer deadline policies. Please click here to view the School of Engineering's policy, and click here to view the Department of Computer Science's policy.

On-Campus Interviewing Program Policies

Given the specific nature of our Campus Interview program, all employers who participate are expected to adhere to the outlined policies.

Employer Information Sessions/ Recruiting Events

All employer events held on campus must be requested by and affiliated with a registered employer contact in Handshake (including information sessions, workshops, tabling and distribution of flyers). A contact can register in the database by providing a valid contact name, company name, corporate email address, phone number, and company website.

Please note that as there are separate career centers for business and engineering majors, if a session is specific to those populations it is best to connect directly with those career centers.

Alcohol Policy

• The Center follows NACE guidance which states that serving alcohol should not be a part of the recruitment process. Therefore, all recruiting activity, regardless of its location, should be alcohol-free. 
• If a person, company, or organization chooses to provide or serve alcohol in violation of this policy, the person, company, or organization assumes complete liability and agrees to indemnify the Center and the University of Maryland at College Park, including its trustees, and employees, for any damage or injuries sustained to persons or property as a result of or arising out of a violation of this policy. 
• The Center reserves the right to revoke the recruiting privileges of any person, company, or organization who violates this policy.

Cannabis Employer Policy

In compliance with federal law, the University Career Center will not post or advertise positions in our Handshake platform, nor engage in recruiting activities with employers that may possess or come in contact with recreational or medical marijuana. 

Third Party Recruiter

Third-party recruiters are agencies, organizations, or individuals recruiting candidates for temporary, part-time, or full-time employment opportunities other than for their own needs. This includes entities that refer or recruit for profit or not for profit, and it includes organizations that collect student information to be disclosed to employers for purposes of recruitment and employment.

The Center is interested in providing all possible employment opportunities to our students. Recruiting services, offered by The University Career Center & The President’s Promise (the Center), will be made available to organizations that understand and agree to the conditions outlined in:

1) The Third-Party Recruiter Statement of Understanding
https://go.umd.edu/thirdpartyrecruiterSOU

2) The Center’s Employer Recruiting Guidelines
https://go.umd.edu/employerrecruitguidelines 

3) NACE Principles for Ethical Professional Practice 
https://www.naceweb.org/career-development/organizational-structure/principles-for-ethical-professional-practice/

We require that third-party employer disclose their client(s) either directly through the job posting or privately to the Career Center in Handshake notes, in accordance with NACE Principles for Third-Party Recruiters in the Principles for Professional Practice. This client list applies, even if the third-party employer is hiring for an internal position. 

 

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