Employer Recruiting & Offer Acceptance Guidelines

All employers who recruit through UMass Amherst career centers are expected to adhere to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) guidelines, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Principles for Ethical Professional Practice, and the UMass Campus-Wide Career Center Recruiting Guidelines, which are subject to change without prior notice. Career centers reserve the right to suspend an employer’s privilege to recruit at UMass Amherst for any reason, including failure to abide by these policies & guidelines.

Handshake Postings

UMass Amherst requires that all employers recruiting UMass Amherst students adhere to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) guidelines, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Principles for Ethnical Professional Practice, and the terms and conditions set forth by UMass Amherst’s career centers. As such, any job postings shared by employers on Handshake and that are accessible by UMass Amherst students are expected to be in-line within these defined guidelines and compliant with federal and state law. ​

Students are encouraged to apply to any postings of interest, regardless of any limitations on immigration/citizenship status stated in the job description. For information on positions that may exempt applications based on immigration/citizenship status, ​visit the Immigrant and Employee Rights Section website.​

UMass Amherst students are expected to do their due diligence while reviewing job applications by considering the qualifications for each job carefully before applying. Neither UMass Amherst nor Handshake will prevent you from applying for any position listed on Handshake.com.

Student Offer Acceptance Policy

When a student accepts a job offer, s/he is expected to withdraw from job search activities immediately, including further interviews or consideration/ acceptance of another job offer. Further, s/he will withdraw any active resumes submitted via Handshake.

Reneging on a full-time or internship offer is not permitted or condoned by the Office of Career Success. This is considered a serious violation of Office of Career Success policy and will result in immediate suspension of all recruiting privileges.

The student’s Handshake account will be de-activated and the violator will be required to meet with the Assistant Dean. Future recruiting privileges will be determined after this meeting.

Offer Guidelines

The Isenberg School of Management subscribes to the NACE Reasonable Offer Deadlines Guidelines, which state the following:

“Experience shows the best employment decisions for both students and employers are those that are made without pressure and with the greatest amount of information. Students given sufficient time to attend career fairs, participate in on-campus interviews, and/or complete the interviewing in which they are currently engaged are more likely to make good long-term employment decisions and may be less likely to renege on job acceptances.”  

When possible, we recommend providing students a minimum of three weeks to respond to any employment offer.

Any company that reneges on an offer to a student will be re-evaluated by the Assistant Dean to determine if they will be eligible to participate in Isenberg’s on-campus recruiting program moving forward.