All recruitment through the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) career centers must adhere to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) guidelines, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Principles for Ethical Professional Practice, and the career center’s terms and conditions detailed below, which are subject to change without prior notice. Career centers reserve the rights to suspend, terminate or modify access and/or recruitment privileges for any reason, in their sole discretion, including failure to abide by these policies and guidelines.
UMass Amherst is committed in policy, principle, and practice to maintaining an environment which prohibits discriminatory behavior and provides equal opportunity for all persons.
UMass Amherst prohibits discrimination on the basis of race (including traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture, hair type, hair length and protective hairstyles), color, religion, creed, sex, age, marital status, national origin, mental or physical disability, political belief or affiliation, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, genetic information, citizenship/immigration status and any other class of individuals protected from discrimination under state or federal law in any aspect of the access to, admission, or treatment of students in its programs and activities, or in the recruitment, employment and application for employment.
The University of Massachusetts Amherst attracts competitive talent from over 100 countries. We encourage our employer partners to consider hiring international students for your internships, co-ops, and full-time positions. Bringing their unique benefits to your organization is easier than you might think.
Partners report that the international students they hire:
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Offer cross-cultural competencies and proficiency in multiple languages
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Provide high level skills such as leadership, independence, and adaptability
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Bring the benefits of prior education and employment experience abroad
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Imagine and implement innovative approaches to doing business in the global economy
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Add diversity to an organization's competitive workforce
The Immigration and Nationality Act prohibits citizenship/immigration status and national origin discrimination with respect to hiring, termination, and recruiting or referring for a fee. Citizenship/immigration status discrimination includes requiring U.S. citizenship for employment (unless a narrow exception applies) or only recruiting workers on OPT/STEM OPT or on an H-1B visa. National origin discrimination includes treating individuals differently because of their place of birth, country of origin, ancestry, first language, accent or because they are perceived as looking or sounding "foreign.” Employers should follow the best practices set forth by the Department of Justice.
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Unless legally required, job postings cannot limit eligibility based on citizenship or immigration status, such as "Only U.S. Citizens" or “H-1Bs and OPT Preferred."
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Job postings cannot limit eligibility based on national origin, such as “Native English Speakers only.”
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Employers are not obliged to sponsor a candidate for work authorization, i.e., immigration sponsorship. An employer is allowed to disqualify a candidate because they lack work authorization. Employers may use the following language when they do not want to engage in immigration sponsorship: “Applicants must be authorized to work in the US.”
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Employers may not ask candidates specific questions about their work authorization or ask them to produce documentation until an offer is made and accepted.
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Employers may ask the following questions regarding an applicant’s U.S. work authorization:
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Are they currently work authorized?
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Will they now or in the future require work authorization sponsorship from their employer?
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Don’t use the ITAR or the EAR as a reason to limit jobs to candidates with certain citizenships, immigration statutes, or national origins – don’t limit jobs to U.S. citizens because the job involves assessing export-controlled items.
All job listings are posted at the discretion of the UMass Amherst Career Centers. We reserve the right to decline to post jobs that do not support the interests of UMass Amherst and our students.
UMass Career Services does not accept or post positions that:
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Require a fee for training or participation.
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Would employ students at a private residence.
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Would employ students by a private individual with an unestablished business and no employment or work-for-hire contract.
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 Ethical 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.
Employers are strongly encouraged to pay students fair market value for their work or at least minimum wage, regardless of whether students choose to apply to earn academic credit for the experience.
Advantages of paid internships:
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Broaden the applicant pool: Participating in an unpaid internship is much harder, and often impossible, for students who cannot forgo a paycheck for a significant period.
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Encourage a diverse workforce: If diversity is something your organization values, removing financial barriers for internships will better align with these values.
For-Profit Employers: Unpaid internships must meet the requirements set by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
Non-Profit Organizations: If you are an employer located in Massachusetts as a nonprofit community service organization with an active 501(c)(3), you may be eligible to hire students using Federal Work-Study funds. See the UMass Community Service link for more information and guidelines.
In June 2023, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) released the Position Statement on Unpaid Internships and the Need for Federal Action, a research and data supported article which discusses the following:
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Internships provide the critical link to launching careers (data supported)
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Unpaid internships are problematic (data supported)
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Unpaid internships are a barrier to achieving equity and opportunity for all college students
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Call to policymakers for action
We are pleased that many companies are interested in hiring our students from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. As a member of NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers), we adhere to their professional recruiting principles and believe that it is in the best interests of students and employers if students are given a reasonable amount of time to consider alternative offers before making important career decisions.
While NACE does not address specific time frames, UMass Amherst is aware that employer hiring patterns have shifted more competitively within recent years in recruitment processes and work with shorter response windows for offers. Understanding this, we provide these fair guidelines to both students and employers.
If students are offered:
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Full-time positions or internships during the fall or spring semester: students will have at least 3 weeks from the receipt of the written offer to accept/decline offers.
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Full-time positions or second internships (with the same company) after summer internships: students will have until November 1 to accept/decline offers. This allows students time to participate in fall on-campus recruiting if they so choose.
We discourage employers from using practices that would improperly induce early acceptances any time of the year. Specifically, we expect that any employer that collaborates with UMass Career Services to abide by these offer guidelines.
The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) defines "third-party recruiters" as: 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 agencies that collect student information to be disclosed to employers for purposes of recruitment and employment. UMass Amherst identifies the following types of organizations as “third-party recruiters”: employment agencies, staffing services, temporary agencies, on line job boards, recruiters, and contractors. Representatives from these companies may post under the following conditions:
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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.
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They must keep all student information obtained confidential unless receiving additional written student consent. This standard complies with Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
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They must not retain any student resumes for future placement unless given additional student written consent.
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They must not charge a fee to the applicant.
UMass Amherst Career Services does not endorse companies or any student ambassador positions in which our students are asked to solicit other students, students’ families or faculty for a company’s services/products or are asked to pay out their own money to get started. Many career centers across the country adhere to this policy.
UMass Career Services does not allow on-campus recruitment and will not approve job or internship postings for organizations involved with the use, production, testing, or distribution of recreational or medical marijuana or any by-products that exceed the legal THC level. Because UMass receives federal funds, we follow federal laws regarding THC-containing products.
The University of Massachusetts Amherst and its career centers are members of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), the professional association for college recruiters and career services professionals. As members, we abide by the NACE Principles for Professional Practice, a document that serves as the ethical framework and foundation for practices within the career services and recruiting fields.
The Principles’ document states "Serving alcohol should not be part of the recruitment process on or off campus. This includes receptions, dinners, company tours, etc." UMass Amherst Career Services requests that you support the no-alcohol policy while recruiting our students.