WGU Career & Professional Development
Recruiting Policies & Guidelines
Employer User Policy and Guidelines
WGU Career & Professional Development supports employers in both maximizing their recruiting results and assisting our students and alumni in making informed career decisions. In order to provide fair and equitable services to our students, alumni, and employers, employers must subscribe to the National Association of Colleges and Employer (NACE) Principles for Professional Practice, U.S. Department of Labor Guidelines for Unpaid Internships and to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recruitment and employment guidelines and laws established by the Federal government.
WGU Career & Professional Development is committed to providing an educational and working environment that is free of unlawful discrimination and harassment. In accordance with University, Federal, State, and local laws and regulations, WGU Career & Professional Development prohibits employers who discriminate in their selection of employees on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, medical condition, ancestry, marital status, age, sexual orientation, citizenship, or service in the uniformed services. WGU also probihibits sexual harassment.
Handshake Employer Requests - Minimum Requirements
In order to vet opportunities appropriately and confidently for our students, employer requests to connect on Handshake must demonstrate ALL of the following minimum requirements:
- A complete contact name (both first and last).
- A well-written company description.
- A corporate address (residential/private addresses and PO Boxes cannot be accepted)
- An email address with a listed domain that matches the company name and website (i.e. johnsmith@acompany.com and www.acompany.com).
- A dedicated company website that matches the company name and is functional. Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter company pages are not sufficient.
- A business license from the state in which your company operates their business
- Trust score of 45% or higher.
Handshake Employer Events - Requirements
In order to host an event, the requirements below, must be acknowledged by a company representative. Events that do not follow these guidelines will not be permitted to advertise events to Western Governors University students and alumni.
- External employer hosted events and activities are not programs and activities of Western Governors University and are included because they may be of interest to members of the University community. Inclusion of any activity does not indicate University sponsorship or endorsement of that activity or event.
- External employers events that are hosted on non-password protected platforms will not be approved.
We strongly encourage employers events to be created using a registration page and sending the password protected link to registered students and alumni at a pre-determined amount of time prior to the event beginning.
Ethical & Legal Restrictions
In order to protect our students and alumni, WGU Career & Professional Development reserves the right to refuse service to employers for the following:
- Employers not eligible to use WGU Career & Professional Development include those who have been judged by a court of law in the United States to be engaged in illegal activities
- Employers who are involved in strikes and are hiring for positions which are included in the affected bargaining units
- Employers who misrepresent their organization by providing dishonest information or omitting critical information
- Fraud
- Complaints by students or alumni
- Harassment of Western Governors University students, alumni, or staff
- Breach of confidentiality as required by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
- Requiring, at the time of application, personal information such as bank account information and social security numbers
- Positions not likely of interest to college students or alumni.
- Postings requiring donations, application fees, investments, offering items or services for sale cannot be advertised.
- Failure to adhere to WGU Career & Professional Development policies, and/or violation of rules and regulations, and local, State, or Federal laws.
- Employers who violate equal opportunity and affirmative action prinicples set forth by Western Governors University and the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). Employers are expected to provide reasonable accommodations upon request.
Commissioned-based Positions
Employers using the WGU Career & Professional Development services will offer regular/base salaries for positions. A draw against future earnings does not constitute a salary. Employers offering commission-based positions may post job listings in our job database provided they are full-time career opportunities. No commission-based part-time or internship positions will be posted, unless approved by Career & Professional Development on a case-by-case basis.
Network Marketing & Similar Organizations
These organizations are not considered “employers” by Career & Professional Development and are not eligible to participate in resume referrals, job listings, emails to students and employer presentations. WGU Career & Professional Development considers organizations that engage in either or both of the following to be Network Marketing Organizations:
- Sponsoring or hiring an individual to set up their own business for the purpose of selling products or services and/or recruiting other individuals to set up their own business.
- Requiring an initial cash or capital investment, account balance or similar fiscal requirements from this individual, with the organization itself serving as an umbrella or parent corporation. The initial investment may include but is not limited to such things as direct payment of a fixed fee, payment to attend an orientation or training session, and/or purchase of a starter kit.
Recruiting for Internships
Employers recruiting interns must abide by all policies including the criteria set forth by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). To ensure that an experience—whether it is a traditional internship or one conducted remotely or virtually—is educational, and thus eligible to be considered a legitimate internship by the NACE definition, all the following criteria must be met:
- The experience must be an extension of the classroom: a learning experience that provides for applying the knowledge gained in the classroom. It must not be simply to advance the operations of the employer or be the work that a regular employee would routinely perform.
- The skills or knowledge learned must be transferable to other employment settings.
- The experience has a defined beginning and end, and a job description with desired qualifications.
- There are clearly defined learning objectives/goals related to the professional goals of the student’s academic coursework.
- There is supervision by a professional with expertise and educational and/or professional background in the field of the experience.
- There is routine feedback by the experienced supervisor.
- There are resources, equipment, and facilities provided by the host employer that support learning objectives/goals.
WGU does not have a formal internship program, thus students are not able to achieve academic credit for internships. However, we do encourage students to participate in internships and other experiential learning opportunities to gain experience in their perspective career field(s).
Internships with for-profit companies should be paid at least minimum wage. For-profit companies offering unpaid, stipend, and/or internships that require credit must uphold the Department of Labor’s Fair Labor Standards Act Internship Fact Sheet #71.
Start Ups
WGU Career & Professional Development has established these criteria for identifying appropriate entrepreneurial employment opportunities for promotion through its services. Start-ups must have progressed sufficiently in their business development process so that they can:
- Provide a company name, business address, website and email address, and identify a principal as the key contact;
- Verify that they are not seeking potential partners or investors;
- Confirm that they have obtained the necessary business licenses and Tax ID’s as well as sufficient funding, including identifying their funding model and investors, if requested;
- Offer positions for pay, not just for equity; pay must meet state minimum wage expectations;
- Provide clearly defined organization and position descriptions in the job database.
Adult Entertainment
Employers may not post any positions related to the adult entertainment industry.
Expectations of Users
Job Offer & Acceptance Policies
Stipulated in the NACE Principles for Professional Conduct, "Employment professionals will refrain from any practice that improperly influences and affects job acceptances. Such practices may include undue time pressure for acceptance of employment offers and encouragement of revocation of another employment offer.
Employment professionals will strive to communicate decisions to candidates within the agreed-upon time frame.”
WGU Career & Professional Development expects employers to allow students and alumni sufficient time to weigh employment options and make informed decisions. (See Exploding Offers/Excessive Pressure below.) Similarly, we discourage students from making rushed decisions about offers for which they cannot fully abide. Such hasty decisions create discord and distress for all parties.
Exploding Offers / Excessive Pressure
WGU Career & Professional Development defines an exploding offer as any offer that does not conform to the aforementioned timetables. Employers should not make offers or pressure students to accept “early” offers including those requiring a quick response time, nor should they attach incentives involving diminishing bonuses, reduced options for location preferences, etc. Further, asking a student if he or she is ready to make a decision on the spot or providing the student with a hypothetical situation involving a potential offer are also considered inappropriate.
Exploding offers put undue pressure on students to make decisions before completing the interviewing process. Students may not be ready to make a final decision before completing all their interviews. Further, pressure to accept early compromises our efforts to enforce our student policy against reneging.
Reporting of Hiring Information
WGU Career & Professional Development requests employers to inform us of all offers of employment that are extended to students and alumni in order to help maintain accurate statistics regarding student employment. Employment records are kept confidential and used only for statistical data.
Right to Refuse Service
We reserve the right to refuse service to employers for factors such as the following:
- Misrepresentation by dishonesty or lack of information
- Fraud
- Complaints by students
- Harassment of WGU students, alumni, or staff
- Breach of confidentiality
- Requiring, at the time of application, personal information such as bank and social security numbers
- Positions not likely of interest to college students or alumni
- Excessive outlay of personal funding required to obtain the position
- Failure to adhere to WGU Career & Professional Development policies and/or any violation of rules and regulations, and local, state, or federal laws