Career Services

Employer user policy

University of Washington Bothell Career Services offers facilities and services to bona fide employing organizations with full-time, or seasonal jobs, or internships. The following guidelines govern the manner in which employers may use Career Services to access candidates, in keeping with the mission and purpose of the department and the university. The guidelines aim to ensure that students have access to a wide range of opportunities, yet are protected from possible harm from prospective employers during the recruitment process and the employment experience.  If you have questions regarding this policy, please contact Director of Career Services, Kim Wilson at kwilson2@uw.edu. Please note that other UW school/college campus career centers may have additional policies for engagement with their students.  

Professional & Ethical Considerations

Employment/recruitment professionals are required to be working within a framework of professionally-accepted recruiting, interviewing, and selection techniques as stipulated in the NACE Principles for Ethical Professional Practice.

Selecting candidates

These Principles state that colleges and employers share the common goal to: maintain a recruitment process that is fair and equitable; support informed and responsible decision making by candidates. The principles for ethical professional practice outlined are based on notions of fairness, truthfulness, non-injury, confidentiality, and lawfulness.

Employers who act in accordance with these equal employment opportunity Principles, understand and expect students to receive open and equal access to information about all job opportunities and follow fair selection processes. In alignment with these expectations, UW Bothell staff and faculty will not screen, vet, choose or place students for roles when requested by employers.

  • Employment/recruitment professionals will maintain confidentiality of student/alumni information regardless of the source and will not release it to any other organization without the prior written consent of the student/alum.
  • Candidates should be allowed a substantial response time to reflect, consult and make an informed decision once an offer has been extended. Additional considerations can be found at the NACE website. Please note that some programs within the UW have more stringent guidelines (Computer Science & Engineering, Design, iSchool and more).
  • We expect every employer to take into consideration a student’s class schedule. Students should not be expected to miss classes for tests, interviews, or employer sponsored recruiting events. Please note that we require 72 hours’ notice to cancel a previously scheduled interview or event on-campus (with exception of Career Fairs). If, for some reason, an employer is unable to attend a scheduled interview session, we expect that they will contact students directly in order to reschedule, as well as letting our department know of the cancellation.
  • For any roles – internships and jobs – in which a student would be involved in the development of ideas, processes or protocols that could lead to Intellectual Property such as actual technology, patentable subject matter, copyrighted materials or trademarks or similar, we require that the student be working with a UW Faculty Member Sponsor throughout the duration of the experience.
  • Employers must adhere to local mandates regarding public health and safety in their office environments.
  • As of January 1, 2023, the Equal Pay & Opportunities Act goes into effect for the State of Washington; employers are expected to follow the provision about pay transparency in job postings.

Prohibited Actions

  • Employers working with Career Services are not allowed to require a fiscal investment from candidates, such as (but not limited to) requiring candidates to purchase a franchise, purchase supplies, pay for training or orientation, invest or pay a ‘start-up’ or application/access fee, or similar as a condition of employment.  
  • Employers are not allowed to request highly sensitive personal data (i.e. social security number, bank account information) at the time of application.
  • The use of alcohol and other drugs by minors at any point during on-or-off-campus recruiting is prohibited. 
  • As UW is a non-commercial campus, employers are not allowed to recruit for positions whose duties will involve the on-campus sale or promotion of products, goods or services to UW students, faculty or staff (e.g. Campus Brand Ambassadors).
  • Exploding offers and special incentives such as diminishing bonuses or location preference should not be used to encourage early acceptance of a job offer.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Expectations

  • Follow all applicable laws pertaining to equal employment opportunity, as well as the UW equal employment opportunity guidelines
  • Act without bias and ensure equitable access, as laid out in the NACE Principles for Ethical Professional Practice
  • Do not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, gender identity, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, disability, age, economic status, or veteran status during any portion of the recruiting process.
  • Provide screening, interviewing, and workplace environments free of sex- and gender-based violence and harassment.
  • Provide reasonable accommodations upon request.

Financial Requirements

  • Some services and facilities provided to employers include upfront fees which are known in advance and which the employer must remit to the University in a timely basis. A finance charge to employers may be added to past due balances at a periodic rate of 1% per month or 12% annually.  A late fee of $25.00 may be charged if payment is 60 days past due.
  • Employers who are behind on their fees due to Career Services may be prohibited from further engagement.
  • In alignment with the US Department of Labor rules, we require for-profit employers to pay their interns the prevailing wage.  Unpaid internships at for-profit companies will not be posted.  Academic credit is not a form of compensation for internships, but rather a cost to the student paying tuition to enroll in the class. 
  • Employers offering commission-based positions may post job listings to Handshake provided they are full-time career opportunities, as opposed to internships or part-time roles.

Handshake Employer Request 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 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 operational. Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter company pages are not sufficient.
    • A business license from the state in which your company operates their business
  • In addition to the above listed elements, employers may be subject to additional requirements; please review the other guidelines on this page.
  • Household/Domestic needs: Due to limited candidate interest, we do not post domestic/household postings to Handshake. Households are welcome to post with the UW Daily (the UW’s centralized student newspaper) which publishes ‘Classified’ advertisements in both its physical circulation on campus as well as online. 

Start-Up Requirements

  • 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 Handshake.

Third Party Employer Requirements

  • Third-party employers may post positions through the Handshake portal and attend career fairs, with the understanding that the name of the client must be disclosed if requested by Career Services.
  • Under no circumstances may fees be charged to candidates.
  • Career Services reserves the right to verify any client information provided by a Third Party Recruiter and reserves the right to enact further allowances or restrictions at their discretion.

Disclaimers

  • Career Services strives to apply these guidelines consistently, but reserves the right to use discretionary judgment based on an organization’s circumstances when determining whether to further grant or limit access beyond this policy.
  • All hiring and compensation for work performed by student employees is handled directly between the student and the employer. Career Services does not perform background checks on students applying for jobs, nor on employers posting job opportunities.
  • Employers and students are encouraged to request reference information from each other as needed to establish qualifications, credentials and overall fit between the employer and the student applicant.