Recruitment Policies

According to the National Association of College’s and Employers (NACE) Principles for Professional Practice, third-party employers are defined 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.

The mission of the Center for Career and Professional Development at Western Carolina University is to link students who seek pre- and post-graduate career opportunities with employers who wish to hire them. WCU does not provide resumes, access to student candidate information, or access to our online job listing service to third parties. Approved third-party employers may only participate in certain on-campus recruiting and career fair opportunities where they must adhere to our guidelines, policies, and national best practices as described in our Recruitment Policies section and NACE Principles for Professional Practice.

The CCPD reserves the right to deny participation, discontinue access, and terminate an employer account at any time.

Western Carolina University is committed to equal employment opportunity for all persons regardless of race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, age, national origin, citizenship status (as defined under the Immigration Reform and Control Act), disability, or National Guard or veteran status. Western Carolina University is also committed to provide all its programs and activities to its students and alumni on a nondiscriminatory basis.

Equal employment opportunity extends to all aspects of the employment relationship including hiring, recruiting, interviewing, selection, transfer, promotion, training, working conditions, compensation, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment.

Western Carolina University expects that any employer or third-party organization representing an employer that uses its facilities, including but not limited to the career services office, for the purpose of recruiting full-time, part-time, and temporary employees or interns and cooperative education students, complies with federal and state equal employment opportunity laws in its recruiting and hiring. Western Carolina University also expects that employers, third-party organizations, and their representatives strive to eliminate all forms of harassment, including sexual harassment in their recruiting, hiring, and selection process.

1. Cancellations: Employers that cancel interview schedules once the student sign-up window has opened are responsible for contacting students who were invited to interview to inform them of the cancellation.
2. Space available: During peak periods, CCPD may limit the number of interview rooms available for a given employer. Employers with a history of reserving more schedules than they can fill will be limited to one more room than was filled in the prior year.
3. Extra space/"room only": If you will need additional space for tests or administrative purposes, please request a "room only" at the time you request interview space, as same-day requests often can't be accommodated.
4. Missed deadlines: CCPD will make repeated efforts to contact employers who miss on-campus recruiting deadlines. However, should the employer fail to acknowledge reminder calls or e-mails, CCPD reserves the right to determine whether to change the schedule from pre-select to qualified open or to cancel the interview schedule.
5. Schedule issues: CCPD will make every effort to customize interview schedules to accommodate recruiters' needs; similarly, we will make every effort to ensure that only students who match the employer's stated qualifications and work authorization are able to interview. Employers who decide to remove individuals from interview schedules are responsible for notifying those candidates and explaining why they were removed.
6. Schedule timing: Employers should consider travel implications before interview schedules are finalized—or at least before student sign-up begins—to minimize conflicts on the interview date. WCU will gladly accommodate employers' schedule preferences when stated in advance. Please note that all interviews (and tests) should be planned to conclude by close of business at 5 p.m.
7. Intern housing: Intern employers should clearly specify the nature of any housing or relocation assistance in their interview information and company profile. WCU reserves the right to insert alerts in any posted information for those employers who do not provide assistance to ensure that students are able to make informed decisions.

As a NACE member Western Carolina University follows their Principles' document which states "Serving alcohol should not be part of the recruitment process on or off campus. This includes receptions, dinners, company tours, etc."

Given the concerns of colleges and universities about the abuse and misuse of alcohol by students, serving alcohol during the recruitment process sends the wrong message. Further, many college students are younger than the state's legal drinking age, and many college campuses have a zero-alcohol-tolerance policy in effect. Therefore, serving alcohol could be in violation of a state's law and a school's policy.

1. CCPD reserves the right to refuse service to any employer that violates the NACE Principles for Professional Practice or any WCU policy.
2. CCPD does not work with third parties. Please see our Third-Party Policy statement at the bottom of this page for more information.
3. CCPD reserves the right to refuse service to any employer if a review of the specific opportunity or nature/status of the company suggests that it is inappropriate for our service population; if students are injured or exposed to unsafe working conditions; if the employer discriminates; or if Western Carolina University receives student complaints about discrimination, harassment, threats, unsafe working conditions, or any other questionable circumstance.
4. CCPD will not provide service to any employer requiring upfront payment of any kind or the purchase of products or work equipment/tools (with the possible exception of safety equipment such as steel-toed boots).
5. Employers seeking to hire intern candidates must complete the WCU Memorandum of Agreement Form which is outlined in the Internship supervisors recieve at the start of the internship period. Western Carolina University employers are expected to abide by the policies outlined in this form.
6. In the event a Western Carolina University Intern experiences any harassment, actual or potential harm at the workplace, the employer's recruiting privileges will be suspended pending a resolution of the situation that is satisfactory to Western Carolina University.
7. CCPD does not recommend or select candidates for employers.
8. Your account as an employer provides you a limited, terminable right to access and use Western Carolina University’s JobCat site only for your internal business use to seek candidates for employment and scheduling interviews.

1. Job and internship postings must be actual, current openings for internships, and/or traditional, W-2 or 1099 full-or part-time employees.
2. Your postings or e-mails must contain sufficient detail to convey clearly to the user the nature and basic requirements of the job opportunity.
3. CCPD will review the employer's website and each description (whether a job listing, internship, or for an on-campus interview) for appropriateness. Opportunities suitable for other majors will be shared with the relevant department on-campus.
4. Intern employers should clearly specify the nature of any housing or relocation assistance in any interview information, posted job listings, and company profile. It is not appropriate to expect a student to relocate out of state without financial assistance or assistance locating appropriate, safe, affordable housing. CCPD reserves the right to insert alerts in any posted information for those employers that do not provide assistance to ensure that students are able to make informed decisions.
5. Intern employers are expected to follow the Department of Labor's guidelines  regarding paid and unpaid internship opportunities.
6. Your postings or e-mail communications may not contain anything that is sexually explicit, obscene, libelous, defamatory, threatening, harassing, abusive, or hateful; or anything that is embarrassing or offensive to another person or entity.
7. You may not use your postings or e-mail to post advertisements or solicitations for employment in the pornography industryor post pyramid schemes.
8. You may not use your postings or e-mail to post false, inaccurate, or misleading information.

In order to post a link to our website on our career resources for diverse populations page your website must meet the following criteria:

1. Your website must be free for students to register for and use.
2. Must be relevant to diverse populations listed on the site AND must be career related. 
3. WCU will only post one link per website. If you have multiple subpages, please provide us the link to your main page or menu page, or choose the subpage that you feel will most benefit the students at Western Carolina University.

We reserve the right to refuse addition to (or to facilitate removal of) your link from our page for factors such as the following:

• Misrepresentation by dishonesty or lack of information
• Fraud
• Complaints by students
• Harassment of WCU 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 our students or alumni
• Any violation of WCU rules and regulations, and local, state, or federal laws

To have your link referenced in our website please provide the following to careerservices@wcu.edu.

• Name of company/website
• Website URL
• What services does your website provide?
• Why do you feel that your website would be of benefit to WCU’s students?
• Does your website charge any fees?

1. CCPD will not give account access or forward resumes to home-based businesses.
2. CCPD will not send resumes to personal e-mail accounts.
3. We do not send resumes or give any employer passwords to corporate "student ambassadors" or "student campus recruiters." It is a violation of professional standards to provide a student's resume to a fellow student for review and decision-making.

1. CCPD strongly discourage employers from requesting that students provide official transcripts at the initial interview. The fee for processing official transcript requests can present a financial burden to students who actively participate in interviewing. Employers that simply want to see courses completed can do so by requesting an "unofficial" transcript, which students can download from their account at no charge.
2. Social security numbers should not be used during the hiring process.

1. The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) requires signed written consent from a student prior to the disclosure of personally identifiable information from education records by an educational institution. Students are required to sign such a consent form so that this office can legally provide their information to potential employers. Please refer students to the Career Center in this instance.
2. Employers should know that re-disclosure of student information is prohibited. In other words, employers who receive students' resumes and educational information may use it only for the original purpose for which disclosure was granted. Thus employers may not transmit (or re-disclose) student information to any other employer or third party, nor to others within the employing organization for any purpose other than employment purposes. If an organization improperly re-discloses student records, federal law prohibits that party from obtaining student records for a period of at least five years.
3. The University Office of Legal Affairs has advised all University faculty and staff that they are not to sign "hold harmless" agreements. Please have students bring "hold harmless" agreements to CCPD for processing.