Start with your University Career Center Liaison

One of the best ways to connect with employers is to work with the University Career Center liaison to your department. Liaisons are in touch with employers who recruit at JMU and aware of trends in hiring for a variety of fields.

Find Employers Involved at JMU

Faculty can access Handshake to see what jobs and internships are available to students, view employer information, and see which employers are attending Career Fairs and other career related events. For the username and password to a generic account that can be used to access Handshake, contact us at handshake@jmu.edu.

You may also want to view our pages about On-Campus Interviews and the importance of Practice Interviewing to gain a better understanding of what On-Campus Recruiting is all about. We encourage you to promote Handshake to your students to make them aware of this resource.

Laws and Ethics of Student Hiring and Communication with Employers

As faculty invested in the success of our students, it is important for us to understand the legal and ethical issues surrounding student employment. The National Association of College Educators (NACE) has created a set of ethical standards for guiding the job-search process: A Faculty Guide to Ethical and Legal Standards in Student Hiring.

Some key points from the NACE article include:

  • The recruitment process should be fair and equitable.
  • Faculty and staff should practice reasonable, responsible and transparent behavior
  • Act without bias
  • Ensure equitable access
  • Comply with applicable local, state and federal laws and
  • Provide confidentiality of students’ career and recruitment related information 

Example: If you receive a request for student referrals from a company, the initial request from the employer should be sent to the college career center so that the position can be posted openly for all qualified candidates. If the opportunity is broadly posted, then it is generally acceptable for you to encourage students to apply for the position as well. Be mindful, however, that if you do choose to encourage students to apply, you should not limit such encouragement to only one class of individuals, or you could potentially expose yourself and the educational institution to a claim for discrimination.

Campus partners (faculty, staff, affiliates of JMU) should also not accept compensation of any kind for referring students to employers.

For additional information, see NACE's Principles for Ethical Professional Practice defined and an index of related ethical resources and case studies

Questions?

If you have any additional questions, please contact our Employer Services team at 540-568-7379 or handshake@jmu.edu.

Back to Top