Employer Policies

The Ventura College Career Development Center serves employers that offer bona fide full-time, part-time, internship, international, on-campus, and fellowship positions to enrolled students at Ventura College through services including but not limited to job/internship postings, career fairs, information sessions and on-campus recruiting. 

We reserve the right to refuse service to employers at the discretion of the Career Development Center staff due to any objectionable activities, including, but not limited to: requiring at the time of application personal information such as bank and social security number; misrepresentation by dishonest information or absence of information; student complaints; fraud; failure to adhere to Career Development Center policies or any violation of Ventura College, local, state, or federal laws.

Your use of both our services and the Handshake career services platform constitutes your binding agreement to the following policies.

NOTE: These principles are not all-inclusive; they are intended to serve as a framework within which the career planning, placement, and recruitment processes should function, and as a foundation upon which professionalism can be promoted.

• Ventura College Career Development Center will provide services and recruiting opportunities to organizations/companies/employers provided they:
  • Offer bona fide full-time, part-time, internship, international, on-campus, and fellowship positions to enrolled Ventura College students and alumni.
  • Adhere to the employment guidelines as designated by the U.S. Department of Labor, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the EEOC guidelines , NACE Principles for Professional Conduct, Ventura Community College District Policies & Procedures and local, state, and federal laws. It is unlawful for an employer to use screening criteria based on race, gender, ethnicity, marital status, disability, age, etc.
  • In accord with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, ensure that candidate information provided to employers is released only to the identified employer. Re-disclosure of candidate information is not permitted.
  • Maintain an open and free selection of employment opportunities in an atmosphere conducive to objective thought, where job candidates can choose optimum long term uses of their talents that are consistent with personal objectives and all relevant facts. Abide by the "Job Offer Policies" listed below.
  • Avoid serving or offering student alcohol at recruiting events, including having an open bar, a paid bar, or holding a recruiting event in a bar is inappropriate.
  • Do not offer opportunities involved in unauthorized solicitation, posting of materials, or sale of products and services.
  • Do not require any type of payment or investment - with the organization itself serving as an umbrella or parent corporation. Investments of this type may include, but are not limited to: requirement to attend unpaid orientation or training sessions; direct payment of a fixed fee; direct payment to be placed into a job or internship, requirement to pay an application fee, payment to attend orientation or training sessions; and/or purchase or rent of a starter kit, sales kit, samples, or presentation supplies.
  • Are willing to provide written documentation of registration with a Better Business Bureau if so requested.
  • Use a valid email address, preferably that matches the company’s website.
  • In the registration process, provide a complete company address, thorough description of the company, working website, and employer full first and last name. Individuals registering for any services without the proper identifying information will not be granted recruiting privileges.
  • Adhere to and follow the Job Offer Policies listed near the end of this document.
• When posting any type of position in Handshake employers must adhere to the above and also must:
  • Accurately describe the responsibilities and requirements of all posted positions.
  • Provide essential information concerning the nature of the position or compensation, including, but not limited to: commission only, job responsibilities, salary, applicant requirements.
  • List in the position description if a position is commission only and clearly publicize this in the “Salary Level” fields.
  • Pay at least the California State minimum wage if the position is indicated as “paid” (calculated over any time scale such as hourly, weekly, semi-monthly, monthly or annually).
  • Not require information from candidates that could act as an unlawful screening criteria such as a photo or access to social media unless it can be proven that it is related to the job.
• Third party employers (employment agencies and search firms) must adhere to the above and also must:
  • Identify themselves as a third party and state so at the top of all job postings (ex. “We are a third party recruiter seeking candidates on behalf of our client.”).
  • Identify, should it be requested, information regarding the nature of the relationship between the agency and the employer and permit Career Services to verify this information by contacting the employer being represented. However, they do not need to reveal the identity of the employer being represented in the job postings.
  • Provide a position description for valid openings.
  • Not use, take, download, or in any other manner obtain the employer job postings in order to populate their own organization's database of job openings. This means you may not sell, transfer, or in any other manner provide access to job postings to any person or entity outside of your organization, other than to provide information on a perspective job candidate to a client organization that has an actual job opening or has a need for a temporary worker.
  • Refrain from postings that contain URLs or links to websites to advertise your company or website, or to your job-posting area or encourage the user to “email for more details.
• Employers with commission-based or franchise opportunities must adhere to the above and also must:
  • Disclose that compensation is based partially or solely on commission.
  • Do not require that any part of the compensation be associated with recruiting others.
  • Disclose the opportunity is running one’s own business through a franchise.
  • Do not charge penalties, fees or withhold earnings if the franchise leaves the program.
• Employers recruiting interns must adhere to the above and also must:
  • Abide by the criteria for an experience to be defined as an internship, set forth by National Association of Colleges and Employers Position Statement on U.S. Internships.
  • Clearly demonstrate that the position is primarily for the educational and career training benefit of the student and does not involve more than 20% clerical work. There must be supervision by professional staff, ongoing training, and feedback.
  • Not guarantee compensation contingent on trial or training period, and/or guarantee employment to potential interns.
  • Offer qualifying compensation for the internship; 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 Dept of Labor’s Fair Labor Standards Act Internship Fact Sheet #71 six criteria proving that an employee relationship does not exist:
    • The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment;
    • The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern;
    • The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff;
    • The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded;
    • The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship;
    • The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internships.
    • Complete requested documentation and evaluations of intern provided by the college or faculty member (for academic internships).
• When posting any type of position and when communicating with Ventura College students, employer communications may not contain:
  • Copyrighted material (unless you own the copyright or have the owner's permission to post the copyrighted material).
  • Trade secrets (unless you own them or have the owner's permission to post them).
  • Material that infringes on or misappropriates any other intellectual property rights, or violates the privacy or publicity rights of others.
  • Anything that is illegal, obscene, defamatory, threatening, or abusive.
  • Requests to provide social media usernames, account names, or passwords to access social media accounts.
  • False, inaccurate, or misleading information.
  • Advertisements or solicitations of business (including, but not limited to, multi-level marketing [MLM] positions, e-mail processors, “club memberships,” distributorships, or anything requiring a monetary investment by the user).
  • Advertisements or solicitations for employment in the pornography industry.
  • Chain letters or pyramid schemes.
  • Opinions or notices, commercial or otherwise.
• Grievances
  • Career Development Center staff will investigate all allegations by users of our services about job postings, employers, or work assignments. During an investigation, we may revoke an employer’s use of our services. If Career Development Center determines that a complaint is justified, we may choose not to offer recruiting activities to the employer. Career Development Center will notify the employer in writing of the decision. Such grievances may be grounds for report to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), and subsequent removal from the Handshake system.
• Exceptions to Our Policies
  • We reserve the right to make exceptions to our policies for situations we deem to be acceptable and beneficial to our students, our department, or recruiters using our service. Such exceptions will be considered on a case by case basis, and do not constitute a change in policy, or a decision that this exception will be made again in the future.

Job Offer Policies

Ventura College Career Development Center strives to support employers with their recruiting efforts and assist our students in making informed career decisions.
Thus, we expect that all employers abide by the following offer policy which allows students sufficient time to carefully consider employment options and act in accordance with the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Principles of Professional Conduct which state, “Employment professionals will refrain from any practice that improperly influences and affects job acceptance. Such practices may include undue time pressure for acceptance of employment offers and encouragement of revocation of another employment offer.” Ventura College Career Development Center understands that the landscape of recruitment is very competitive, especially when searching for the best talent. We have established these guidelines to provide students and employers a fair, transparent and up-to-date framework for managing the offer phase of the recruitment process.

Timing for Offers and Decisions
Students need time to make informed decisions when comparing and responding to offers. To facilitate this process, please provide students with a MINIMUM of two weeks from the date of the written offer, but preferably longer, to accept or decline. In some cases, students may ask for extensions beyond this deadline; we encourage you to accommodate their requests whenever possible.

Excessive Pressure/Exploding Offers
It is important to keep in mind that Ventura College students are pursuing programs to further their professional training and skill development; please do not make job offers that pressure students to terminate or leave their program of study prior to completion.

An exploding offer is 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 to make a decision on the spot is also considered inappropriate.

Exploding offers put undue pressure on students to make decisions before completing the interview process and does not give them ample time to weigh employment options and make informed decisions. We discourage student to make rushed decisions about offers for which they cannot fully abide. Such hasty decisions create discord and distress for all parties involved.

Full Disclosure
All offer letters must include a start date.

Rescinding Employment Offers
We strongly encourage employers to consider every alternative before revoking an offer of employment. NACE recommends that employers who must revoke a commitment demonstrate they have done everything possible to avoid rescinding offers, and to then consider alternatives. Before rescinding an offer, please notify our office to explore alternatives and share relevant circumstances.

Consequences
Employers violating any of these policies may be denied access to the recruiting program for the following season. Each circumstance will be evaluated on a case by case basis.