OFFER GUIDELINES

Policy Guidelines for Internship and Full Time Offers

Students need time to make informed decisions when comparing and responding to offers. The best practices among employers with a history of recruitment success at Purdue are to give students most of the fall semester, or at least several weeks, to make informed decisions. This length of time serves to protect employers’ campus reputation and helps make job offer acceptance decisions final. We strongly advise that companies offer reasonable extensions to deadlines when requested so that the student has an opportunity to honor interview and site visit obligations. We appreciate the cooperation employers have shown in the past, and ask for your continued flexibility this year. 

Full-time offers to summer interns

We ask that employers who extend an offer for full-time employment to a previous intern allow the student most of the returning semester (through mid-October) to respond to that offer, without pressure to respond on an earlier date.

Exploding Offers/Excessive Pressure

Employers are strongly discouraged from making offers with timing-based consequences such as diminishing bonuses or reduced options for location preferences. Furthermore, asking a student if he or she is ready to make a decision on the spot, or asking a student to respond to a hypothetical offer is considered an unacceptable practice. Exploding offers put undue pressure on students and compromises our efforts to enforce our student policy against reneging.

Timely Communication

Employers are expected to keep students informed of hiring timelines and their status in the hiring process and to communicate hiring decisions within an appropriate time frame.

Full Disclosure

Start dates: We ask that employers include a start date when the offer is made or outline a reasonable time frame for providing a start date and initial work location. Employers who anticipate start dates later than a few months after graduation must disclose this to students as part of the interview process. Open communication with the student is encouraged throughout the process.

Basis of compensation: For employers to schedule campus interviews, they must offer bona fide positions and be completely transparent with students on a compensation structure that is based upon partial or full commission. The employer shall disclose it in the job description and give an accurate estimate of expected earnings as well as fees associated with training to be covered by the employee.

Employment contracts: Purdue advises students and alumni to seek legal counsel before entering into any contractual agreement and expects that employers will allow a reasonable period of time for individuals to review any contract and seek advice before signing it.

The Center for Career Opportunities reserves the right to withdraw position postings and remove interview privileges when warranted by questionable recruitment practices or unethical behavior.

Rescinding Employment Offers

The Center for Career Opportunities strongly encourages employers to consider every alternative before revoking an offer of employment. Employers who cannot avoid rescinding or deferring employment are advised to consult with the Center prior to notifying the student(s) affected by this action. Employers’ campus reputation can be salvaged if they demonstrate that they have done everything possible to avoid rescinding offers and offer meaningful assistance mitigating the hardships this action will cause.