Offer Guidelines

Engineering Career Services recognizes that the recruiting process consists of important decisions for both students and employers. It is our belief that students who make hasty or ill-timed decisions do not have the opportunity to fully explore their options, which may result in reneging on job offers. To prevent this, we ask our employers to consider the following:

Offer Deadlines

  • For autumn offers: Please give students a minimum of 3 weeks from the time of offer or until November 1st, whichever comes later, to make a decision.  For offers made from summer internships or co-ops, please take into consideration that students will make the most informed decision if they are given the chance to participate in fall recruiting and evaluate their options.   Our fall career fair (the E-Council Engineering Expo) will be held on September 18 & 19, 2023. 
  • For spring offers: Please give students a minimum of 3 weeks from the time of offer or until April 15th, whichever comes later, to make a decision.

Pressuring a student to accept quickly makes it harder for us to enforce our policy (see below) against reneging offers.

Offer Extension Considerations

At times students may make requests for extensions beyond these deadlines.  We hope that you will consider these requests so that the students have adequate time to explore other opportunities and seek appropriate counsel to ensure they are making the best decision.

Exploding Offers

Employers should refrain from exploding offers (offers that are retracted unless a candidate accepts it quickly), which do not give candidates an appropriate amount of time to accept or decline. This puts pressure on students to make a decision before they have completed the interviewing process.

Deferred Start Dates/Rescinded Offers

Most positions are offered on an “at will” basis; however, deferred start dates or rescinded offers are strongly discouraged as they negatively impact students’ employment opportunities and significantly limit their options. If a start date is deferred by more than three months in lieu of rescinding the job offer, you should maintain regular contact with the candidate before the start date. Rescinding an offer means the students must restart their job search, often after declining other offers. If you must delay start dates or rescind offers, we request that you notify our office prior to contacting students impacted by your decision. Our office will make evaluations on a case-by-case basis and reserves the right to deny an organization's campus recruiting services. You are encouraged to review the NACE Advisory Opinion regarding Deferred Start Dates/Rescinded Offers.

Reporting Hires

When a student accepts an offer to join your organization for either full-time, co-op, or internship opportunities, we strongly encourage you to inform our office by completing the Hire Reporting Form or email us the information. After you have notified us that a student has accepted a position, they are no longer eligible to use our services to look for other opportunities.

Student Reneges

ECS takes reneging seriously, and have processes in place to make sure the student is educated about the implications of taking this step. If they do not respond to our request to meet, it is grounds for exclusion from our services. Therefore, if a student reneges on a job offer with your company, please contact us immediately. 

Need to Know More?

For more information:
Amy Thaci, ECS Director
614-292-1137