Vacancy Policy

The University of Careers Service uses Handshake to provide employers with the opportunity to promote vacancies and opportunities to Cambridge students, alumni and our post-doctoral research community.

All vacancies should be posted via Handshake and are subject to screening by a member of the Careers team. Further information is available at Handshake UK Terms of Service.

Guidance for employers on how to access and utilise the platform is available here.

If you have any additional questions or would like assistance in promoting your opportunities at Cambridge then please get in touch with the Employer & Alumni Engagement Team employers@careers.cam.ac.uk

  • We require that all organisations provide sufficient company information before approval, including a company description, live website, and company registration number. All vacancies must also have a complete job description and application details.
  • All details on the vacancy advert must be true to the best of the employer’s knowledge.
  • Opportunities should be written in or include English translation so that we can judge their relevance to our students.
  • We reserve the right to advertise only roles that meet criteria of relevance to our users.
  • We encourage employers to place their vacancies on Handshake with a realistic lead time before the deadline to allow us time to publish them, and to give students time to engage with them.
  • Graduate or internship opportunities offered in countries outside the UK must comply with the relevant country’s employment legislation.
  • We will only advertise vacancies for a maximum of 12 months.
  • We will not normally advertise year-long industrial placements, as Cambridge students do not usually complete these.
  • Any vacancy advertisements including eligibility to work statements such as ‘must have right to work in the UK’. See International students & visa sponsorship/compliance

Opportunities we are able to advertise:

  • Graduate-level vacancies and/or recruitment schemes with an immediate or future start date.
  • Internship opportunities for graduates, or which take place outside of term time (term dates here). (Advertisements for internships should follow the Common Best Practice Code for High-Quality Internships produced by the Gateways to the Professions Collaborative Forum).
  • Voluntary work with a registered charitable organisation.
  • Experiential learning opportunities of a maximum of 5 days. (These opportunities should be clearly educational and not require any work* on behalf of the student/graduate). *As defined by the National Minimum Wage legislation.
  • Committee positions and paid roles available at Cambridge University Student societies or sports clubs (societies policy here).

Opportunities we are unable to advertise:

Opportunities which are not relevant to Cambridge students, as they are:

  • not of graduate calibre.
  • industrial placements or sandwich years, as these are not normally offered in Cambridge degrees.
  • not relevant to programmes and courses offered by the University of Cambridge.

Opportunities which are not appropriate for Cambridge students as they:

  • require term-time working from an undergraduate student and full-time masters students (term dates here).
  • involve students writing academic essays or personal statements for use by other students or helping prospective students with their applications to the University of Cambridge. Such roles go against the University’s Widening Participation Agenda.
  • promote services to our students and graduates at a cost and/or the university already offers the equivalent service free of charge.

Opportunities which do not comply with our Handshake guidelines:

  • incomplete job description or company information.
  • request a ‘native speaker(s)’ - the text should instead refer to the level of language fluency required.
  • based in a private household or are being promoted on the behalf of individuals.

Opportunities which we cannot condone as they:

  • discriminate on the basis of race, gender, disability, socio-economic status, age or sexual preference or any other protected characteristic.
  • promote or endorse illegal activity, including pyramid selling or related financial schemes, or which risk reputational damage to the University of Cambridge.
  • represent an undue health or safety risk to the student or when current UK Foreign Office advice is not to travel to the region/s in question.

Opportunities which would be better posted elsewhere, for example:

  • Opportunities which require experienced teachers or teaching qualifications such as ECT or QTS, as these are better posted elsewhere such as www.tes.com or teaching-vacancies.service.gov.uk
  • PhDs, Master’s courses or academic-related fellowships, which would be better advertised at www.jobs.ac.uk, at www.findamasters.com, or at www.findaphd.com.
  • Scholarships and competitions, which should instead be sent to enquiries@careers.cam.ac.uk for consideration for inclusion on the Careers Service blog.
  • We would not normally advertise vocational opportunities e.g. for students or graduates to practice as medics or veterinarians. Employers seeking graduates to practice in these fields should contact the appropriate Faculty.

Wage Requirements

  • All opportunities must offer a salary which meets the National Minimum Wage legislation of the country in which the role would be based (UK National Minimum Wage here).
  • We do not advertise unpaid vacancies or internships, unless the employer is a registered charity.
  • We do not post opportunities which require an applicant to pay an upfront fee, and/or to do an unpaid trial or training period.

International students & visa sponsorship/compliance

We encourage Employers to consider students of all nationalities when advertising roles with us.

To ensure compliance with UK law when advertising opportunities that are not eligible for visa sponsorship, we recommend using the following wording: “Please note that all applicants must be able to demonstrate that they are eligible to work in the United Kingdom at the point at which the role commences."

The responsibility for ensuring compliance with UKVI regulations when employing students and graduates on contracts lies with the host employer. Cambridge Careers Service takes no responsibility for any breach of regulations.

Please visit the Home Office website for information on the Graduate Visa Route and the Skilled Worker [or other] routes. 

Recruitment Agencies

  • We do not promote requests for our students or graduates to register with recruitment intermediaries.
  • Recruitment firms acting on behalf of a client should request access from the relevant employer to be added to their Handshake account, allowing them to post vacancies on the employer’s behalf. Or, if their client does not have a presence on Handshake, with permission from their client they should register a profile in their client’s name and add the vacancy to that profile.
  • If this is not possible the recruitment agent may exceptionally post vacancies, but they must reveal the name of their client to the Careers Service, and also publish the name of the employer within the vacancy itself. We may require evidence that the agency has permission to act on their client’s behalf.
  • Any graduate or internship opportunities with the recruitment intermediary itself will be treated in line with our vacancy policy.

Teaching English as a Foreign Language

  • We will only host one Teaching English as a Foreign Language advert per organisation at any one time. This may contain a summary of the range of opportunities the organisation has and include detailed information about eligibility requirements, benefits and what is or is not included.
  • We will not publish adverts which request a ‘native English speaker(s)’; the text should instead refer to the level of fluency required.
  • The organisation must have a website in English which confirms the details available in the advertisement.
  • We are also unable to advertise opportunities which are submitted to us via third party agencies working on behalf of TEFL education providers.

Opportunities at the University of Cambridge

The University and Colleges offer a wide range of financial support to help manage the costs of university study and students are not expected to undertake significant amounts of paid work during term time as this may prove detrimental to their studies or ability to participate in University life.

However, there may be a few opportunities available within the University and Colleges that are exceptions to this, such as working with elements of Education Services e.g. in participatory research groups, supporting the institution’s outreach activities or providing input into initiatives for the benefit of the student community. There may also be opportunities within Colleges e.g. working within the libraries or other College facilities.

University of Cambridge Careers Service
May 2024