University of Leeds - vacancy advertising policy

Our vacancy policy is designed to ensure organisations that want to advertise opportunities to our students are aware of and adhere to our terms and conditions when using our online job portal.

Advertising an opportunity

We can advertise a range of opportunities including: graduate vacancies, work experience opportunities and a small number of further study opportunities which are relevant to our students and graduates’ interests.

You can advertise your opportunities using our online job portal MyCareer.

We aim to:

Provide the widest range of opportunities possible to students and graduates.
Support the business needs of organisations wishing to engage with our students.
Follow sector good practice.
Adhere to advertising legislation.

We reserve the right not to advertise vacancies which in our sole opinion are not suitable for promotion through our service, or which we feel are not in the best interests of our students and graduates.

Posting employment opportunities

Key principles (via MyCareer vacancies)

We ask that you:

Describe opportunities accurately.
Provide all key information as set out in our online vacancy submission form (we may edit vacancy submissions at our sole discretion to fit a standard format).
Provide a closing date for applications. If a closing date is not provided, we will post the advert for one month.
Tell us if the vacancy gets filled before the end of the advertised period.
Do not promote roles that place a student or graduate in circumstances of undue health and/or safety risk.

UK Opportunities must have full compliance with UK law, including:

The National Minimum Wage Act 1998.
Relevant health and safety legislation.
The UK Equality Act 2010. This means they do not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, disability, socio-economic status, age, or sexual preference, unless:
- There is a genuine occupational requirement, covered by the relevant legislation, which permits exemption from this legislation.
- The vacancy aims to provide people from a particular group (or groups) the opportunity to compete for work in areas in which they have been under-represented or absent.
In both of the previous cases, employers must quote the relevant section of the act and applicable website that outlines the legislation.

Opportunities outside of the UK:

Must comply with employment law (including national or local minimum wage requirements) in the relevant jurisdiction.
For countries without minimum wage legislation, we require confirmation this role meets local cost of living.
Virtual opportunities including internships and consultancy projects require that the individual is paid an appropriate remuneration for the work the student completes.

Vacancy posting terms (via MyCareer vacancies)

We will advertise:

Opportunities for a maximum of three months, though these can be extended before their expiration date.
Commission-based opportunities where there is a base salary equivalent to at least the national minimum wage, or meets a specific country cost of living.
Project-based work, eg paid per article where the pro rata salary at least meets national minimum wage legislation.
Opportunities which are written in full English or advertised with an accompanying English translation, which also include a full description and application requirements (we won’t advertise opportunities that specify a ‘native’ speaker is required – instead this should be referenced as ‘fluent’).

We will not advertise for organisations and vacancies that:

Do not meet the equality requirements, national minimum wage or other employment legislation.
Require the student/graduate to be self-employed or work in a freelance capacity to take up the opportunity unless the roles are paid at least minimum wage as applied in the UK. We recommend any intellectual property/copyright status between the organisation and student be negotiated and clarified before any freelance or self-employed role is accepted.
Require the applicants to work for an individual or work in a private household.
Are unpaid or lower than national minimum wage. This includes expenses only work and overseas volunteering work.
Are unpaid or lower than national minimum wage unless the role is a required part of a UK-based further or higher education course.
Are advertised by recruitment agencies or third parties who are unable to name the client and opportunities posted by jobs boards for the purpose of signposting to their own website.
Involve students sharing or undertaking academic-related material for use by other students.
Have misleading, incomplete or inaccurate job descriptions.
We consider to risk damaging the reputation of the University of Leeds.
Are not of undergraduate or graduate level.
Are in or connected to the tobacco or nicotine industries.
Are perceived to endorse ‘study aids’ or natural highs designed to enhance student study.
Require the post holder/student to pay a fee or invest in the role (except in the case of postgraduate study where students may incur some expense).
Advertise opportunities which contain an unpaid 'trial period' as part of the assessment process.
Are commission-only sales, or telesales/desk-based sales roles.
Are not represented by the degree courses provided by the University of Leeds.
Are suspected to be illegal, oppressive, exploitative or discriminatory (patent trolling, adult/sex industry, pyramid selling schemes etc. This list is not exhaustive).
Are reported as engaging in unprofessional conduct.
Require a photograph of the applicant as part of the application process.
Require our students/graduates to apply via a premium rate phone number.
Are believed to be impersonating any person(s) or misrepresenting your identity or affiliation with any person(s) or entity.
Are delivered in hard copy (we will not distribute flyers, posters or similar material).
Are charged where the University of Leeds already offers the equivalent service free of charge.

We will also not normally accept opportunities from organisations who do not have a valid company website, full postal address or whose sole email address is with a webmail account provider.

Organisations should be aware of degree course obligations and should not require students to work in excess of 20 hours per week, except during vacation periods in the academic calendar.

Posting volunteering opportunities (via the Leeds volunteering hub)

Vacancy posting terms

The University of Leeds has a dedicated Volunteering Team, who manage the advertisement and promotion of volunteering opportunities in the Leeds volunteering hub on MyCareer.

We will:

Only advertise unpaid volunteering roles for charities, voluntary organisations, statutory bodies, community groups and not for profit social enterprises such as Community Interest Companies (CICs) and Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs).
Only publish volunteering opportunities which are appropriate for students, where levels of expectation are realistic and where voluntary activity will not replace the work of paid members of staff.
Prioritise volunteering opportunities in the Leeds and West Yorkshire area.
Promote virtual and distant opportunities that meet the vacancy and volunteering policies criteria.
Only publish volunteering roles that fit around students’ academic commitments during term time. A guide timescale for this is no more than 15 hours per week.
Edit opportunity submissions at our sole discretion to fit a standard format.
Consider each opportunity on a case-by-case basis.

We ask that you:

Provide all the key information required when uploading an opportunity including confirmation that you have public liability insurance in place.
Describe opportunities accurately.
Post opportunities in a timely manner to ensure widest possible publication.
Screen potential volunteers appropriately (including carrying out DBS checks as required) to determine whether they are suitable for the advertised roles.
Provide volunteers with adequate induction, training, support and supervision which should include a health and safety briefing.
Report to the Volunteering Team the number of University of Leeds students who volunteer (including their details) and where possible the number of hours undertaken.
Inform the Volunteering Team of any accidents or near misses involving student volunteers.

We will not advertise opportunities described as ‘volunteering’ for organisations that promote:

International volunteering roles unless funded.
Unpaid internships or placements.
Volunteering roles where an upfront (refundable or otherwise) payment is required eg festival volunteer roles where volunteers are expected to purchase a ticket before volunteering commences.
Roles for organisations which are overtly political or require a volunteer to be from a particular faith background.
Fundraising volunteering activities that solely involve the collection of sponsorships/donations such as skydive/running a marathon or bucket collections etc. (For this type of activity we have an active Raise and Give Society within Leeds University Union).
Translation and interpretation roles where translation of official documents is required. We will however promote language café/conversation facilitation roles.
Sports coaching: we will only advertise volunteering roles for sports coaching where the volunteer is assisting and supporting a paid coach.
Roles that are presented to us as unpaid but are advertised as paid elsewhere.

Terms of advertising

Although we attempt to limit access to students and graduates of the University of Leeds via our secure website, any information sent is still being placed in the public domain and could potentially be accessed by anyone.
Please note that vacancy adverts still including statements along the lines of: ‘must be able to/have permission to work in the UK’ will be rephrased as follows: ‘the successful candidate must, by the start of their employment, have permission to work in the UK’. This is because, while a correct term of employment law, the statement could be seen to contravene equality law.
There is no agency relationship between the Careers and Placements Service Centre and any organisation.
We reserve the right to refuse these services at our discretion and to alter these terms of service at any time.

To discuss any aspect of the vacancy advertising policy, please contact employerteam@leeds.ac.uk.