Employer Engagement & Student Employment

Career ZoneEmployer Engagement & Student EmploymentRecruitmentWork placementsEmployers' Guide to PlacementsEmployment Offer and Placement Paperwork

Employment Offer and Placement Paperwork

Making the offer 

Once you’ve identified a successful candidate and want to move forward with an offer, you may need to consider one or more of the following: 

  • Right to work check  

  • Medical questionnaires and making reasonable adjustments 

  • Making a written offer of employment (though do note that a verbal offer can be considered by the candidate as legally binding) 

  • Preparations for induction (see below section) 

Further guidance on making the appointment can be found on this CIPD factsheet. 

Placement paperwork 

Once an offer has been made, we ask the student to fill out a form via Handshake (our careers platform) to confirm the details of their placement. This form must be complete and fully approved before the student can commence the placement. 

In this form, we ask for a range of information such as: 

  • the full legal name of the employer,  

  • address details of the organisation and place of work,  

  • a brief description of the student’s roles and responsibilities,  

  • details of employment e.g. dates and salary,  

  • health & safety considerations,  

  • COVID-19 information etc. 

Crucially, the University requires the student to identify a main point of contact at the organisation via which we can confirm placement details and forward any paperwork for approval/signature. 

The paperwork sent to employer will depend on whether the placement is paid or not. When the placement is paid - i.e where a contract of employment has been issued to the student - we will issue a Letter of Expectation outlining the respective responsibilities of the organisation, student and University for the duration of the placement.  

If the placement is unpaid, we will normally issue a tri-partite agreement which outlines the responsibilities of all parties. 

Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) 

As part of the assessment process, students may need to reflect on their experiences and/or demonstrate their understanding of a particular sector or business. This may require them to draw on sensitive information from their host organisation. The University’s legal team can issue Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) to ensure that any confidential information is not shared. 

Support from the Placement Team 

The University provides support to students in preparing them for the transition from campus life to a professional working environment. Students will have access to advice from the Placement Learning Team and academic leads on the relevant modules for the duration of their time away from the University. Through this, we will ensure that students are ‘workplace ready’ so they can demonstrate the personal and professional behaviours necessary and thus make a valuable contribution whilst on placement.