Sonoma State University

Policies and Agreements

Current SSU Students: For currently registered and enrolled Sonoma State University students, full access to Career Center services are included in student fees. 

SSU Career Center services and events are not available to students or alumni of other CSU campuses.

 

Career Center events including fairs, workshops, mixers, and presentations are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Priority admission will be given to current SSU students. Limited capacity events typically require advanced registration via Handshake. 

Career Center events are wheelchair accessible. Individuals requiring language interpreters (including sign-language), real-time captioners, or other accommodations for an upcoming event should contact careercenter@sonoma.edu or (707) 664-2198.

The Career Center is committed to serving students of all backgrounds, identities, and experiences, including and not limited to race, color, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, marital status, pregnancy status, and physical or mental disabilities. The Career Center aims to facilitate identity-centered career education through personalized advising and collaboration with other campus resources.

Students are expected to behave and communicate with courtesy and equanimity at the Career Center and while in attendance at all Career Center events. Adherence to the CSU Standards for Student Conduct is expected.  Failure to adhere to these standards may result in suspended access to Career Center services.

Unacceptable behaviors include:  

  • Cutting in front of other students waiting to enter an event or speak with an employer
  • Misrepresenting your event registration status for a limited-capacity event
  • Demanding entrance and/or sneaking into an event
  • Serving as an intermediary to pass on resumes of other students to employers
  • Taking an exceptional length of time (more than five minutes) to talk to an employer when there is a long line of students waiting to speak with them
  • Not honoring event ending times or lingering at the exits of recruiting events to gain exceptional access to employer representatives
  • Yelling or using aggressive or foul language when interacting with Career Center staff, employers, and other students

Students are expected to honor commitments for Career Center appointments and limited capacity events. Students who are unable to attend a scheduled appointment, interview, or limited-capacity event are expected to notify the Career Center in advance.

Handshake is a career services system and job-posting database provided to SSU students and alumni.  All users of Handshake agree to:

  • Provide accurate information about qualifications and work authorization in any documents, such as a resume or other application materials, that are uploaded to a user's Handshake profile.
  • Understand that furnishing false information is a violation of conduct standards and may result in being blocked from using Handshake.
  • Refrain from posting material that is inappropriate or irrelevant to the purposes of Handshake.
  • Keep all login credentials confidential and notify the Career Center immediately of any unauthorized use of a Handshake account.
  • Authorize the Career Center to release their resume to employers via SSU Handshake when they have opted to publicly display their profile and actively submitted their resume to an application process.

Depending on the contents of your profile and uploaded documents, your personal information, such as name, address, telephone number, major, GPA, and academic history may be shared. Employers and/or recruiters using Handshake may not share this information for commercial purposes. The default setting of all Handshake profiles is set to public. Users can change this by adjusting privacy settings.

The Career Center monitors all employers registered on Handshake and their job postings. Due to the large volume of job postings, the Career Center cannot deeply screen each individual job posting for legitimacy. The Career Center, its staff, the CSU System, and the State of California assume no liability for the accuracy of information provided in job listings and do not represent or act on behalf of the hiring authority. Users are urged to validate job postings and use caution when applying.  

A job posting might be fraudulent if:

  • You are asked to provide personal information, such as social security or bank account numbers
  • The pay is unrealistically high or if payment is sent prior to working
  • The position requirements are simplistic or vague
  • You are asked to provide payment for an opportunity, training, or equipment
  • The posting appears to be from a reputable employer, yet the domain in the contact’s email address does not match the organization's website
  • You are offered contract work without a written contract
  • The posting appears on a list maintained by the Internet Crime Complaint Center

Students who believe an employer has misrepresented themselves or their organization, violated non-discrimination or harassment laws, posted an illegally/unethically structured position, or generally have not complied with Career Center policies should contact the Career Center immediately at careercenter@sonoma.edu or (707) 664-2198.

The Career Center requires that all employers who post jobs via Handshake, attend an on-campus event, or collaborate with the Career Center in any way adhere to federal, state, and local employment laws as well as campus policies. No employer working in collaboration with the Career Center shall portray signs of discrimination and/or harassment of job candidates and/or employees on the basis of race, color, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, marital status, pregnancy status, or a physical or mental disability.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission provides details on how to recognize and protect yourself against discrimination and harassment. The SSU Career Center reserves the right to refuse working with any employer, company, or organization who does not work in congruence with these values.

Please visit career.sonoma.edu/employers/policies for more information about Employer Approval Policies.

The CSU system provides a complaint process for instances of discrimination and harassment associated with on-campus employment. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission provides a complaint process for all other employers. 

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has given the following instructions to individuals who have responded to fraudulent postings:

  • The student should immediately contact local police.
  • If a student has sent money to a fraudulent employer, the student should contact their bank or credit card company immediately to close the account.
  • If the transaction occurred over the internet, the student should file an incident report with the Department of Justice Internet Crime Complaint Center.