Job Placement

Career Planning at Northern Essex Community College collaborates with many area employers to help students fill their employment needs. Our job search services for students and employers include:

Services for Students:

• Assistance with resume package
• Development of interviewing skills
• Introduction to networking
• Enhancement of job search techniques
  

Services for Students and Employers:

• A variety of job opportunities may be available on-line, and since the majority of our students have access to the Internet, Northern Essex Community College has teamed up with Monstertrak.com, one of the nation's largest and most popular on-line services. Monstertrak provides students and alumni the ability to search for jobs any time from anywhere in the world via the Internet.
  
  
• Other Job Postings can also be mailed, faxed, or e-mailed to Michael Markham at Career Planning, 100 Elliott Street, Haverhill, MA 01830. The fax number is 978-556-3675. Job opportunities are posted, by interest area, for ninety (90) days in binders located in Career Planning.
  
  
• On Campus Recruiting:

  "Employer of the Day" allows an organization the opportunity to be the sole recruiting employer on campus for that day. This entitles the organization to:

  • Set up a table outside the cafeteria in the Student Center or the main lobby in the C (Spurk) building on the Haverhill campus, or the atrium located on the Lawrence campus.
  • Set up just outside a particular academic department to recruit students specifically participating in a field of study that is the main area of interest to the employer.
  • Interview students in a comfortable environment.
  • Easily access a diverse population of students without the competition or distraction of other potential employers
    
    
• Job Fairs:
  Career Planning offers Job Fairs in October, December, March, and April, on both the Haverhill and Lawrence campuses, for a nominal fee to the employer. These fairs offer employers easy, informal contacts with students, and offer students the opportunity for career exploration. For organizations registered in our database, flyers will be periodically mailed throughout the year with specific dates for job fairs.
  

Ethical and Legal Standards for Referral of Students for Employment

Candidate Referral

Faculty may be contacted directly by employers asking for student referrals. Faculty should be aware that there are potential ethical and legal implications in what may seem to be a harmless referral.
When faculty refer only a few individuals without notifying all of their students, they are not providing a "fair and equitable" recruiting process. As such, the referral may be seen as discriminatory and not providing "equal access", creating both ethical and legal implications. The best course of action for a faculty member would be to provide the information to all students and refer the employer to Career Planning.

Referral of Minority Candidates

If a faculty member is asked by an employer to assist in identifying minority candidates for employment, there are again legal and ethical issues. While it is lawful and ethical to assist employers to reach out to minority groups, it is inappropriate for college faculty and staff to identify only minority individuals. The best course of action would be to notify all students of the opportunity and encourage the employer to contact Career Planning.

Providing References for Employment

Requests for references may come from employers or students.

Employer's request:

An employer may request an oral or written reference from faculty. When this happens, the major concern is confidentiality. In either case (oral or written), information about a student should not be shared without the student's authorization. Once permission has been obtained from the student (at best, written permission), the information shared should be firsthand, factual, and related to the job qualifications. Personal information (such as marital status, health, disabilities, race, etc.) should not be included, even when it seems that such information could enhance the student's candidacy, since consideration of such information in the employment process could be discriminatory and is unlawful.

Student's request:

Faculty hold a great responsibility in providing references for students, especially for those students with little employment experience. Therefore, Career Planning is happy to provide the following tips on writing a letter of reference:
Agree to write a letter of reference only for those students for whom you can give an accurate description. It would be better to decline to write a recommendation than to write one that is vague or irrelevant.

• Include affiliation or relationship with the student. Were you an Advisor, Professor, Supervisor?
• Give honest, factual information that is relevant to the qualifications for the position the student is seeking.
• Include examples wherever possible. It is more helpful to say, "Debra consistently offered to work extended hours to complete mailings and finish copying projects when deadlines were moved forward", than to say, "Debra was very helpful".
• A letter of reference is not an evaluation; it is intended as a recommendation. Therefore, focus on the positive aspects of a student and relate them to potential employment rather than balancing the positive with the negative to present "both sides of the story".
• The letter of reference is a reflection of both you and the student. Appearance is important and can determine whether the letter will be read or not. All letters of reference should be typed, not handwritten.
• When using a recommendation or reference form, add other comments to complement and elaborate on what is asked in chart form. Again, comments should be typed, not handwritten.
• Do not include personal information about the student such as age, marital status, health, disability, race, religion, etc., even though it may seem to enhance an application. Any of that information could be used as a basis for discrimination.

While it is impossible to anticipate what any particular employer may look for in a potential employee, there are attributes and skills many employers commonly seek. Among these are:

• Analytical Ability, Intelligence, Teamwork
• Conflict Management, Interpersonal Ability, Technical Skills
• Communication Skills, Initiative, Responsibility
• Goal Orientation, Leadership, Writing Skills
  
  

Employer Links

NECC Job Links

Why mail us your brochures? Just link your web page to our web page. It's easier for you and more convenient for our students. For just pennies a day, it's the most effective way to recruit.

Funeral Service
Funeral Institute Of The Northeast, LLC

Human Service
Bright Horizons Family Solutions
Harbor Schools and Family Services
Crotched Mountain

Medical
Anna Jacques Hospital
Saints Memorial Medical Center
Children's Hospital Boston
Northeast Health System

Healthcare Automation
Meditech Medical Information

Placement Agencies
Moore Staffing
Randstaad

Technology
Spartan Electronics

Transportation/Logistics
Fed Ex Ground
UPS

Childcare
Little Sprouts Child Enrichment
Parents in a Pinch, Inc.

For additional resources visit

For further information, call Career Planning at: 978-556-3722