How to map many-to-many List in Hibernate with a Link Table

public class Parent{

private List<Child> _children;

//...getters and setters
}

<class name="Parent">
    ....
    <list name="children" table="link_table">
    <key column="parent_id"/>
    <many-to-many column="child_id"
        class="Children"/>
    </list>
    ...
 </class>

<class name="Child">
...
<list name="parents" inverse="true" table="link_table">
    <key column="child_id"/>
    <many-to-many column="parent_id"
        class="Parent"/>
</list>
...
</class>

@Entity
public class Employer implements Serializable {
    @ManyToMany(
        targetEntity=org.hibernate.test.metadata.manytomany.Employee.class,
        cascade={CascadeType.PERSIST, CascadeType.MERGE}
    )
    @JoinTable(
        name="EMPLOYER_EMPLOYEE",
        joinColumns=@JoinColumn(name="EMPER_ID"),
        inverseJoinColumns=@JoinColumn(name="EMPEE_ID")
    )
    public Collection getEmployees() {
        return employees;
    }
}


@Entity
public class Employee implements Serializable {
    @ManyToMany(
        cascade = {CascadeType.PERSIST, CascadeType.MERGE},
        mappedBy = "employees",
        targetEntity = Employer.class
    )
    public Collection getEmployers() {
        return employers;
    }
}