Hiring On Campus Student Employees (Work-Study & Department Funded)

1. PREPARE TO HIRE A STUDENT EMPLOYEE 

• Consider what roles student employees could fill in your office. 

• Consider how the student employee will be funded: (Processes will vary slightly based on the way the role is funded.) 

• • Student employment- the department funds the student employee from their departmental cost center (students who are not eligible for Work-Study) 

• • Work-Study- student employee is paid via Work-Study funding (students who qualify and were awarded Work-Study funds) 

• • • If you are a revenue generating department and hiring Work-Study, your department will need to pay 25% of the student employee wages and Work-Study will cover the other 75%. 

2. WRITE A JOB DESCRIPTION FOR THE ROLE 

• Job descriptions should be brief, yet descriptive enough that the student can imagine what type of work they will be doing on a daily basis. 

• Include any perks that come with the role or make it exciting. 

• View some examples of highly-applied-to job descriptions

• • Student Employee Job Description Examples PDF

3. POST YOUR JOB ON HANDSHAKE 

• SET UP YOUR EMPLOYER ACCOUNT ON HANDSHAKE 

• • Set up your employer account here (please use your @mnsu.edu e-mail address) 

• • During account set up, be sure to: 

• • • Connect with Minnesota State University, Mankato as your employer organization (you’ll be prompted) 

• • • When prompted, also choose to connect with Minnesota State University, Mankato as a school you want your job postings to be visible at (please ONLY choose MSU, Mankato during this section) 

• • Students will receive e-mail notifications about where they are in the Job Search as you review materials.  The following responses below will automatically be sent to students.  To change or stop these messages to students, you can do so in the Handshake User Settings.

• • For more questions on Account Set-Up, see the Handshake help page here. 

 

4. POST YOUR JOB 

• Follow the instructions here to post your job. 

• As you set up your job posting, please follow these guidelines below- it helps job seekers find you better and keep our system organized! 

• • For Work-Study roles, title your job Office Name - Job Title - Work Study ( # Positions open if more than 1) - Example: Career Development Center – Front Desk Assistant – Work Study (2 positions) 

• • For Department-funded roles, title your job Office Name-Job Title- On Campus (# Positions open if more than 1)-    Example: KIC- Front Desk Assistant- On Campus(3 positions) 

• Be sure to select your correct “Division” in the job posting process. Email cdc@mnsu.edu if you do not see the correct division. 

• Work-Study and Part-Time Jobs that span an entire academic year are considered “Permanent” not “Temporary.” 

• Be sure to click the “Work-Study” box if applicable. Only students eligible for Work-Study will be able to see your posting if you click this box.  If you are hiring out of your own department budget, do not click “Work-Study.” 

• You will be prompted to include necessary documents for the applicant to submit. We recommend you link to the standard Work Study Application. (Please keep in mind when requesting necessary documents that many students that are looking for on-campus employment likely DO NOT have a resume or cover letter and are not prepared to write one at this point in their career.) 
  

• For other specific questions on job postings, see Handshake help page here.

5. REVIEW & SELECT APPLICANTS

• On-Campus employment is a great opportunity for students to enter the world of work and gain professional experiences.  For students applying for Work-Study and on-campus work, this may be their first job.  In general, on-campus employment roles, including Work-Study, should be roles any student could do upon receiving training and support from a supervisor. 

• • Be prepared to commit to the growth and learning of your student – this is one of the incredible privileges and joys we have as educators! This may be a student’s first employment experience. 

• • Work-Study is an important part of a student’s financial aid package. For this reason, we are committed, as a University, to helping every student who is eligible and wants a Work-Study position, secure a Work-Study position.  

• • For more information on applications, visit this Handshake help page here. 

• On-Campus student employee positions are vital to our University daily operations- If you get multiple applicants for your position, it is appropriate to select the best candidate for your job based on the job requirements; however, it is not appropriate to ignore or not hire students that apply simply because you are holding out for a “better” candidate.  

• • Employers should make every effort possible to coordinate a fair, equitable, bias-free hiring process.  

• • One recommendation is to write down three priorities of attributes for the role you are hiring and measure each candidate against those. This ensures consistent consideration of all candidates. 

• It is important to communicate with candidates throughout the hiring process.  

• • One way this can be done is by updating the student's status in Handshake using the drop-down status menu by their name.  This will send the automatic reply you set up when you first logged into Handshake to the candidate based on the status you set for them. 

• • You can also communicate directly with candidates via email.  It is recommended to communicate with students when their application has been received, reviewed, declined, and/or accepted for the next steps in the hiring process. 

• Once you have selected your successful candidate(s), you must: 

• • EXPIRE your job posting(s) on Handshake so that it does not appear to students who are still seeking open positions 

• • Hire your selected candidate(s) on the Work-Study Hiring Website(Work-Study) or Complete the Work Authorization Form(department funded, not Work-Study)

6. HIRE THE SELECTED CANDIDATE

• Handshake is a tool to help on campus employers find students to fill their roles.  Hiring is done via: 

• • For Work-Study, hiring is done on the Work-Study hiring website. 

• • • Here you can find additional Work-Study Supervisor Resources including instructions for hiring on the Work-study Hiring Website. 

• • For department-funded roles, employers should complete the Work Authorization Form and send it to studentpayroll@mnsu.edu. 

• If you are hiring an International Student for student employment(departmentally funded student employment, not work-study), the student you are looking to hire will also need to connect with the Kearney International Center to ensure everything is set to work with their visa. 

• • Learn more about on-campus employment for International Students here. 

7. COMPLETE EMPLOYMENT PAPERWORK WITH STUDENT PAYROLL

• Handshake is a connecting tool to help you find students; hiring is done on the Work-Study Hiring Website or Work Authorization Form; and, the process is completed by fulfilling paperwork requirements with Student Payroll to get your new student employee on payroll.  View Student Payroll Forms here! 
• Keep in mind that students will need forms of identification to complete the hiring paperwork. See a list of acceptable forms of identification here. 
• Contact Student Payroll with any questions or concerns you have about this step in the work-study hiring process. 

8. ONBOARDING OF STUDENT EMPLOYEE

• Welcome new student employees to your office with a tour, welcome signage, and introductions with the staff.  While this is not required, it helps the student employee start on a positive note.  Onboarding is an important time to get student employees up-to-speed on the purpose and function of your office and to provide an understanding of how their role contributes to office goals. 
• The Career Development Center is offering an Onboarding training for all on-campus student employees that covers basics in professionalism and participating in a place of work, FERPA, clocking in and out/time reporting, answering phones, and more. Supervisors are encouraged to allow student employees to attend and report the time in the training for compensation. 
  • Aug. 27 All On Campus Student Employee Onboarding Session & Sept. 11 All On Campus Student Employee Onboarding Session  

• • • This training introduces on campus student employees to the world of work here at MSU. This includes need to know logistics like mission, vision, and goals; FERPA and submitting time cards; and advice from alumni that were on campus employees and are now full-time professionals.   

 9. ONGOING TRAINING OF STUDENT EMPLOYEE

• Ongoing training helps a student group in career readiness competencies and build skills to become a successful employee. 

• The Resources for Student Employee Supervisors webpage(coming soon!) is supervisor-facing and has pre-packaged training your student employee can engage in as well as a one-on-one guide for the supervisor to connect with the student employee and reflect on what they are learning. This page also includes information about evaluation and coaching of on-campus student employees. 

• The Resources for Student Employee Development webpage is student-facing and contains activities they can do for development on their own or during their work hours. 

• The Career Development Center is offering the following trainings for all on-campus employees this year. Supervisors are encouraged to have their student employees attend and report that training time on their time sheet for compensation: 

• • Oct. 22- Communicating in the World of Work-  We’ve all heard “Communication is key.” This training discusses professional communication in the workplace and as a part of student’s professional brand. Students will learn about how and what to communicate, as well as different ways communication happens in the workplace. In addition, students will learn how to communicate their experiences- specifically their on campus work experience- on a resume. 

• • Spring Trainings- coming soon! 

• The Career Development Center is offering the following trainings for supervisors of on-campus student employees this year as well: 

• • TBD- coming soon! 

10. OTHER RESOURCES

• Resources for Supervisors of On Campus Employees- coming soon! 

• Document: Posting Student Employment on Handshake 

• Handshake Help Center For Employers 

• Work Study Supervisor Resources