Student Workers  Student Employees Conrad Helms St. Mary’s College of Maryland November 10, 2011

About Me… Patron Services Librarian – Stats, Reference, Billing, space considerations, etc – Good idea of what makes the circulation desk run smoothly

Our Library Serves 2,000 undergraduate students, almost 1,800 of whom live on-campus Circulation Staff: 3 FT employees, 4 part-time employees, work-study students Open 106 hours per week Very reliant on part time staff & work-study students to assist

How It Began Part-time staff are critical for us: – Work every day of the week including the entire weekend – Weekend positions especially “fluid” – Looking to stabilize the weekend situation, but the weekend hours and small shift (less than 10 hours per week) made it difficult to find applicants – Some of our student workers were very good & decided to try to hire a student

Process Identify a need or position Form a search committee & timeline Create a position description Advertise the position Review applications & decide on any interviewees Conduct interviews Review & make a final decision

Address Priorities When identifying the position, make sure to address your priorities – The person had to be reliable – Would have to be someone who could handle closing responsibilities including having a building key and access to the cash drawer – Wanted them to be at least familiar with call numbers etc – Someone who was capable of supervising their peers

Form A Search Committee Should be chaired by the person’s supervisor Important to be familiar with the duties and responsibilities of the position Sets out all details of the hiring process – timeline, interview methods, etc

Create A Position Description A very important step – this is your official document of the position Make sure the position description clearly identifies your priorities May have to clear with Human Resources

Job Advertisement May not get to include the entire position description, so the job ad must be catchy Include hours, general responsibilities, and timeline of hiring process Salary is tricky – must decide whether to include it or not Remember to always be clear about what you need & expect from applicants

Advertise the Position Targeting the position advertisement is important – you want to attract the right candidate(s) Lots of options: Financial Aid, Career Center, Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, etc), Library website, etc.

Evaluating Applications This can be daunting, especially with a high number of applicants Search committee must look for attributes & skills that match position requirements A few applications can be thrown out quickly, but most are worth considering

Interview Process Preferable to have several interview candidates – If possible, identify some “safety” candidates who might be good enough to interview, but get displaced by better candidates If you did not disclose the salary in the job advertisement, do so now This is by far your best chance to evaluate the candidates – make it count – Focus on your priorities & requirements – Preparation is important – ask questions that will elicit the information you want to know

Evaluation of Interviewees Meet with search committee to review notes & impressions of candidates Try to develop a ranking – hopefully you are all not too far off, although if they’re good, that’s OK! Hopefully a single candidate emerges, but don’t force it

If no candidate emerges or if the candidate turns down the offer… If nobody is satisfactory enough to warrant an offer, or the offer is turned down, leaving a dearth of suitable candidates, there are several options: – Review other applications on file & reconsider any “safety” candidates – Consider re-advertising the position, perhaps with re- tooled position description, job advertisement, & different advertising locations – Cancel the search & seek elsewhere (existent staff, outside adult, etc)

If they Accept Congratulations! Make sure salary, hours, responsibilities etc are all squared away Arrange to bring candidate in for paperwork, training, etc

Training Training is a critical aspect of the post-hiring process – Even more important for a student with increased responsibility – Don’t want them to do too much or too little

Evaluation The new employee should be subject to the same evaluation process as similar employees This is a step beyond a work-study student and to be fair, we must go “all-in” and truly treat them the same professionally as we do similar employees Be clear about the evaluation process during interview, position description, etc

Conclusion Wait for a need to arise – don’t force the issue Be as clear as possible about the job description and duties Be prepared to look over many applications Be consistent among applicants and interviewees so that you can accurately assess them Don’t be afraid to pull the plug if it becomes apparent things won’t work out If you do make a hire, follow through with proper training and evaluation procedures