[Chrissie Taylor]

Here at Rutgers Camden, we have three student positions: Building Managers, Office Assistants and Info Desk staff.? At one point, I had cross-trained all three positions, which worked for the most part.? The only issue I ran into was the students that didn’t work very often in the Info Desk would forget how to print ID cards.? The following year, I just cross-trained the Building Managers and Office Assistants and that has helped alot for when it’s really busy or when someone calls out.? When that happens, I can just have the Office Assitant go help with things or become a Building Manager and I don’t have search for another staff.??

For context, here’s a quick snipet of what my staff does:
-Building Managers: all set up for all events in the building, including all AV, tables, chairs, etc

-Info DesK: print all ID cards for everyone on campus, operator for entire campus, ticket sales, lost and found

-Office Assistant: greets folks as they come into the office, update bulletin boards, work on small projects as needed.?

Let me know if you need any other info!

——————————
Chrissie Taylor
Assistant Director
Rutgers University Camden
Camden NJ
(856) 225-6449
chrissie.king@rutgers.edu
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 11-14-2024 13:32
From: Cortney Goff
Subject: Student Employee Position Structure – Individual or Combined Roles?

Hi all,

We are starting to take a look at the structure of our student employment program for a number of reasons, from FLSA compression to changing event needs to changing student schedules. Right now we have everything very segmented but are entertaining the idea of combining similar or related roles and/or cross-training to reduce the number of employees we have while maximizing their hours.

Can you share what your unions use student employees for, how many positions you have, and how many employees you have overall? I would also love to know if this model works for you or what pros or cons you see in your unions. Any other thoughts in this area are welcome as well! 

For example, we have:
– Audio Visual Technicians + manager
– House Crew (room setup) + manager
– Student admin assistants & receptionists
– Information desk attendants + manager
– Game center attendants + manager
– Program specialists (FSL, student organizations, etc.)
– Building managers

Thanks in advance! Happy to discuss this further with anyone looking to do the same.

——————————
Cortney Goff
Assistant Director, Facilities and Operations
Missouri State University
Springfield MO
——————————

[spauldk@miamioh.edu]

Hi Cortney!

We had a similar system for the last 10 years and we are transitioning (January 1st) to a new system with way less employee types. We are moving from 4 levels of event/set up staff, 2 levels of building managers, game room attendants and front desk workers to the following model:

Building and Events Managers (oversee all students workers on shift and has a broad overview of what is happening in the building event wise, and what student staff need to do task wise, well trained staff members for event tech).
Assistant Building and Event Managers (Assist with all of the above, also well trained for event tech)
Event Services Specialists (set ups, tear downs, light event tech, tasks as needed around the building, training up for ABEM role)
Information Services Specialists (Front info desk, game room)

At a time we will always have 1 BEM, 1 ABEM, 2-3 ESS, and 2-3 ISS on at a time. This takes us from a minimum of 2 students on at a time to at least 6, which will help us be more attentive to events and issues in the building. I’m happy to share job descriptions if you’d like.?

Best!
Another Kourtney!

——————————
Kourtney Duchesneau Spaulding
Associate Director for Events & Operations
Miami University
Oxford OH
(513) 529-2763
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 11-14-2024 13:32
From: Cortney Goff
Subject: Student Employee Position Structure – Individual or Combined Roles?

Hi all,

We are starting to take a look at the structure of our student employment program for a number of reasons, from FLSA compression to changing event needs to changing student schedules. Right now we have everything very segmented but are entertaining the idea of combining similar or related roles and/or cross-training to reduce the number of employees we have while maximizing their hours.

Can you share what your unions use student employees for, how many positions you have, and how many employees you have overall? I would also love to know if this model works for you or what pros or cons you see in your unions. Any other thoughts in this area are welcome as well! 

For example, we have:
– Audio Visual Technicians + manager
– House Crew (room setup) + manager
– Student admin assistants & receptionists
– Information desk attendants + manager
– Game center attendants + manager
– Program specialists (FSL, student organizations, etc.)
– Building managers

Thanks in advance! Happy to discuss this further with anyone looking to do the same.

——————————
Cortney Goff
Assistant Director, Facilities and Operations
Missouri State University
Springfield MO
——————————

[Katie Beaulieu]

Hi all!

On the facility/ events side of things, we have 2 entry level student positions (Operations Student Assistant and Reservations Desk Clerk). For each of these positions, they can be assigned to a variety of roles matching with yours Courtney…?

Operations Student Assistant (30-40 total):
Student Audio/Visual Technician for scheduled
Event Setup/ teardown of meeting and event spaces
Game Room and Esports Attendant
– these students can then be promoted to Building Manager, a student manager position who leads shifts and oversees all of these areas

Reservations Student Assistant (15 total):
Desk clerk for our Information Desk or our administrative office
– these students can then be promoted to Reservations Student Manager, a student manager position who manages the staff schedule and corresponds with clients on upcoming event details

We have found it to be extremely helpful to hire students into 1 of 2 areas, and then have the flexibility to schedule them in whatever role they are needed in. There are also times where we’ll need a reservations students to jump in with to help with a tight conversion or an operations student to cover the info desk if there is a scheduling gap. With the rollercoaster of student hiring and retention, we have found the less specialized your hired roles are, the better.

——————————
Katie Beaulieu
Director, Student Center & Campus Reservations
Wayne State University
Detroit MI
(313) 577-0077
——————————
——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 11-18-2024 12:46
From: Kourtney Duchesneau Spaulding
Subject: Student Employee Position Structure – Individual or Combined Roles?

Hi Cortney!

We had a similar system for the last 10 years and we are transitioning (January 1st) to a new system with way less employee types. We are moving from 4 levels of event/set up staff, 2 levels of building managers, game room attendants and front desk workers to the following model:

Building and Events Managers (oversee all students workers on shift and has a broad overview of what is happening in the building event wise, and what student staff need to do task wise, well trained staff members for event tech).
Assistant Building and Event Managers (Assist with all of the above, also well trained for event tech)
Event Services Specialists (set ups, tear downs, light event tech, tasks as needed around the building, training up for ABEM role)
Information Services Specialists (Front info desk, game room)

At a time we will always have 1 BEM, 1 ABEM, 2-3 ESS, and 2-3 ISS on at a time. This takes us from a minimum of 2 students on at a time to at least 6, which will help us be more attentive to events and issues in the building. I’m happy to share job descriptions if you’d like. 

Best!
Another Kourtney!

——————————
Kourtney Duchesneau Spaulding
Associate Director for Events & Operations
Miami University
Oxford OH
(513) 529-2763
——————————

Original Message:
Sent: 11-14-2024 13:32
From: Cortney Goff
Subject: Student Employee Position Structure – Individual or Combined Roles?

Hi all,

We are starting to take a look at the structure of our student employment program for a number of reasons, from FLSA compression to changing event needs to changing student schedules. Right now we have everything very segmented but are entertaining the idea of combining similar or related roles and/or cross-training to reduce the number of employees we have while maximizing their hours.

Can you share what your unions use student employees for, how many positions you have, and how many employees you have overall? I would also love to know if this model works for you or what pros or cons you see in your unions. Any other thoughts in this area are welcome as well! 

For example, we have:
– Audio Visual Technicians + manager
– House Crew (room setup) + manager
– Student admin assistants & receptionists
– Information desk attendants + manager
– Game center attendants + manager
– Program specialists (FSL, student organizations, etc.)
– Building managers

Thanks in advance! Happy to discuss this further with anyone looking to do the same.

——————————
Cortney Goff
Assistant Director, Facilities and Operations
Missouri State University
Springfield MO
——————————

[Joseph Hayes]

Hello Cortney,

 

Great question! Over my years of experience, I have had student teams that reflect both ends of the spectrum and I feel like the right blend is probably somewhere in the middle.

 

Things I think I know; the more a student employee does a specific task, the better they will get at it. The more you diversify the position, the less the time they are going to have to develop expertise.

 

I think the discussion should be what do you need your students’ teams to do well versus what are you willing to sacrifice in expertise for additional flexibility? Chrissie’s example is a perfect one.

 

-Joe

 

Joseph Hayes, Ed.D., CSAEd, CSAEd-CU

Director

Campus Center

Pronouns: He/Him/His

Division of Student Affairs

CE 270

420 University Blvd.

Indianapolis, IN 46202

317-278-0601 / 317-517-9752

hayesjom@iu.edu

https://go.iu.edu/campcntr

 

 

——————————————-
Original Message:
Sent: 11/14/2024 1:32:00 PM
From: Cortney Goff
Subject: Student Employee Position Structure – Individual or Combined Roles?

Hi all,

We are starting to take a look at the structure of our student employment program for a number of reasons, from FLSA compression to changing event needs to changing student schedules. Right now we have everything very segmented but are entertaining the idea of combining similar or related roles and/or cross-training to reduce the number of employees we have while maximizing their hours.

Can you share what your unions use student employees for, how many positions you have, and how many employees you have overall? I would also love to know if this model works for you or what pros or cons you see in your unions. Any other thoughts in this area are welcome as well! 

For example, we have:
– Audio Visual Technicians + manager
– House Crew (room setup) + manager
– Student admin assistants & receptionists
– Information desk attendants + manager
– Game center attendants + manager
– Program specialists (FSL, student organizations, etc.)
– Building managers

Thanks in advance! Happy to discuss this further with anyone looking to do the same.

——————————
Cortney Goff
Assistant Director, Facilities and Operations
Missouri State University
Springfield MO
——————————