Supervisor’s Checklist for Hiring a New Student Employee

1. Getting Ready to Hire: 

  • Work with your department HR professionals on the following items:
    • Job Description -
      • Develop an accurate list of job responsibilities that serve as a preview of the day-to-day tasks student employees will be completing.
        • Does the description include learning outcomes?
        • Does the description incorporate your unit's mission, vision, and values?
        • Does the description incorporate the position's competencies?
      • Ensure the job description has a list of required minimum qualifications and preferred qualifications that can be used throughout the recruitment process     
    • Recruit –
      • You can post on-campus jobs using HireUTexas powered by Handshake (replaced HireALonghorn)
      • HireUTexas FAQ for On-Campus Employers
      • For new on-campus employers, get started by contacting hireutexas@austin.utexas.edu  to verify that your department or office has an existing HireUTexas employer account. If your office has an established account, we will forward you the details needed to access your employer account. If your office does not have an established account, we will send instructions on how to successfully create your account.
      • HireUTexas Job Posting Template
    • Develop a list of interview questions that reflect the knowledge, skills, and competencies that will assess an interviewee's success in the position. Refer to Sample Questions for Interview (PDF).
  • During the interview, verify a student's eligibility for the employment opportunity as well as the other employment and volunteer positions the student has on campus. 

2. What to Do as Soon as You Decide Whom to Hire

  • Provide your selected student employees with an offer letter via e-mail using the Offer Letter Student Employee Template.  (For Graduate Student Employees, please refer to the Graduate School offer letter templates.) 
  • Collect pertinent information related to the student employee needed for HR personnel to complete the Workday staffing transaction. Please see this sample checklist (DOC)
  • Verify the student's other employment and volunteer positions on campus. Please utilize this sample Student Employment Acknowledgement Form (DOC) or one created by your CSU. 
  • Have a department HR personnel create a background check request in the online Background Check Administration (BCA) system and notify the student to authorize the check electronically. If you prefer to give the student a paper form, you will ask them to complete a Criminal Background Check Form (PDF) and send that form to your HR Contact to enter into the BCA
  • After the student has accepted employment, inform the student that an electronic I-9 form must be completed no later than the first day of work and that the student must bring acceptable original identification and work-eligibility documents with them on their first day of work. The student must meet with your department HR personnel to complete the electronic Complete I-9 Form step in Workday . See I-9 Resources for more information.
  • If the applicant you want to hire is disabled and self-discloses any accommodations they will need, work with Office for Inclusion and Equity and Services for Students with Disabilities to ensure that the accommodations are reasonable and can be met by the university.

3. What to Do Before the Student Employee Begins Work

  • Give your new employee a link to the New Student Employee Checklist.
  • Verify that the student employee's Hire has been successfully completed in Workday and that the student employee has received the Onboarding tasks in their Workday Inbox.
  • Request authorizations for all applicable mainframe applications and Web systems
  • Create an employee file for the new hire. See Employee Files for more information. Refer to the Records Management website for information about records retention.

4. What to Do During the Employee's First Week of Work