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This resource outlines what design thinking is, how it works, a step by step guide to what it looks like in action, and how it can benefit reimagining of student employment with helpful links to additional resources.

Northern Arizona University (NAU) is focused on their 100% career ready initiative. A large part of this effort focuses around the NACE Career Competencies and how the university engages students in the development of these skills through a variety of experiences across the institution.  Since this framework serves as the foundation for this career readiness work, NAU has developed this informative presentation that they regularly facilitate to staff across the institution.  The intended outcomes of this presentation are to educate the campus community about the NACE career competencies and support them in identifying how their experiences are already facilitating students' professional growth. 

Discussing the NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers) career competencies is crucial for students' career readiness and success. These competencies provide a framework for students to develop and demonstrate essential skills that employers value. By discussing these competencies, students can gain a better understanding of the skills and attributes they need to succeed in the workplace. This discussion can also help students identify areas where they may need to improve and take proactive steps to develop these skills. Northern Arizona University has created the following tool to help their student employees to think more deeply and reflect on their current experience with each of the competencies.  Their supervisor then uses this as a discussion tool and an opportunity to identify action items, opportunities for growth and experiences that can support the student within their student employment role.

Performance appraisals for student employees working on a college campus are crucial for a number of reasons. They provide a structured way to provide feedback, helping students understand their strengths and areas for improvement. This feedback is essential for their personal and professional growth. Secondly, performance appraisals allow supervisors to set clear expectations and goals, which can improve the student's focus and motivation. Northern Arizona University (NAU) has implemented a structured performance appraisal process, centered around the evaluation of the NACE Career Competencies to ensure that students receive the necessary feedback and support to enhance their skills. NAU understands performance appraisals play a vital role in managing student employee performance, promoting their development, and ensuring their engagement and success on campus.

We all know student employees play a crucial role in the functioning of a college campus, often serving in various capacities such as library assistants, research aides, or student ambassadors. Their contributions often go beyond their job descriptions; they enhance the campus experience for all students, faculty, and visitors. Recognizing their efforts and the efforts of those staff that supervise them, is vital to the ongoing success of student employment. Northern Arizona University has leveraged their yearly student employee and supervisor of the year awards to ensure acknowledgement of this hard work and dedication to their campus. Their campus has seen many benefits from this campus-wide recognition effort -  it fosters a sense of belonging and loyalty among student employees and their supervisors, encouraging them to remain engaged with their work and the campus community. NAU understands recognizing student employees sets a positive example for others, highlighting the value of their contributions and encouraging a culture of appreciation and respect.  NAU has shared a variety of resources that can inform the build out of your own campus awards, help you think through structure and how to successfully facilitate this effort.

Virginia Commonwealth University is committed to incorporating reflection into all experiential learning including student employment.  Supervisors regularly discuss REAL opportunities (relevant, experiential and applied learning).  This resource was adapted to specifically support supervisors to facilitate reflection throughout the student employment experience.  This example resource serves as a guide that can be adapted and leveraged at any institution. 

Reflection can be a valuable exercise to engage working learners and support them in making the connection between their student employment role and their career interests post-completion.  This presentation, shared by Virginia Commonwealth University, provides an example of how you might engage working learners in more deeply understanding the value of reflection and how that connects to them learning from their experiences.  The deck provides a variety of activities and content, based in the practice of reflection, that can serve as a starting point or example for other institutions wanting to engage their working learners in this opportunity for professional and personal growth. 

This resource gives supervisors ideas on how they can publicly display the work that their working learners are doing and why it is important to highlight their work.

This resource is a curated list of LinkedIn Learnings for supervisors. These suggested trainings have been curated to encourage and create continuous professional development.ASU currently provides LinkedIn Learning access for all working learners and professional staff.

The document offers a checklist of items that can be included in your working learners first couple of days to ensure a smooth transition to their new position.

This resource is a template for supervisors to give to their working learners to gather information on how to best recognize their working learners.

This resource gives different ways to welcome your working learner as they start into their new role.

This resource includes fifteen prompts to be used by supervisors to encourage empathy in conversations with their working learners.

The following resource was provided by the University at Buffalo and is intended to provide examples of different communication that may be valuable to create. Creating standardized language and communication that is utilized throughout the student employment hiring process and ensures a consistent experience for all students. Use these examples to get started and think about others that may be helpful for your team or institution to create.

Finding work life balance, particularly for our students, can be tricky at times. Check out this professional and personal development training offered by the University of Illinois-Chicago. Hopefully this inspires you to create a similar training that shares helpful tips and connects working learners to key resources across your campus. Remember, supporting all aspects of a working learner's well-being will ensure their success not only in their current student employment role but also as they take their next steps post-graduation.