Supervisor Information

Supervisor Overview and Student Employment At Albion College

All departments that are hiring student employees must submit job descriptions with the goal that we will provide a strong professional work experience for our student employees. We encourage you to think both about specific skills and about the transferable skills that all employers seek in new hires. The campus is using a tiered student employment system where students increase their responsibilities as they move through their college years. This is a win-win for students and the College, as it builds talent and allows students to play greater roles to support office and your work.

Campus Supervisors are required to complete advertise positions on Handshake. The exception to this rule is if an employee has already been a student employee of your department and is being promoted and additional duties are being assigned. Please contact the Career and Internship Center to complete this. If you are hiring a student that has not previously been in the position, you must post/advertise the position. You must also make sure to complete a Learning Plan for each position. Your position will not be approved until a Learning Plan is on file.

Hiring Process and Job Development

Steps to Create A New Student Employee Job

1. Develop Job Description – As you write your job description, please consider the:
   • Job Description Samples
   • Job Description Template
   • Student Employment Classifications
2. Submit Job Description/Learning Plan for Approval and Classification (including pay rate)
3. You will receive notification of your job approval and Classification (including pay rates)
4. Advertise the Job Posting in Handshake – this is required unless you request and receive an exception from Troy Kase, Director of the Career and Internship Center by email, tkase@albion.edu. The Career and Internship Center will take care of the posting for you.

Please do not hesitate to submit questions to Student Employment by email at studentemployment@albion.edu.

1. Interview Applicants
2. Hire Students using the Notification of Hire Form. Please consult your department supervisor/Chair to assist you in completing this form. They have been informed of Organization Code and Position Number. You can also view this Spreadsheet to see your position code(s)
3. Student Employment will contact students to Complete Required Paperwork (W-4, I-9) if not already registered.
4. Train and evaluate student employees. Student employees completing work with sensitive student information need to sign a Confidentiality Agreement

Please do not hesitate to submit questions to Student Employment by email at studentemployment@albion.edu.

Supervisor Training Topics and Dates

Trainings are offered on a rotating basis nearly every weekday.

Required topics to begin employing a student employee:

• Module 1 – Introduction and Writing Job Descriptions
• Module 2 – Advertising and Selecting Candidates
• Module 3 – Training and Mentoring Students

Expected Training During the Fall 2021 Semester:

• Module 4 – Understanding Developmental Theories and Using for Student Employment Positions
• Module 5 – Introduction to FERPA and Student Employees working with protected data
• Module 6 – Student Evaluations Using the NACE Career Competencies

Please review the Student Employee Supervisor Workshop Schedule for more information.

Advertising Jobs

Jobs will be posted on Handshake. In the past, many offices were hiring through their informal networks of students. These offices will be encouraged to post their positions through Handshake. If an office requests additional funding for student employees, they will be required to post these positions on Handshake to reach a broader group of students.

Interviewing

To promote an atmosphere of professionalism from the very beginning of the process, offices are expected to interview candidates. The interviewing office should require resumes of all candidates. This sets the expectation that this is a professional position and helps to prepare students for future job applications.

On-Boarding and Training

There will be two components of the on-boarding and training process:

1. Offices where the students are employed will be responsible for training on duties specific to the job
2. Career and Internship Center provide online training for students on general skills including customer service, web-time entry, discussion of supervisor communication, learning reflections, and professionalism

Tiered Hiring and Professional Expectations

Offices are expected to develop a plan for tiered student employment. As a student progresses through their college career, they will be more capable of dealing with higher levels of complexity and responsibility. Students that have received professional training and mentoring might also supervise and train other student employees. This tiered system will provide students with the professional skills necessary for the professional workplace.

Student employees will be evaluated at least once per semester. A thorough description of the NACE Career Readiness Competencies and an evaluation form. Each semester, information will be sent to supervisors regarding the evaluation process.

Becoming a Student Payroll Supervisor

Student Payroll Supervisors are the designated time clock approver for a department or position. The department head or cabinet level officer should notify Student Employment () of any changes to their units time approvers.

If you are not sure if you are a student supervisor, or would like more information, please contact the Student Employment Team.

Responsibilities of a Student Payroll Supervisor and Alternate Supervisor

1. Inform the student employee that they are responsible for completing tax and I-9 forms. Typically these forms are only completed once, not each year or for each position. This must be completed before a student can begin working. According to the Department of Homeland Security U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services any individual working within the United States must complete the I-9 form after an offer of employment has been accepted and on or before the first day of work. Due to this federal compliance need, Albion College requires student employees to take care of this before the first day of work. Employees have not properly submitted their tax forms and I-9 form, and presented approved I-9 documents will not be authorized to work. The student employee is encouraged to print and complete the required forms before scheduling an appointment with Human Resources to submit the forms and present their approved I-9 document(s) to the Human Resources/Payroll Office located on the 2nd floor of Ferguson Hall.
2. After the student has accepted an offer of employment the Student Payroll Supervisor must submit the Notification of Hire form using the position number, organization code and rates provided to you by the SET. The employee’s actual first day of work must also be entered as part of the notification of hire process. Therefore it is helpful for the supervisor to determine when the employee will be able to complete their employment paperwork (do they have their I-9 document(s) with them on campus at the time of hire or will they need to get them from home). In addition to the time needed for the completion of employment paperwork the SET will need 3-5 days to process each hire. Failure to provide sufficient time for processing the hire will result in a delayed start date. At no time should an employee be put to work, including training until notified that the hiring process has been completed. Putting an employee to work prior to receiving notification from SET is a violation of hiring policy and may be a violation of federal law.
3. After receiving email notification that the hire has been processed the employee should begin working on the date provided during the notification process. As the supervisor, you should confirm the expected start date and time of their first shift. During this first shift be sure review your expectations and provide training on use of the time clock. If you are not familiar enough with the time clock program to provide this training, please contact the SET for additional training at studentemployment@albion.edu.
4. There are times when a hire is not approved or may not be timely processed due to errors in the notification process. Many of these can be avoided by ensuring the accuracy of the information being submitted. There are additional circumstances that may cause a student to not be authorized to work (such as, Community Assistants are not eligible to work other positions on campus).
5. As a Supervisor/Alternative Supervisor it is important for student employees and student employment supervisors to keep open communication with each other regarding the student employee’s total weekly work hours for each of their campus jobs. It is very important to let your students know that they must log their hours worked on the actual day & time that they worked. Reporting hours or shifts as a lump sum is not permitted and will not be approved for payment until they are corrected. If you as the Student Payroll Supervisor are approving hours but you are not directly supervising the student’s work schedule before approving the students hours for the pay period, it is recommended that you print that student’s timesheet and have the individual who is directly supervising the work schedule verify the hours by reviewing and signing off. Students are limited to 15 hours per week for all campus jobs. This allows the College to provide employment opportunities to more students. IMPORTANT: The work week runs from Monday to Sunday no matter when the pay period ends.
6. Employees who work more hours than scheduled without prior approval from their supervisor risk employment disciplinary actions up to and including termination. Supervisors are not to authorize any work schedule that will result in the student employee working more than 15 hours per work week across all jobs. Watching for early punch-in or late punch-out will help reduce the likelihood of this happening. Student employee supervisors that allow their student workers to repeatedly work more than 15 hours per week risk disciplinary action and/or loss of privilege of the department to have student employees.
7. Please make sure you provide each employee with a copy of the Student Employment Handbook.

Posting a Student Employment Opportunity

All positions will be posted in Handshake. This is required unless you request and receive an exception from Troy Kase, Director of the Career and Internship Center). The Career and Internship Center will take care of the posting for you. Posting all positions in Handshake increases accessibility of positions and promotes an environment of equity across campus.

Pay rates - Hourly or Flat Rate?

Students should be paid an hourly wage unless the nature of the position makes it impossible to determine an hourly rate such as certain research positions, Resident Assistants, etc. Please contact SET if you need assistance determining the proper pay rate.

You must have prior approval from Student Payroll before hiring a student to be paid a Flat Rate.

Students working a flat rate position should not be working at other positions. If the position is to be paid as a flat rate please contact the Student Payroll Supervisor and turn a signed copy into the Student Employment Team at least 7 days prior to the end of the pay period.

Please note that students with Federal Work Study cannot utilize this award under a flat rate pay as regulations require us to be able to document an hourly wage for Federal Work Study.

Student employment pay is directly tied to the tier of the student position. Please see the Student Employment Classification Tiers to reference pay.

Approving Student Time Sheets

At the end of a Payroll Period you (as the Student Supervisor) will need to approve the timesheets for your student employees.

• Periodic review of timesheets during the pay period will reduce last minute issues that could result in delays in the payroll approval process. Supervisors are encourage to set work schedules for each employee as working outside an established work schedule or approved alternate schedule is prohibited.
• Students must submit their verified timesheet for approval immediately following their last shift for the pay period and not later than 11:59 PM on the last day of the pay period. You are expected to follow up ASAP with employees who have not done so. Repeated failure to do so should be timely addressed.
• Student Payroll Supervisors are expected to approve timesheets as soon as possible following the employee submitting it to you and not later than by 5:00 p.m. on the Monday following the end of the pay period. Not meeting this deadline could result in the student not being paid until the next pay period. Approving the timesheet is your communication to Student Payroll that you have reviewed the timesheet and are recording the time worked as accurate. You may need to work with student work schedules to verify the data entered by the student. In those circumstances where the person approving the timesheet online is not the person who knows when hours were actually worked, you are encouraged to have the student bring a printed version to the “direct supervisor” for a signature indicating they too are approving as accurate.
• Approving Student Employees through the MyAlbion System

Online Time Clock System

Learn more about using the Online Time Clock