HWS News
13 February 2024 Work-Study 2.0 By Andrew Wickenden '09
Over the past two years, an HWS pilot program has been rethinking traditional student employment with a focus on long-term career development.
At Hobart and William Smith, student employment opportunities range from office positions to lab assistant opportunities to fundraising posts. Through the Campus Life WORKS program, HWS staff have developed an intentional framework to help students develop transferable skills and integrate insights from campus employment with their academic and co-curricular experiences.
Between specific learning goals, reflective conversations, formal surveys and an end-of-semester mock interview, the program “allows each student the opportunity to connect their on-the-job learning experience to their academic major and future career,” says Vice President for Campus Life and Dean of Students Becca Barile. “We see supervisors participating in the program as educators, helping students see their student employment as a learning opportunity, an important experience toward success in the workplace.”
The Campus Life WORKS Program identifies four skills that shape its learning goals and outcomes: communication, interpersonal relationships, initiative and service orientation. Through Campus Life WORKS, supervisors and students meet regularly to discuss the connections between the job and academic and co-curricular experiences, and to reflect on the skills students are building and how they might apply to a future career. In addition, supervisors help students articulate their skills and job responsibilities in future interviews.
Supporting this process, students complete a survey before and after the program. Over the course of the past two years, participants in the Campus Life WORKS program, in comparison to other student employees, reported better connections between work and their personal life; felt better prepared for future employment and better prepared to reflect on their experiences; developed time management skills; and were better able to articulate their skills and demonstrate verbal communication skills.
They also saw greater value in diverse perspectives, felt diverse perspectives helped them understand themselves,and felt interactions with diverse perspectives were important.
“Our commitment is to educate each student fully and prepare them for success after graduation. Campus Life WORKS is proving to be an incredibly valuable complement to our outstanding academic programs and Career Services team,” says Barile.
Learn more about HWS Campus Life and student employment on campus.
