Many college students face the longstanding dilemma of balancing a job while prioritizing their academics. Fortunately, Methodist University’s revamped student employment program is making the process far less daunting.
Many college students face the longstanding dilemma of balancing a job while prioritizing their academics. Fortunately, Methodist University’s revamped student employment program is making the process far less daunting.
At the start of the 2022-23 academic year, MU launched some major changes to the student employment program, which allows students to earn pay while working a part-time job for the University. The first change opens the program to all full-time, undergraduate students – lifting restrictions based on federal work study funding eligibly, campus residence, or international student visas.
Methodist University’s student employment program also prioritizes meaningful work experience, asking all MU supervisors to guide, mentor and manage their student workers to ensure a work experience with professional accountability.
One of the students positively impacted by these changes is Sharika Baril, a junior Biology major and student worker for MU’s Transfer Initiatives. As a transfer student from several other colleges across the state, Baril found a seamless fit with the department as a Transfer Specialist – a position that allows Baril to help Assistant Provost Keri Walters strengthen the University’s course equivalencies system.
“I didn’t want someone to come in here and get coffee for the office. Sharika is legitimately doing meaningful-level for us,” said Walters, who supervises Baril. “We’re working together to get a lot of data into our system while building transfer guides for our partner institutions. It’s a powerful position.”
As a military wife and mother of five children, Baril said job flexibility was a must if she was going to accomplish her goal of one day attending dental school.
“Not only is student employment directly on campus where you’re already studying, but [Walters] understands that my academics come first. If I ever needed to move around my schedule so I could study, she wouldn’t hesitate to let it happen. Plus, the whole process make it feel like I’m a bigger part of the University,” Baril said.
To ensure students put their academics first, each student worker is limited to one campus job and a cap of 10 hours per week.
A fair question to ask is: What is the hiring process for student workers? Another addition to the program is the use of “Handshake” – an employment platform that is quickly becoming one of the hottest job search engines for college students across the nation.
Similar to a normal job search, interested MU departments can post an official position that includes job responsibilities and minimum qualifications. After receiving applications, supervisors can interview qualified students for the role. If hired, supervisors then provide performance evaluations at least once per semester while providing tools, resources, and training needed to perform the job.
Senior Wade Jackson, who is set to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Sport Management this May, has participated in the student employment program for the Athletics Office’s Sports Information department over the last three years. However, he said the program’s use of Handshake this year has been a difference-maker.
“I like Handshake because it simulates the real-life job search process,” Jackson said. “My time as student worker has helped me understand all of the different ways to document statistics for sports while grasping the back end of the [athletics] website.”
MU’s Sports Information Director Michael Spratt, who has helped Jackson learn the tools of the trade, is grateful he participated in the student employment program.
“He’s been extremely helpful. Wade has helped me in certain aspects of the job to make my life a little easier. Anytime we were going through some turnover in the department, Wade was there to help me time and time again,” Spratt said.
The University’s student employment program is open to students and departments throughout the semester. For questions about the program, contact Student Employment Coordinator Beth Butler at studentemployment@methodist.edu or by calling 910.630.7333.
Pictured at the top of the page: Assistant Provost Keri Walters and student Transfer Specialist Sharika Baril