Changes made to student hiring process

Every year many students are hired for work study and student assisting, but this past fall semester, the hiring process for student employment went through some changes that are leaving people with mixed opinions.

According to Reading Lab coordinator Forrest McDowell, the new process requires longer processing times and has left him a bit confused. McDowell first mentioned a change in the department that handles the process. The Financial Aid office, which previously managed both work study and student assisting, now only manages work study, moving student assisting over to Human Resources.

“The process is lengthier because we have more paperwork and have to follow a particular process outlined by the Human Resources Department,” McDowell said. “It hasn’t affected the Reading Lab that much, but you just have to plan that it’s going to take a month to get through the process.”

According to McDowell, the process of hiring a student employee is the same as that of Del Mar staff and faculty. He cites how students are required to now go through background checks, which had only been a requirement for full-time faculty members.

Although McDowell admits the changes are somewhat confusing, he also says that he can see the benefits in the new process.

According to Human Resources Generalist Ana-Alyse Olivares, the decision to hand student assisting management to their department was to provide consistency to Del Mar’s hiring practices.

The Reading Lab, which hires work study employees and student assistants to help manage the front desk and assist students with their course work, has become a prominent resource for students and the community.

Along with the changes is an obligation for supervisors to complete and submit a job description guide for Hire Vikings, an online job portal where those interested in student employment can find available positions, for approval.

According to Financial Aid Assistant Christina Greses, who oversees the hiring of work study students, supervisors are required to provide information such as location where the student will perform their duties, name of the supervisor for position, purpose/role of the position, duties and responsibility associated with the position and how they relate to the purpose/role, and length of the student employment.

“Job posting has changed, and this was done to stay within the Department of Education’s regulations for hiring work study students,” Greses said.

Once the supervisor completes the job posting guide, submits it, gets it posted on Hire Vikings, interviews and picks a candidate, completes all the necessary hiring forms and sends it to Financial Aid or Human Resources for them to take over, it can be awhile for the entire process to be fully completed.

Students looking to apply for a work study position can visit Hire Vikings for job postings and dmcjobs.delmar.edu for student assisting.

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