Preparing to Hire a Student
As a hiring representative, once you’ve received a request to post a position or hire a student employee best practice is to request that the supervisor provides a written description of the position, including job responsibilities. This will enable you to verify that the supervisor has permission to hire a student employee, the type of position the job will be classified as, and other information that will enable you to follow the appropriate protocols dictated by your department. The following is a general overview of things to consider when preparing to hire a student employee. Your department may have additional requirements or guidelines that you will need to consider and abide by when hiring a student employee.
There are two primary types of positions that students can hold. Please note that position type refers to the classification of the job, not the job title. Visit Job Classification for more information. Ensure the student is appointed to the appropriate position type.
- SHRA Positions: These positions are paid hourly and typically include jobs such as administrative support, residential assistants, recreation assistants, and work-study positions.
- EHRA Positions: These positions are paid monthly and typically include jobs such as graduate research assistants and graduate teaching assistants.
It is important to ensure that sufficient budget and funding is available to support a student employee.
Ensure that the FTE is appropriate for the job responsibilities assigned to the position. All student employees regardless of type, are limited to 1.0 FTE (full-time). The following considerations should also be kept in mind when determining a student employee’s FTE:
- The Graduate School recommends that graduate students work no more than 20 hours per week.
- International student employees may not be able to work more than 20 hours per week during the semester as a condition of their immigration status. Visit ISSS for more information.
- Student employees holding work-study positions may not work more than 0.5 FTE or 20 hours per week in that position. Visit the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid for more information.
All students must be paid at least the state minimum wage. If you are hiring a graduate student as a research or teaching assistant, visit The Graduate School for more on minimum stipend requirements.
With the exception of some graduate research and teaching assistant positions, student employees are not eligible for employment-based benefits, which include vacation and sick leave, medical, dental, and other types of insurance.
If you are hiring an SHRA student employee, you will need to select an existing position and update it if necessary in ConnectCarolina. If an existing position is not available or does not meet your needs, you may need to create a new position in ConnectCarolina. Refer to the Creating Student Positions section of the Connect Carolina Student Originator Training for further information and instructions. You can also refer to the Creating Student Positions section of the Student Originators Manual.
Once you have created a position, you may need to post or circulate the job description in order to recruit a student employee. Check with your School or Unit regarding specific recruitment recommendations, email listservs, flyers, etc. While there is not a designated student employee job board at UNC, depending on the nature of the position, you may be able to have it posted on other existing job boards, such as the Office of Undergraduate Research’s Database of Research Opportunities. Student positions can also be posted on Handshake, a new online portal created by University Career Services that includes job and internship postings, as well as details about on-campus recruiting, career fairs, workshops and employer contact information and more. Visit University Career Services for more information.