Student learning
Program Terms
- It is your responsibility as an employer in the Work Study/Work Learn program to support your student’s learning on the job by providing a workplace orientation including supervised training, as well as performance reviews through mid-term evaluation and/or exit interview.
- You are asked to encourage your student to complete the job objectives worksheet and end of term surveys. You should provide feedback on your student’s job objectives and discuss any learning and professional development opportunities the position may provide.
- You must keep track of your student’s hours and submit timesheets to Payroll in accordance with UBC payroll policy and deadlines.
- You must ensure that all timesheets are submitted to Payroll on time and you understand that the Work Study/Work Learn program reserves the right to not reimburse timesheets submitted late.
- You must be aware of and abide by the hourly restrictions that apply to your student’s position, outlined in the position classification guidelines.
- You will not be reimbursed for any hours incurred by your student beyond the maximum of 300 hours for the summer session (204 hours for the Office/Library Worker category).
- You must pay your student the wage indicated on your Work Study/Work Learn Summer project proposal as approved by Career Services, and to pay your student for all hours they incur in their Work Study/Work Learn Summer position.
- You must abide by all terms and conditions set forth by the Work Study/Work Learn program.
Place and Promise: The UBC Plan outlines the university's commitment to providing enriched educational opportunities for students. We support that commitment by helping Work Study and Work Learn students learn how to apply their work experience to their future career plans through Student Learning Components.
As a supervisor, you can support your students' learning and professional development by following these simple steps.
Step 1: Provide a Workplace Orientation
Soon after hiring your students (ideally, on their first day on the job), provide them with an orientation to the work environment and tasks required for the position. Topics to cover include:
- Work schedule
- Work area
- When and how to submit work hours
- Expectations on what is required of the student in the position
- Questions the students may have
Group orientations
If you supervise multiple students, a group orientation may be a convenient way to review information together and help your students get to know each other. If a graduate student or other individual will be directly supervising the student, you may want to include them in the orientation as well.
Returning students
If the student is returning to the position and is already familiar with the workplace and job, you can provide an abbreviated orientation. However, you should always review administrative and other details with the student to avoid potential confusion.
Resources
Step 2: Review Job Objectives with your students
After students have been in their job for approximately one month and are more familiar with their position, they are required to complete a Job Objectives Worksheet. The worksheet asks students to develop goals they’d like to achieve in their current position (for example, improving a particular skill), then provides instructions on how to achieve those objectives.
Your students would benefit if you could review and assess their objectives with them, and discuss how you can help them work towards accomplishing their objectives.
Resources
Step 3: Encourage participation in career development activities
We ask you to support your students’ career development by referring them to career development activities at UBC. Relevant activities may include:
- Career-related workshops (online or in person)
- One-on-one career advising
- Events listed on the Career Services calendar
- Joining a UBC mentoring program
Step 4: Provide a Performance Evaluation
Here are some benefits of providing a performance evaluation half-way through your student’s work term:
- Students will have been in the position long enough to be familiar with the job, but still have enough time in their work term to implement your suggestions.
- You can give the student feedback on their performance and clarify expectations.
- Both of you can share your experiences to date.
Conducting the Performance Evaluation
We recommend scheduling a meeting with your student to conduct the Performance Evaluation. You and your student would benefit from completing an assessment of their skills and performance beforehand and bringing it to the meeting (or earlier, if possible).
The assessments and results of the Performance Evaluation should only be viewed by yourself and the student. Either you or the student can keep the completed assessments.
Resources
Step 5: Remind student to complete the student survey
Students are required to complete a survey which we will distribute in the final month of the session. Please encourage students to complete this survey. We will also send a separate survey for supervisors and administrators to complete. The surveys provide us with important information about students' and employers' experiences and help us to shape the programs for future years.
Step 6: Provide an Exit Interview
We encourage you to conduct exit interviews with Work Study and Work Learn students, as you would with other departing staff. You can generally complete exit interviews within 30 minutes, and may prefer to conduct it informally, perhaps even over coffee.
The exit interview is an opportunity for students to reflect on their progress with the goals they initially set through the Job Objectives Worksheets. You can also recommend that students contact Career Services to make an appointment to discuss their career goals and how to leverage their work experience to reach their goals.
Benefits of exit interviews
- Encourage both supervisors and students to reflect on the position
- Receive feedback about your students’ experiences and recommendations on improving or changing the position
- Provide feedback about your students’ performance, the positive contributions they have made, and how to apply their on-the-job learning to future positions
Sample questions to ask
- What accomplishments are you most proud of?
- What challenges did you face in the position?
- What did you enjoy most about your job? Least?
- What did you learn about yourself in this job?
- Were you happy with the supervision provided to you? How could I help students better achieve their goals in this position?
- What skills have you gained as a result of this experience? How will this job help you get closer to your career/academic goals?
- How would you improve this experience for future Work Study/Work Learn students?
Questions about Student Learning Components?
Con
Acting Program Assistant
604.822.8278
careers.workstudy@ubc.ca
