Comments on: Untapped Resource: Do you have Student Web Workers?

By: Jim_really

Jim_really — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:19:20 +0000

I particularly agree with the strategies you have pointed out to connect with a student worker in your office. These are exactky the actions that will make them motivated. In fact, an Oxbridge student said: “I study hard, but still have lots of spare time to do the things I enjoy. I don’t hear people with jobs saying the same thing.”

Quote source: http://www.topemployers.co.uk/oxbridge-students-graduate-jobs-survey-08-page5.html

By: freelance writing

freelance writing — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:33:00 +0000

Hi,
Just stumbled upon Fienen’s post and was redirected by James here.
Taking into account all pros and cons we must agree on the evidence of positivity of suggested practices.
The other question is a good will… but it’s not actually a question:)

By: Kyle James

Kyle James — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:32:36 +0000

@Jeremy – As I suggested above have you tried using student workers to handle the little nitpicky day-to-day stuff so YOU can focus more on the big projects? I mean just being able to pass on all the little minor edits and checking on site things can consume a whole day. Make a list of all the small five minute things that need to be done weekly and have students work on those things not your major projects. If they do turn out to be reliable and you keep them long term then you can begin to entrust them with larger projects. I never give a large project to a fresh student worker. I might give them a piece of a project but play small ball with the students and you free up your time.

By: Jeremy Sievers

Jeremy Sievers — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:18:19 +0000

For us it is a pipe dream. The concept is great, but it has never come to fruition. We have real issue with this because we can not rely or plan on having student workers from one semester to another. One semester you have a major data cruncher, next someone who can do flash well, but we only get what we get.

For instance this semester our start pupil got an full time internship and jumped ship. Now we has 3 to 4 major project that are delayed or on hold because we do not have the man power to accomplish them.

We also have an issue with expectation, a great student sets the bar high for our capacity. They leave, that expectation is still around.

By: Nikki Massaro Kauffman

Nikki Massaro Kauffman — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:20:52 +0000

I sometimes refer to using student workers without a strategy as “gradsourcing”.

Sometimes the temptation is to throw a student worker on a project just because the project was not given the resources for a full-time employee. The problem is that if these projects span longer than the term of a single student and/or need to be scalable, a student may not be thinking about the bigger picture.

I’ve witnessed the clean-up on grad-sourced projects and would recommend before gradsourcing a project, that you set clear expectations, define goals, and have a full-time person with knowledge in that area provide oversight.

By: Ron

Ron — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:53:46 +0000

I’ve always had students at varying levels of interest and I still find that generally we don’t engage them the way we ought to for one reason or another. Either due to the workload available at the time or for other reasons. I think this is one of the desperate needs for web offices to control their own workflows if they don’t.

By: Kathryn Spruill

Kathryn Spruill — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:43:27 +0000

I also got my start in admission as a student intern, but now I find myself encountering student workers in a totally different light. We have a few schools we work with that are asking their students to design publications. Not the viewbook exactly but the study abroad brochures and other supporting materials. Shouldn’t there be some times when you call in the experts?

By: Drew

Drew — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 18:40:37 +0000

I’ve had good student workers and not-so-good student workers. Having extra hands to handle side projects is a great thing. This is a great post.

By: Nick DeNardis

Nick DeNardis — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:53:10 +0000

Students are great! Most of the Web Communications staff in my department including myself started out as student assistants. We currently have two and they never cease to amaze me what they find and do not only on our time but on theirs too.

Also, love the use of video in your post.

By: Andrew Careaga

Andrew Careaga — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:15:28 +0000

Brad – You’re a stellar example of how these student positions can lead to rewarding careers. I doubt our students (chemistry, petroleum engineering and environmental engineering) will ever go into any sort of communications work, but at least they’re learning more about an area that could perhaps help them in the future, when they’re trying to explain complex technical issues to thick-headed marketing dweebs.

By: Kyle James

Kyle James — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:10:57 +0000

@Fienen – Thanks I knew I forgot something. I added the links to the post and surveys to the top of the post.

@D.W. – Thanks for the link. I updated the post to include it.

@Andrew – If you can make Freshman work for you all the better! You have them for four years.

@Brad – After 911 and getting laid off at the local IT shop as a bench tech I was fortunate enough to stumble into a campus job working with professors on websites and web initiatives for a year and half before moving back to IT for a few more years. Great to give back and get them excited.

By: Bradjward

Bradjward — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:02:51 +0000

It can also help them get launched into a career after college. I was a student worker in the marketing office at my school, helping out with the web, photography and ’social media’ before it was known as that (forums, sharing videos, etc.).

I can’t help but look back at all of those people who gave me the opportunities and smile. Which makes me turn around and provide the same opportunities for my 9 student workers.

By: Andrew Careaga

Andrew Careaga — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:47:42 +0000

Our department may be an exception to your “hire sophomores” rule. Two of our three student employees are freshmen (including the one in our electronic marketing office). The third student is a junior chemistry major who writes news releases as well as any English major we’ve ever hired. (Oh, for a journalism program on our campus.) All three of our students do great work. We’re very fortunate.

By: DW

DW — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 13:31:51 +0000

Found it for you! The post is from January: http://higheredmarketing.blogspot.com/2008/01/marketer-in-need-deserves-student.html

I had to search for it for a bit myself!

By: Michael Fienen

Michael Fienen — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 12:49:05 +0000

And don’t forget, if you are using student workers (or not), be sure to take the time to fill out the research form on the topic I’m using to collect data from. http://doteduguru.com/id1338-student-worker-research.html

There’s a survey there for employers, and one for the students. I’ll be reporting back on the results early in ‘09.