Current University of Iowa (UI) students are eligible for on-campus student employment. They can be hired as hourly student employees for undergraduate or graduate level work and at a corresponding wage, based on departmental needs and budget.

LOOKING TO HIRE? FOLLOW THESE STEPS!

STEP 1: APPROVALS & APPOINTMENT TYPES

• Check with your DEO and budget officer to confirm departmental need and funding.
  • There are 2 types of student appointments: biweekly continuous and biweekly work-study.
    • Biweekly continuous is an hourly student job code that is 100% paid by departmental funds. 
    • Biweekly work-study is similar, but the department pays 50% of the student's wage and the Federal work-study program pays the other 50% of the wage, *until the award is exhausted each semester. Students must have received a work-study through their FAFSA application to be eligible for this type of appointment. 
      • This is a great option for departments who may not otherwise have the budget to hire!
    • For more information about eligibility requirements for both types of appointments, please click here.

STEP 2: ADVERTISING

• Once you have hiring approval, draft a position description:
  • Click here for a blank template!
  • Click here for a sample!
• To gather applications, you may post your job on Handshake or contact your HR person (see HR contact info below) for assistance advertising and sourcing.
  • If you already have a student in mind due to a referral, advertising is not required.

STEP 3: INTERVIEWING AND SELECTION

• Interview and select the student(s)
  • We are happy to provide interview guidance and resources! Please reach out to your HR contact and we can walk you through the steps. 
• Once you have your candidate of choice, please send the students name and university ID # to your HR contact at least one week prior to start date. We will then follow up with the necessary paperwork items which will likely include a(n):
  • Offer Letter
  • Data Collection Form
  • Instructions for the Federal I9 Form
    • NOTE: In order for a student to complete the I9 Form, they are required to meet with our team, in-person, and bring original, required, acceptable documents, either one from column A OR one from both columns B and C. If your student does not have these documents on campus and is unable to complete, we will need to delay their start date until we can complete.

STEP 4: FINALIZING THE APPOINTMENT

• Once all paperwork items are completed and returned to the HR person, HR will submit the appointment transaction for approvals. Once submitted, you can expect your student to have access to the systems within 2-3 days.
  • This is another reason why it is important to give us enough time to process all paperwork items :)

(*Current non-UI students can also be appointed as student employees either during the summer or during the AY with appropriate enrollment status confirmation from another institution.)

WHO TO CONTACT FOR NEXT STEPS:

• Human Resource Contacts:
  • Hannah Dobrowski (hannah-dobrowski@uiowa.edu)
    • Admissions, Academic Advising, Career Center, Distance and Online Education (DOE), Honors Program, Lakeside Labs, Outreach and Engagement, Provost Office, Registrar, University College Programs
  • Alexa Lavin (alexa-lavin@uiowa.edu)
    • Center for Inclusive Academic Excellence (CIAE), Office of Institutional Equity (OIE), Inclusive Education Strategic Initiatives (IESI), Hancher, International Programs, Pentacrest Museums, Stanley Museum of Art, Student Financial Aid
• Please reach out to your DEO and/or your budget contact to confirm funding for the position you are trying to hire.

ADDITIONAL CAMPUS RESOURCES:

• UI Student Employment Information
• Handshake Recruitment Portal
• Office of Student Financial Aid, Work-study Program

In the interest of a great hire and employee experience, best practice is to go through a similar process with searching and selecting a temporary employee however, not all the same requirements apply.  

Process:

• If you need to source a candidate, we have a temporary jobs tab of the UI jobs.uiowa.edu website where any positions that may/will hire an external candidate (not current student, not recent paid employee in last 24 months) for at least three days (state law related to VEVRAA). 
  • HR will need the general position information for the posting including job duties, wages/compensation, hours/schedule, required and desired qualifications, application method and deadline, and contact info. 
  • HR can also do additional external posting at online job boards (budget allowing for cost sites) or niche listservs etc. in addition to dept contacts reaching out to their networks. 
• The hiring manager and/or HR can set up interviews with qualified candidates. HR is happy to be a resource and assist with interview scheduling, question creation, evaluation forms, and consultation.
• Best practice is to consider all who apply and document reasons for non-interview and non-selection.
• Once a candidate is selected for hire, complete and send the Appointment Info Form to HR and we will draft an offer letter.
• When the signed offer letter is received we will coordinate the Federal I9 form (see notes on I9 above) and process the appointment items.

A few key temporary appointment considerations:

• Temp staff working an average of 50% or more can be appointed up to one year. At that time they must end their appt or reduce to under 50% time.
• Temp staff working an average of under 50% can be appointed indefinitely.
• An appropriate P&S classification should be selected, only using the misc. P&S job code (PZ01 or PZ03) when a normal P&S classification is not available, and requires the employee be paid the corresponding pay level minimum.
• There is a temp posting requirement for any job that hires an external candidate, posted on the Iowa Workforce Development (IWD), for at least three days, per state law.  See the Temp Appointment Info website above for definition of internal vs. external candidate.

*If you currently have someone that needs payment or an appointment set-up you can complete this quick intake form.

Contact your HR Rep for questions and considerations in hiring temporary Merit staff.