Hiring, staffing, training and timing: Meeting your needs and going beyond the University mission

1
Hiring, staffing, training and timing Meeting
your needs and going beyond the University mission

• Margaret Landsparger
• Michigan Technological University
• June 24, 2008

2
Information to impart

• About Michigan Tech
• Resnet at Michigan Tech
• Our hiring process
• Changes we have made to our training schedule
• The retention rate of Resnet at Michigan Tech
• University Missions and are we meeting them
• Process University of Minnesota is taking
  regarding student employment
• Student Success Outcomes

3
What is Michigan Tech?

• Engineering based
• 6000 Students, 31 male to female
• In Houghton, Michigan
• City population of 7500
• Average Snowfall of 208 inches
• Houghton is one of the best 100 places to live,
  according to "The 100 Best Small Towns In
  America, by Normal Crampton.
• It is farther to travel from Houghton to Detroit
  than it is from Detroit to Washington, DC, or
  Louisville, Kentucky.

4
Resnet _at_ Michigan Tech
5
Hiring Process

• Written test
• General Networking questions
• TCP/IP and DNS
• Finding MAC addresses on various platforms
• Troubleshooting techniques
• Router connections

6
Interview the Top

• Customer Service
• Dealing with customers
• Communication skills
• File Sharing
• Why they want to work for Resnet

7
Student Training

• Changed things up
• Used to do Fall training
• 3 days of training
• Onslaught of 2200 students
• Like pushing them off a dock and telling them to
  swim.

8
New Training Schedule

• As Spring Semester Starts
• 2-3 days of training
• Newbies then paired with returning student
• Later in the semester newbie's sent out on their
  own
• When Fall comes, we have no newbies!

9
Spring Semester Schedule
Newbie working side by side with returning
consultant.
Newbie now confident to work shift alone.
Come the end of the semester, all consultants are
ready for the fall rush.
Week 12
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 1
Week 13
Week 14
10
Retention

• Consultants Not highest paid students on campus
• Students dont leave before graduation
• Opportunity to practice what they have learned
• Fun place to work

11
Fulfilling our goals or the Universitys?
12
The University Mission
promote the welfare and intellectual progress
of students. California State University,
Northridge
development as adults committed to high ethical
standards and full participation as leaders in
their communities. Duke University
We prepare students to create the future.
Michigan Technological University
to sustain a collaborative learning and
research community that supports the personal
development of its members.... University of
Richmond
to integrate the intellectual, spiritual,
ethical and social development of our students.
University of Detroit Mercy
The University actively facilitates learning
through the preservation, discovery, synthesis,
and dissemination of knowledge. Marshall
University
dedicated to educating the whole person, to
professional formation, and to empowering leaders
for a just and human world. Seattle University
13
Student Employees Creating Meaningful
Educational Experiences

• University of Minnesota
• NACAS/NASPA Webcast
• September 27, 2006

14
Student Success Outcomes

• University of Minnesota instituted Student
  Success Outcomes.

• Assessments completed shortly after employment
  starts, mid-semester and at end of each semester.
• Supervisor assessment and self assessment.

• Incentive to do a good job and improve skills.
• Students liked the dialogue with their supervisor.

15
Job Performance vs. SSO Assessment

• In general, supervisors with 10 or more students
  spent less time together.
• Mid-year assessments had a great impact.

16
Other benefits

• Opportunities to meet on a regular basis
• More timely feedback
• Identify confidence issues and training needs
• Two way feed back
• Open lines of honest communication
• Improve consistency

17
Hows it going for Tech?
Not fully implemented yet.
18
Thank you for joining me
The End
19

• Questions?