Starting Spring 2021, the student employment processes are subject to a major change. In an effort to gather this portion of the student body under one entity, the Student Employment Office was born.
Prior to this, student employment happened through two individual canals: The Financial Aid Office or The Center for Learning Excellence (CLE). Towards the end of every semester, they email to call for online applications and hire based on the applicant’s eligibility. At the CLE, applicants go through interviews before being hired.
As one can see, the overall student employment process happens through two separate entities. Consequently, students and other AUI departments are at crossroads in terms of where to inquire professional support, treat payments, etc. To counter this disparity, the Student Employment Office regroups all stakeholders in the process into one fully dedicated organization.
The process:
The Student Employment Office reunites the application process to a single channel and reduces the memo sources for other departments. Following this method, both students and staff should benefit from a smoother experience while working on campus. The aim is also to increase student employment on campus by both encouraging students to apply and departments to hire, making sure all parties’ needs are met in this matter.
As of February 2021, the Student Employment Office has an unclear structure and operations, since its establishment is fairly new. Despite this ambiguity, the chain of operations is simple in theory:
- The office gathers information from various departments about needs in part-timers, then opens the application process to all AUI students seeking a job. After the application deadline, the selection process starts collectively for all job listings, and applicants are assigned jobs based on their eligibility.
- At the end of the semester, a memo is sent to the Business Office about all cases of student employment at once to process payments. This smooths and fastens the payment process as the Business Office only expects and handles memos from one source. Meanwhile, the office will once again receive lists of needs from departments and will call for applications. Thus bringing a breeze of fresh air to this aspect of Student Life at AUI.
Going Forward:
As the Student Employment Office envisions, it empowers student employees and gives them a platform to voice their needs and concerns. Residence Assistant Iliass Jabali states:
❝ You have the ability to say what is good and what is wrong, and they listen; […] They always tackle our problems.❞
– Iliass Jabali, RA
Despite the successes of the entity, challenges still hurdle its path to perfection. That mainly due to its recent establishment. The office is still in its adjustment period, adapting to the circumstances it operates in.
In fact, a recurring concern among both the administrator of the office and the employees is the vagueness of procedures. This can, sometimes, result in conflict. In response, the office puts its efforts into getting feedback as much as possible from all the stakeholders involved.
Another challenge that has come to light is how an office can handle disparities in different jobs on-campus. For example, the rates for a TA are different from the rates for a Mentor (25MAD/hour and 50MAD/hour respectively). Another instance that CLE part-timers are evaluated by fellow students while others are evaluated by the departments. The question remains: How can one entity ensure smooth management of different sub-elements of its line of work?
