Becoming a student worker at Tarrant County College (TCC) now is easier and more efficient because of the recent approval of the streamlined One-College approach to help students acquire work experience at TCC.
Critical to the success of TCC’s new Student Employment Process was the decision in October 2019 to create a new position at the District level to track annual federal, state and institutional funds rather than continue the practice of multiple departments independently overseeing allocations.
“This new process is much more efficient and makes it easier for our students to take advantage of one of the greatest benefits available to them while studying at TCC, work which we will attempt to align with their chosen academic and career path and provide work experiences to be added to their professional résumé,” said TCC Trinity River President Sean Madison, the College Champion for the Career Services Student Employment Work Team.
Benefits of the new student hiring process developed by the Integrated Student Success Model (ISSM) Career Services Student Employment Work Team include reducing the required number of procedural steps to hire students from 120 to 90, a reduction of more than 25 percent.
The work team also improved equity and efficiency by standardizing student positions and pay for four employment levels with hourly rates ranging from $8.79 to $12. Training and enhanced communication have been developed to ensure students and supervisors receive the greatest benefit from the employment experience at the College.
Research indicates students who work a maximum of 20 hours a week strengthen their academic performance, tend to be more engaged and less likely to drop out, possibly because they have gained strong time management skills.
ISSM Work Team Leader, William (Bill) McMullen, director of Student Financial Aid Services for TCC Trinity River, said the team’s broad representation and wealth of experience from the areas of Business Services, Career Services, Financial Aid, Human Resources, Information Technology (IT), Finance and the Enterprise Project Management Office allowed them to streamline the process and make it more student-centered.
“This comprehensive approach enabled us to scrutinize every aspect of a mammoth procedure that spanned numerous campus and District offices. We first identified all aspects of the complex system, which allowed us to design the streamlined process,” McMullen said. “The team took an appreciative inquiry approach to the work as we sought to ensure the program design is from a student-first perspective.
“We tested the processes, training and IT enhancements in fall 2020. Our working prototype enabled us to adjust as changes were identified, which condensed our timeline to full implementation,” he said. “We are excited to roll out the entire new process in January 2021.”