November 2023

November is Career Development Month!

You play a vital role in fostering the career growth of your student staff members.

During National Career Development Month, you can support students by sharing stories about your career path — showing them the twisty-turny nature of careers and helping them understand that it's common to not have everything figured out.

This perspective can help students as they head home for Thanksgiving, where well-intentioned relatives will ask “What are you planning to do when you graduate?” 

Hearing your story can help students feel less anxious about their own paths, and might even inspire them to probe their family for additional career stories!

Visit the CES website to plan ahead for the Spring 2024 Professional Development Trainings for supervisors of student staff.

For now, check out this recommended training for supervisors of student staff (happening tomorrow, November 1st):

• SUPPORTING TRANSGENDER & NON-BINARY STUDENTS

  Facilitated by members of the Trans Advocacy and Inclusion Committee (TAIC)

  Wednesday, November 1

  10:30-11:30 a.m., Library 053

   

  All staff and faculty are invited to this training about the realities, experiences, and needs of transgender and non-binary students at Puget Sound — and how we as a campus community can welcome, support, and include them in the full life of the college!

   

  This interactive workshop will include space to explore the complex relationships between gender, sexuality, and identity; the various ways that people use pronouns; the needs and concerns that have emerged from the experiences of students (and faculty and staff!) over the last several years; the cultural and social considerations needed to create a hospitable and inclusive campus; and the importance of names, self-definition, and fluidity as we all live into who we are becoming.

Course Topics:

• • The gender binary (and thinking beyond it!)
  • Pronoun and name usage
  • “Ungendering” language
  • On- and off-campus resources to support trans and non-binary students

Join us for our monthly Gather{Rounds} — first Thursdays @ 11:30 a.m. — for supervisors to gather and connect.

These roundtable discussions feature topics that supervisors have suggested. Maybe it'll be a topic that YOU suggested! Next up:

• November 2: Keeping students engaged and motivated

• December 7: Students who stop communicating (and other challenges in supervision)

I'm concerned about one of my student staff members. What can I do?

Check out the university's Referral Guide for Student Concerns and talk with the student to find out if they have been connected with the resources that they need. Consider offering your support to help them make a plan to access campus resources.

Especially if you cannot reach the student, or if you believe the student may need further intervention, consider submitting a Student of Concern Referral Form through myPugetSound. When a student struggles with personal and/or academic issues during a term, Puget Sound’s Campus Assessment, Response & Education (CARE) team, an inter-departmental team of University staff, quickly intervenes with that student.

Puget Sound community members (faculty, staff, students, or family members) may submit a Student of Concern Referral Form to the CARE team regarding any student at any time. A link to the preferred alert form for all non-student employees is available in myPugetSound by clicking the “Student of Concern Reporting” button.

Can student staff work during break periods? Yes, but it depends on their job duration. Student staff members are eligible to work at any time within their job duration – including fall, winter, and spring break; reading period; and finals week. (You can view the job duration on myPugetSound >> HR Manager Resources >> Student Job & Earnings.)

For example, if working during upcoming break periods is of interest to both the student and the department, and the student's job duration is:

8/28/2023 – 5/5/2024 (the full academic year), they are eligible to work during reading period, finals week, and winter* break.

8/28/2023 – 12/15/2023 (fall semester only), they are eligible to work during reading period and finals week if they have earnings** remaining. Winter break is outside of their job duration, so they are not eligible to work during that time.

*When scheduling winter break work, avoid the days when the university is closed in late December – early January. If you and/or your regular staff are not working, neither should your student staff.

**Break periods are not included in the earnings limit calculation. You'll need to be mindful of how the student's schedule may need to be adjusted to ensure they don't exceed their total earnings limit.

You can view students' earnings limits on the Job & Earnings page, and evaluate the potential impact of using hours during a break period. Go to myPugetSound >> HR Manager Resources >> Student Job & Earnings.

Can students work remotely over break periods? No. Students are not authorized to work remotely over breaks, or at any time. The temporary authorization for student staff to work remotely ended in Fall 2021.

Grab a moment, wherever you can find it, to say hi and check in with your student staff members.

Ask your student staff: What careers are intriguing or interesting you right now?

BENEFIT: You may identify connections between their future interests and the work they are doing with you — AND the student feels noticed when you show you care about their interests or plans.

Follow up: Think about anyone you know who is working in a similar career field or doing something similar to the interests of the student (if you can't think of anyone you know, CES can help identify alumni). Offer to connect the student with the person you know, so the student can set up a conversation. Check out our guide about Informational Interviews and invite your student staff to use it to prepare for the conversation.

BENEFIT: You are helping the student expand their professional network AND equipping them with the powerful tool of Informational Interviewing.

Want to dive further into reflection with your student staff members? Sign up for Compass Puget Sound Supervisor Training.

An affirmation for your week:

It is OK if something isn't working out as you'd planned. Both you and the people around you, including your student staff, are capable of being flexible and resilient.

You will find another way.

And there is a whole community of supervisors throughout campus who can trade ideas with you, or simply affirm the experiences of supervision.

Career & Employment Services Student Employment Team

253.879.3161

CES@pugetsound.edu

CES Campus Supervisors Webpage

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