How to Choose the Right College Student Hire

By Elana Goodwin on January 28, 2019

When hiring a college student, you want to make sure you employ the right student for your company and needs. Picking the right college student hire is not always an easy or clear-cut process — but if you look at and for these factors on their resume, you’ll be on your way to hiring a good student employee.

Here’s how to choose the right college student hire.

Photo Credit: Pixabay.com

1. Their GPA. Not all students will include their GPA on their resume but typically the ones who are high-achieving academically will include their GPA. You can really not consider students who don’t tell you their GPA but know that the reason they might not is that it’s not something they want you to know.

One factor that indicates a student will be the right hire for you is their divulging of their GPA; it shows they’re proud of their academic progress, they’re hardworking, and upfront. Even if the GPA isn’t necessarily brag-worthy, the student still telling you what their GPA is demonstrates their honesty.

2. Noteworthy Roles. Another sign a college student will be the right hire is if they include impressive roles on their resume. If they’ve had leadership positions in campus clubs or contributed to a campus publication, etc., it shows they take initiative, have passion, and are a go-getter.

Someone who has been actively involved in different things will likely give the same effort and level of engagement to the job you’re hiring them for, and you want your college student hire to be proactive and take initiative when it comes to getting things done and handling their job’s responsibilities.

3. Duration of Positions. A really good way to judge whether a college student hire will be the right one for you is to look at how long they held previous or current positions for. The length of time a student had a job or certain role in an organization tells you a lot about that student. Keeping the same job or position for a longer period of time shows the student is loyal, committed, reliable, and someone the club or employer wanted to stay on.

That being said, sometimes a job can’t be held for a long period of time. For example, maybe the student hire could only work a certain job during the summer months or perhaps a position was only available for a semester or year. Regardless, you do want to pay close attention to their track record, especially if you don’t want to be in the same hiring boat in a short while, looking for some other student to fill the same position.

4. Campus Clubs. The right college student hire will likely be involved in campus clubs and include their membership to organizations on their resume. Being involved in clubs shows their dedication to the school, their interest in various causes, and that they have to know how to manage their time. If they’ve already had to juggle their classes and campus involvement, there’s a good chance they’ll also be able to adeptly handle adding a job to the mix, which means they’ll be a good hire for your company.

5. Schedule Consistency. The right college student hire will have time in their schedule to devote to the job during the hours you’d need them. While they may need to change their schedule from semester to semester or need a bit of flexibility, a college student isn’t going to be a good hire for your company if they don’t really have availability in their day to come and work at the job you’d hire them for.

Obviously, school is very important and the student can’t come when they have class, but when you’re looking to hire a college student, the one who may work out for you will be the one who has thought out how much time they have during the day and when they can come to the job.

6. Previous Experience. A big factor in knowing a college student will be a good hire is looking at their past work experience. Even if you’re considering hiring a freshman, while they won’t have as much experience as other college students, you can and should look for what work history they list from high school. Those that have prior work experience will be better able to balance work and class, have some skills that may be needed at the job you’re hiring them for, be easier to train, and generally be more mature and readily fit into your workplace.

By looking for the above factors when considering potential college student hires and reading their resumes, you’ll be more likely to choose the right student hire for your company and one who will be a great employee.

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