UVA Student Hiring Process
IMPORTANT - Students must complete their I-9 Form and submit documentation within THREE DAYS of their first day of work. If they do not then their work will be SUSPENDED and UNPAID until the process is complete. View the Student I-9 Documentation webpage for details.
Student employment is an essential element of the University’s mission and operations. Each year, approximately 5,000 students work in over 7,000 on-Grounds positions, some supporting UVA’s education and research programs as part of their academic training, others earning valuable employment experience while supporting University operations.
Students enrolled full-time (12 credits or more during a fall/spring semester and six credits during summer session or January Term) in a degree program at UVA are eligible to be student wage employees for the University of Virginia. In addition, students in their last semester of enrollment prior to graduation who need fewer than 12 credits to graduate are eligible to work in a student wage capacity.
Students from other colleges/universities are not eligible for UVA student employment.
Provost's Wage AuthorizationIf you are a student seeking job opportunities at UVA, view resources from the Career Center or watch this quick video on How To Find Jobs On-Grounds. The Undergraduate Community Employment Partnership (UCEP) program supports students who have been awarded Federal Work-Study. View a list of UCEP partners currently hiring.
View the UVA Career Center WebsiteThe Talent Flexibility Team works with hiring managers and Business Partners to help recruit and hire exceptional candidates. We can help you post student wage and federal work-study positions in Handshake and Workday, and provide support and tools for hiring managers who need assistance in screening, sourcing, and selecting the best qualified talent.
Below you can learn details about each stage of the student hiring process at UVA. Alternatively, you can download an overview of the student hiring process.
Responsible Party: Hiring Manager
Resources to assist:
Responsible party: Hiring Manager
Understand what a Federal Work Study (FWS) student is, reasons why you may choose a FWS student, and how it may impact your department’s budget. Familiarize yourself with the difference between a FWS and a non-FWS student worker. Under FWS, student wages are partially funded by annual federal appropriations.
Resources to assist:
Responsible party: Hiring Manager
Develop and gain internal approval on job details, including:
Responsible Party: Hiring Manager
Schools and units have multiple methods of hiring students. Options include:
Option 1: If you have pre-identified a student, you can hire them directly without posting a job requisition.
Option 2: If you have pre-identified a Federal Work Study student, you can create a handshake posting on your own if your department has a Handshake account or contact AskHR to generate a Handshake number, which will not be published.
*Note: if you have pre-identified a student worker, you can skip to the "Hiring" phase of the process.
Option 3: If your department has a separate posting and recruiting avenue, you can advertise the job requisition on your own without using handshake or Workday.
Option 4: Recruit a student worker by initiating a job requisition in Workday. After you create the job requisition, HR must review and approve it prior to being published.
Responsible Party: Hiring Manager
Ensure you have a Job Management (JM) Supervisory Org. If not, contact your HRBP to have one created.
Responsible Party: Hiring Manager or Delegate
Enter job requisition in Workday and a Talent Flex team member will reach out to you.
Resources to assist:
See the Creating and Recruiting Positions section of the Workday Training Website for Managers
View the Job Requisition job aid
Responsible Party: UVA HR Talent Flex Team
Reviews job requisition and consults with the hiring manager for any additional details and/or recommended changes. Upon approval, job requisition goes to school’s financial approver.
Responsible Party: UVA HR Talent Flex Team
Upon financial approval, job requisition is posted via Workday.
Workday interfaces with Handshake. UVA Student Career Center approves job requisition and it is posted in Handshake.
Responsible Party: UVA HR Talent Flex Team
Talent Flex Team sends job posting confirmation to Hiring Manager and instructions for next steps.
Responsible Party: Student Worker Candidates
After the position is posted in Handshake, job seekers can view job listings in Handshake and follow instructions to submit applications through Workday.
Responsible Party: UVA HR Talent Flex Team
Reviews all applications received for minimum posted qualifications; moves applications forward to managers in Workday.
Responsible Party: Hiring Manager
Monitor and review applications received for job requisition in Workday.
Responsible Party: Hiring Manager
For student worker positions, there are no requirements regarding how long a position must be posted, if a position must be posted at all, whether the candidate must be interviewed, or what that interview looks like. As a hiring manager, if you want to interview a candidate(s); select applicant(s) to interview, and contact candidate outside of Workday to set up a time.
Responsible Party: Hiring Manager
Upon Hiring Manager’s decision, send job offer to candidate. Check to see if your school or department requires a job offer to be signed by the student worker.
Responsible Party: Hiring Manager
If your school or department requires a background check for the student position, email AskHR to request it be conducted. HR will confirm once background check is completed. Do not hire the candidate in Workday until the background check is complete (if one is required).
Reasons why a student position may need a background check include:
Resource to assist:
Responsible Party: Hiring Manager
Hire the student in Workday. For federal work study student hires, please be sure to use a federal work-study job title profile (found in Appendix A of the Work Study Administrator’s Handbook) and complete the work-study voucher, which will be assigned to you a separate task in your Workday inbox.
Resources to assist:
Utilize step-by-step assistance in Workday Digital Assist to complete the Work Study Voucher
Responsible Party: Hiring Manager
Onboarding: There is currently no UVA orientation/Grounds For Success for student workers.
Initiate onboarding for new hires/re-hire by completing the onboarding set-up task that will be assigned to you automatically in your Workday inbox.
It is critical for students to understand that hew hires at UVA must complete an I-9 form, and understand which documents they need to provide for it.
This only applies to new hires/rehires.
Responsible Party: Hiring Manager
Provide resources and information to new hire to assist in completing their onboarding steps in Workday. Ensure they complete required training courses and onboarding steps in Workday. Any necessary departmental orientation should be provided as well.
Resources to assist:
Refer student to the Workday Training website. Consider sharing resources to help:
Contact AskHR@virginia.edu for any assistance regarding onboarding.
Responsible Party: Payroll Costing Manager
Once hire is complete, schedule the Payroll Costing Allocation.
For full information on I-9 documentation requirements and available in-person documentation sessions, please visit the Student I-9 Documentation webpage.
New student employees must:
Student workers who fail to present required documents at an I-9 session will lead to termination of employment until acceptable documentation is presented.
See I-9 and E-Verify for clarification regarding proper completion of the I-9.
If your employee is unable to present acceptable documents before their suggested start date,
they should contact the HR Solution Center at 434.243.3344 or askhr@virginia.edu.
Please learn more about the onboarding process on our Onboarding website. Among other resources, you will find the Onboarding Checklist for Academic Managers.
Students are only permitted to work 20 hours per week while classes are in session per the Wage Authorization Memo published by the Provost’s Office. This means that regardless of the number of work assignments the student holds, no more than 20 hours should be worked. Please work closely with the manager and/or student employee(s) to manage this expectation. Students on visas should consult with the International Studies Office regarding guidelines on their working hours. Per year, student workers are limited to 1,500 hours.
Share the Helpful Resources For Student Employees at the right with your team to assist with vital processes like entering time, viewing pay slips, setting up direct deposit, and more.
View HRM-029: Managing Staff Wage EmploymentWhen a Federal Work Study (FWS) student is no longer eligible to work in a FWS job, either due to their work study award being fully depleted or the end of the academic year, the job will be terminated at the end of the academic year. However, students may continue working if the job is converted to a non-work study position. This job change can be entered by going to the student’s profile page and clicking “Change FWS Job to non-Work Study” under the Simplified Change Job heading. You will need to know the non-work study job profile that you want to use when entering this change.
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