IUPUI Establishes Temp Work Program for Students

INDIANAPOLIS – For many college students, unmet financial need is among the most formidable forces blocking the road to a college degree.

As part of the effort to help more students stay enrolled and earn a degree by addressing financial issues, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis is expanding its student career services to include a temporary work program.

Under the new program, JagTemps, IUPUI students can join a pool of workers available for on-campus, part-time temporary jobs. Campus academic departments and other units are being encouraged to hire students as temps to help with special projects and events, cover maternity and sick leaves, and provide extra staffing during seasonal peak times.

“The vision is to get campus departments to look first toward hiring students for temporary positions before hiring from the outside,” said John Murray, The IUPUI Human Resources Administration manager of employment compensation and co-manager for JagTemps.

Murray’s office works with campus departments to ascertain their needs and perform administrative tasks relating to hiring the students, while the IUPUI Career Center recruits students for the job pool.

Jobs through JagTemps can last anywhere from three days to three months and pay a minimum of $8 an hour, and must be no more than 20 hours a week. Students are matched with job assignments first according to availability, then according to skills and academic areas.

The campus spends hundreds of dollars in temporary hires, and JagTemps officials hope to capture part of that market, said Tracie Hughes, assistant director of the Career Center.

JagTemps officials also hope that providing students with additional opportunities for on-campus employment will give those hired a stronger sense of “connectedness” which has been linked to better rates of student success.

“The more students are connected to campus, whether it is by way of work, or talking to a professor, the more they are kept motivated and engaged in school,” Hughes said.

Under JagTemps, student salaries are paid by the hiring department. Administrative personnel costs are being paid through Commitment to Excellence Funds.

The program, still in the pilot stage, has recruited 35 students. Since the first placement in early February, 13 students have been hired for temporary positions through JagTemps.

Most of the jobs have involved administrative or clerical work, said Lauren DeWell, student employment consultant in the Career Center. For example, student temps have been hired to do administrative filing, computer entry of University Library’s new acquisitions, and follow-up calls for a Center on Philanthropy survey.

JagTemps is not associated with the federal work study program that has long been part of the financial aid packages that colleges and universities offer their students.

“This program helps students who may not qualify for traditional work study, but who still have unmet financial needs,” Hughes said.

A JagTemps position can also be a great opportunity for students who may be in academic programs that aren’t conducive to permanent work schedules, officials said.

IUPUI departments and units who are interested in hiring temporary student workers can call Judy Carley at (317) 274-7381. Students interested in joining the JagTemps pool, should contact Lauren DeWell at (317) 274-2554.