Finding a sharp, reliable student worker

April 2, 2008 2:33 PM

I'm thinking of hiring a college student or recent grad for some professional-level work. How do I screen applicants, and how do I make sure I get the best results when we're working together?

I provide a professional service that requires strong writing skills, and I want to sub out some of the writing on a freelance basis.

I'm tempted to hire a local college student or recent grad. I think they'll be more open to learning my company's voice, they'll have a different perspective than mine (we need lots of ideas), I'll be able to pay them well, and I like the idea of helping a professional writer start out with a cool opportunity.

I'm confident that the right student could do the work. I did similar work in college, and I recently helped train and was impressed by a new graduate (who is unfortunately under a non-compete).

The journalism career counselor at our local university has agreed to help--she'll post my ad and ask professors to recommend students. I've also placed an ad in the city newspaper, and I'm still not ruling out the possibility of finding an established writer who has the right style.

I'm requiring writing samples, of course.

My questions:

1. What should I look at to determine how professional a student is? They'd need to be reliable, able to schedule their life, etc.

2. Assuming I find a student who will work out, what's the best way to make sure we stay on track? My business is entirely online. My current ideas are to break the projects down into weekly deliverables and to discuss them in person during a short meeting at a local café.

3. Am I overlooking something major?

The main risk I see: I could train someone who then gets a full-time job and stops freelancing. An established independent contractor is less likely to disappear like that.

posted by PatoPata to work & money (9 comments total)

1. Extracurriculars or work history. As you're looking in the journalism dept, if the applicant could handle working for the student newspaper, he or she could probably handle your work. (And the nature of the work looks like the same -- writing pieces on a regular schedule).

2. Explicit expectations. I would be sure to email them on a regular basis with measurable goals, like, I need 500 words by Friday or however you measure your stuff. I don't think measuring by time would be as effective as measuring by output.

3. Maybe test out the applicant first? Give the applicant a non-critical assignment and use it like a try out. Also, I would make sure that your expectations and the applicant's expectations are really clear from the beginning and you're both on the same page.

Oh, and encourage communication about progress. I hated bosses who I thought (and would) get angry or be mean if I said I couldn't handle the work. Make it really clear to the applicant: It's okay if you're overloaded one week or you have a big test or something, but you need to let me know; if you don't let me know and something slips, then it becomes a big deal.
posted by lockestockbarrel at 2:48 PM on April 2, 2008

Your ad is important in determining what kind of applicants you'll get. I'm a recent grad and, when looking for freelancing work, I would evaluate the ads for spelling errors, etc. and the overall tone. If your ad shows your professionalism and is thorough, I would think you'd attract better applicants.
posted by PinkButterfly at 3:11 PM on April 2, 2008

In addition to relevant skills, I'd advise giving extra points to someone who has worked a McJob, so to speak, along the way. Summers at the fast-food joint or convenience store or retail or whatever.

Work, even if it's a great opportunity, can be boring -- the vision of the company is deeply important to you, but is probably not the subject in which they're majoring or the campus activist org to whose mission they're devoted.

Regular meetings at at cafe is a great idea.
posted by desuetude at 3:50 PM on April 2, 2008

-Require references from profs indicating that they get their work in on time.
-Definitely be explicit about deadlines, break them down to the weekly level.
-Be explicit about other expectations: if you skip a meeting, or if you skip a deadline, that's one strike - and with two strikes you will be fired. (or whatever your policy will be.) If they have questions they are to email you, not call (or whatever).
posted by LobsterMitten at 4:03 PM on April 2, 2008

Ditto what LobsterMitten said about calling not e-mailing. We have a steady stream of interns at my shop, and while they're mostly impressive, it's clear that "kids these days" have a fundamentally different view of appropriate communications. I'm trying hard not to judge -- if they grew up on texting and Facebook and IM then I see where they're coming from. But you're going to need to be explicit with your student employee about how and when to communicate with you, and how and when not to.

It takes a village to teach the Millenium Generation the ways of the professional world.
posted by mccxxiii at 4:46 PM on April 2, 2008

Interview them and throw out hypotheticals, then ask for the details about whatever their example is. Everyone will come up with a hypothetical, but some people's examples will be clearly better.

"This is a job where you might have two to three writing projects going on, each with its own deadline. Within each project, you may have to prioritize which elements are most important to finish and which will not be able to get done if time is running short. Can you talk about a long-term project you did and how you kept yourself on track, time-wise?"
"Ah, your senior project, I see. How did you set up a time management system for yourself?"
"One month per chapter, great. So, how did that go? Did every chapter really take one month? Did you ever find yourself having to re-evaluate what would go in the chapter to finish it in the month?"

Or maybe your lead-in is "This is a job where deadlines are extremely important. We have fast turn-around time, and there are four people waiting to edit the document once the writer finishes it, so delays on one person's part cost a lot of money. Have you ever been in a situation where you had a very solid deadline that could not be pushed back? How did you deal with that? Oh, you started very early, great. Did you ever have a time when you couldn't start early and you knew the project just had to be turned around quickly? For example, maybe a take-home exam?"

Another one I ask about (maybe more pertinent to my job) is how people keep track of details ("there are a lot of details in this project -- who we've called, who has called back, what they sent or what we're waiting on, the email correspondence, you get the picture. Have you ever had to deal with a large quantity of details? How did you keep yourself organized?").
posted by salvia at 6:05 PM on April 2, 2008 [1 favorite]

Also, I wouldn't think "student." For my work (which requires a little more project management experience), I see a difference between people who graduated a year or so ago and realize their life is their own, and the younger students. Remember when your only experience was doing the project to get the grade? Instead, you want someone who will own the project. Someone who will say "I wanted this section to be particularly solid" rather than "is this good enough for you?"
posted by salvia at 6:10 PM on April 2, 2008

Thanks, everyone, for your great ideas. You've helped increase the chances that the right person will get the gig and that the work will go well.
posted by PatoPata at 7:16 PM on April 2, 2008

If it's an option (check out your local community college), you might also look at older students. They are likely to have had plenty of work/life experience and have a better sense of that kind of responsibility.

I used to work at a community college and had 3 different assistants over 6 years, plus worked with other student workers. There's definitely something to be said for the ex-machinist or ex-Army chaplain. (That last? He was amazing, not just smart & a hard worker, but also really good at handling the office politics aspects of the job.)
posted by epersonae at 1:50 PM on April 4, 2008