VCU news

By Rebecca Aldridge

Building on Virginia Commonwealth University’s commitment to make student employment a transformational learning experience, the inaugural VCU Work+ mini-conference this month brought together more than 100 participants to share insight into how the relationships between students and supervisors can support personal growth and career preparation.

VCU is one of 12 institutions nationwide participating in the Work+ Collective, an initiative focused on enhancing the on-campus student employee experience. VCU employs more than 4,000 working learners annually across roughly 50 major business units, and several hundred faculty and staff serve as their supervisors.

The collective, based at Arizona State University, helps participating universities reimagine on-campus student roles so they become more meaningful learning opportunities. The Feb. 7 mini-conference emerged as an idea during the VCU Work+ team’s previous “Discovery Sprint” session with ASU organizers, at which participants suggested live training sessions with a shared audience of working learners and supervisors.

“From the beginning of our partnership with Work+, we envisioned an event like this, where students and supervisors came together to work on their relationship and improve their skills for their positions,” said Jonathan Fuller, a mini-conference organizer and director of the First and Second Year Experiences program in VCU’s Division of Strategic Enrollment Management and Student Success. “It was so encouraging to see so many people continue to turn out for an event like this, continuing to show the kind of need we’re meeting on our campus.”

Held at the Academic Learning Commons, the mini-conference included nearly 50 student employees and a similar number of supervisors. Breakout sessions and networking opportunities were among the highlights.

The keynote address was delivered by David Pickersgill, learning outreach program coordinator at Barry-Wehmiller. The St. Louis-based company is a global supplier of industrial equipment and engineering solutions, but it is known as much for its culture of care as it is for manufacturing.

“The world is in need of caring leadership. This conference is an opportunity for students to learn and for supervisors to sharpen their caring leadership skills,” said Pickersgill, who previously led a July session on listening, empathy and feedback for roughly 100 faculty and staff supervisors. “As supervisors at VCU model the kind of leadership that will change the world, it enables the students they work with to have healthy models of leadership to take out into the working world once they graduate.”

During the breakout sessions, students and staff could explore best practices for using technical tools (including RamsConnect, Talent@VCU, RealTime, Handshake and Google Suite), as well as enhancing skills such as time management, onboarding and training student staff. Tips also were offered for interview preparation and highlighting working learner and/or supervision experience on résumés.

“I was hoping that working learners would leave my presentation with an understanding that their on-campus employment is worth talking about on a résumé or in an interview -- even if it doesn’t seem directly related to their long-term career goals. It’s all valuable experience,” said Ashley Worthington, senior career counselor for pre-professional health and STEM in VCU Career Services.

Sam Facio, a student digital production intern in VCU Human Resources, attended the mini-conference because of what she called “shift of culture that is being done for working learners” – and her pride in playing a role.

“The conference was a way to learn more about how much our community and supervisors care about us and that our work really matters,” Facio said. “Hearing in the keynote address how all different types of personalities … are all vital to the workplace gave me such a positive feeling, and showed me how I can use that to excel.”

Samara Reynolds, executive director of Career Services and a driving force behind VCU Work+, said the event’s equal embrace of working learners and their supervisors reflected how those relationships can make on-campus employment a transformational working experience, not just a transactional one.

“It was awesome to see supervisors not only attend the mini-conference but bring their student team members with them to sit together, discuss the things they learned and attend the networking session,” Reynolds said. “We want to continue to build opportunities for recognition and pride for those that work on campus – especially knowing that so many VCU students want and need to work to achieve their educational goals – and seeing supervisors and students attend the conference together brought that intention to life.”

As an ongoing resource, VCU recently launched a new Rams at Work website that emphasizes how student employment is a high-impact learning opportunity. Geared toward students as well as their faculty and staff supervisors, the website offers different pathways for engagement – from a student seeking a job, or a student currently in a position, to a VCU faculty or staff member looking to hire for a working learner position.