Busiest ever term for Campus Jobs

Students at Reading contributed to a combined 91,476 hours worked in Campus Jobs roles during the autumn term, making it the busiest on record for the service.

Between 1 August and 31 December 2022, more than 1,600 workers carried out work through Campus Jobs, in campus-based roles ranging from bar work to diversity and inclusion consultants that are available to support all colleagues.

This compares to approximately 84,000 hours of work completed during the same period in 2019 – the most recent ‘normal’ autumn term due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Campus Jobs is a joint initiative launched by HR and Careers in 2017 and has grown every year since. It allows staff to employ students to carry out part-time or casual work across the University.

Recruiting through Campus Jobs

Teams can recruit students, or in some cases external candidates, into part-time, temporary and flexible roles, or for any fixed-term contract, for a maximum of 20 hours per week.

Campus Jobs provides support in writing the job description, setting an hourly rate and recruiting a student. Students submit timesheets and are paid out of the hiring team’s budget.

For more information on hiring a student, visit the Campus Jobs web page.

Current job examples

In recent months, students have been employed in a variety of jobs, such as:

• Student Commis Chef, which was so successful after being created for the last academic year that more students have been recruited to the role for 2022/23.
• Student Partners, who help shape course content and provide vital feedback and opinions to ensure students are being listened to.
• Community engagement, assisting with communicating with local residents and supporting students in private housing.
• Inclusion Consultants, who provide feedback on content language and design to help ensure it is respectful and accessible to all members of our community.
• Customer-facing roles at the SportsPark and Museum of English Rural Life.
• Communications, supporting with media monitoring and analysis and creating video content for social media channels.

‘A great opportunity’

Drew Taylor, Student Outcomes Coordinator at the University who has helped to manage the student Inclusion Consultants role through Campus Jobs, said: “The opportunity to hire students through Campus Jobs has been incredible for myself as a member of staff and for my Inclusion Consultants.

“Working with students is a great opportunity to improve the work we do at the university and is a great way to understand the student experience.

“We’ve only been working with our student staff for a couple of months now, but it has been fantastic to see them grow as people and develop their skills in ways I didn’t anticipate.

“They’re also very open with us about how important student jobs are on campus when it comes to helping them cope with the cost of living challenge that we’re all facing right now.”