Step 2: Discover

Empathy Interviews

Listen before exploring your student employment ecosystem with curiosity.

Purpose

What is an empathy interview

An empathy interview is a short, one-on-one conversation designed to help you understand what someone’s work and learning life is really like. Its purpose is to listen to better understand where systems presently in place are helping and also where they might be causing roadblocks. The goal is to hear their lived experience in their own words.

Some people you may want to consider speaking with:

Working student (one or more jobs)
Supervisor who hires student workers
Career advisor
A student-labor–reliant department

Understanding why empathy interviews matter and what they accomplish

Empathy interviews help you understand how student employment actually functions in practice, not just how it is designed to operate. They reveal where students and staff encounter barriers, and why well-intentioned systems don’t always produce the outcomes we expect. By replacing assumptions with real stories and patterns, they give institutions a clear starting point for meaningful change.

How do you run an empathy interview

To run an empathy interview, select a small group of people who experience student employment from different perspectives, such as working students, supervisors, and support staff. Begin by setting the expectation that the goal is to listen and learn, then ask open-ended questions about their day-to-day experiences and challenges. As you identify patterns across interviews, use those shared insights to guide decisions about where change is needed and how to move forward.

Sample Prompts