Introduction & Context

At the University of Connecticut, student employment is being redesigned as a strategic driver of career readiness and student success.

As Connecticut’s flagship land grant research university, serving more than 32,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, UConn’s mission centers on learning, discovery, and engagement that benefit the state, nation, and world. Thousands of students work across its main campus in Storrs and regional campuses each year. Yet university leaders recognized that while student employment was widespread, the developmental value of those experiences varied significantly across departments.

UConn joined the Work+ Collective to address this inconsistency and to reimagine student employment as an intentionally designed educational experience that strengthens career readiness, belonging, and post graduation outcomes. The effort aligned closely with institutional priorities around student success and life preparation.

Leaders in the Center for Career Readiness and Life Skills saw an opportunity to build shared infrastructure, align campus employment with national career competencies, and create a model that could scale across a large, decentralized institution.

Innovation & Approach

UConn’s approach centered on transforming student employment from a transactional experience into a structured, skill building pathway.

The university established clear short term and long term goals. Initially, the focus was on improving onboarding, supervision, and training practices while embedding the NACE Career Competencies into student employment. Over time, leaders envisioned scaling a comprehensive model that ensures every student employee develops transferable skills and confidence that translate beyond campus.

In 2023 and 2024, UConn launched Work+ UConn with a pilot cohort of more than 200 student employees and 40 supervisors across multiple departments. The pilot introduced several core innovations:
 

• A structured onboarding experience for working learners
• Professional development modules aligned with the NACE Career Competencies
• The Learning Roadmap, a collaborative goal setting and reflection tool used by students and supervisors
• A Foundations training program for supervisors focused on coaching, feedback, and effective mentorship

By positioning supervisors as educators and mentors, UConn embedded intentional learning conversations into the everyday work experience. Professional development was integrated into paid work time, strengthening the message that learning and employment are mutually reinforcing, not separate activities.

Implementation & Collaboration

UConn adopted a pilot first, data informed approach to implementation. Rather than mandating immediate campus wide change, the university tested tools, gathered feedback, and refined processes before scaling.

Participation in the Work+ Collective played a significant role in shaping the model. Cross institutional collaboration reinforced the importance of scalable infrastructure that could function across departments of varying size and resources. Through shared case studies and workshops, UConn strengthened its methods for assessing student learning outcomes and engaging supervisors in meaningful development work.

Internally, the initiative has been led by the Center for Career Readiness and Life Skills in partnership with Student Life and academic departments. Supervisor and Student Advisory Boards were established to ensure that the program remained grounded in lived experience and responsive to stakeholder needs.

The Work+ framework is now embedded into supervisor onboarding and training, establishing shared standards for mentorship, evaluation, and professional growth conversations. Updated policies emphasize professional development as a core component of student employment, and new data systems track participation and outcomes.

Despite early challenges related to departmental variability and supervisor capacity, leadership support and ongoing consultation helped build momentum and institutional buy in.

Impact & Outcomes

Since its initial pilot year, Work+ UConn has expanded significantly. The initiative now engages more than 100 supervisors and over 500 student participants across campus.

Preliminary data indicate measurable gains in students’ awareness of career competencies, confidence in articulating transferable skills, and overall satisfaction with their employment experience. Supervisors report improvements in student initiative, accountability, and engagement with professional development activities.

Early feedback also shows that students have greater clarity about their job roles and stronger connections between their work and long term career goals. Qualitative insights point to stronger supervisor student relationships and higher completion rates of structured reflection and goal setting activities.

The model has received national recognition as well. UConn earned the 2025 NACE Career Services Excellence Award for its integration of career readiness into on campus employment.

Together, these outcomes demonstrate that structured, intentional student employment can serve as a powerful institutional lever for career preparation and student engagement.

Lessons & Future Direction

Through its Work+ Collective experience, UConn has learned that intentional structure is essential to transforming student employment into meaningful learning. Clear frameworks, shared accountability, and supervisor development are foundational to sustainable change.

Perhaps the most important lesson has been the need to equip supervisors to see themselves as educators who connect daily responsibilities to lifelong skills.

Looking ahead, UConn plans to expand Work+ across all departments employing students, with the goal of reaching more than 6,000 working learners. The next phase will focus on scaling infrastructure, strengthening supervisor development pathways, and deepening the connection between Work+, academic learning, and long term career outcomes.

As UConn continues to refine and expand its model, it is demonstrating how a large public research university can transform campus employment into a strategic platform for career readiness and institutional impact.
 

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