Baiting the hook: catching and keeping quality student employees through professional development and non-numeric incentives

Catching and keeping quality student employees is often a difficult endeavor and a dilemma that many supervisors must face as students look off campus for commercial employment opportunities that net higher monetary benefits.Attracting and retaining good student employees is often a simple matter of providing them with professional and personal development opportunities that go beyond the numeric incentives that the typical department store or fast food establishment can provide. So, like successful fishermen, supervisors must be cognizant of the most appealing bait to attract the best fish. Consequently, campus supervisors need to cast their lure far beyond the traditional student recognition "morale boosting" methods that typically provide only short-term, feel-good rewards. Long-term value is frequently derived from less material benefits such as career assistance, academic tutoring, and personal support and counseling for life's unforeseen hurdles.This paper is an overview of how the authors have implemented a strategy to incorporate traditional student recognition with less traditional incentives and practices in an effort to create a more holistic approach to student employee recruitment and retention. The authors will address the individual aspects of this strategy and how it has aided their ability to attract and retain quality student employees, while rewarding and enriching the students' lives academically, personally and professionally.