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Official newspaper of The University of Texas at Austin

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Official newspaper of The University of Texas at Austin

The Daily Texan

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October 4, 2022
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SEED talk discusses successful student employee practices

2013-09-18_SEED_Workshop_Gabriella
Gabriella Belzer

Alisa Hagen, a partner at Human Resources Services, speaks to students about job performance basics at a Student Employee Excellence Development (SEED) seminar on a Tuesday afternoon. SEED is a seminar program geared towards students to teach them career skills.

Student employees received career advice at a talk Tuesday, where they discussed how they can accomplish work goals and manage priorities in order to be successful in their field and at school.

Alisa Hagan, a partner at Human Resource Services, covered job performance basics as the main topic of the talk. The event was offered to students employed by UT and was geared toward student employees with or without work experience.

The workshop, held by the Student Employee Excellence Development program, was conducted in a small discussion format, where Hagan asked questions to the audience members and requested discussion. The program itself focuses on students who are interested in enhancing their skill set, knowledge base and leadership potential.


The employment basics workshop covered many behavioral attributes, such as communication, reliability and professional demeanor. 

Amy Greenspan, the student employment coordinator at Human Resource Services, conducts workshops through the program to instill in students values they can take with them following their college career. In addition to gaining that experience, UT student employees are compensated with a paycheck ranging from $8 to $20 an hour. 

“Having a job in college can help students learn both time management and practical workplace skills, so I do think it’s a valuable experience, particularly if student employees take advantage of professional development and other growth opportunities like the SEED program,” Greenspan said.

Hagan discussed how students can be strong performers in the work environment. 

“A top-performing student may or may not be a top-performing employee,” Hagan said. 

In her presentation, Hagan said that to be a good student, one must prioritize. Likewise, she said, prioritization is a quality good employees exhibit as well.

Student employees at the workshop were exposed to key elements of developing and balancing their workload through school and their career field. Elements such as how to deal with a supervisor and how to work well with coworkers were explained.

Geography junior Sarah Villarreal, who attended the workshop, explained how her job as a first-year interest group mentor is to mentor and guide freshman students. 

“Working with freshman, I put them first and they are always in the back of my mind. It is all about balance and understanding,” Villarreal said. “I have homework, but I have them to worry about as well.” 

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SEED talk discusses successful student employee practices