Job Application
Scheduling
Scheduling at Campus Recycling is accomplished in such a way so as to provide the greatest possible flexibility for student employees, while still meeting program staffing and operational needs. Our scheduling policy states, therefore, that students are responsible twice each term for providing the Operations Coordinator with: a.) a list all open times they are available for work (with a 2-hour minimum); and b.) the minimum and maximum hours per week they are willing to work each week. This is done twice each term, once for the 10-week term and once for Finals Week (Campus Recycling employment policy states that all students must work Finals Week). Once in place, the Term Schedule is unchanging: students work and are required to commit to the same weekly schedule for the duration of the 10-week term. With the exception of illnesses and emergencies, students are responsible notifying Program staff well in advance of needs for days/times off and are required to find substitute workers for their shifts whenever possible.

All student recyclers and full-time staff are scheduled to work between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, the operational hours of Campus Recycling. To allow the staff time to prepare routes and assess work needs, student crews are generally scheduled to begin work at 8:00 a.m..

Most Campus Recycling students work in crews of a pair of students. For all routes involving Program vans, a 2-person minimum (and maximum) crew ensures the presence of a backer/spotter to supplement the driver's own safe-driving procedures (in fact, Campus Program driving policies state that no backing for any distance is to be done without the use of a spotter.). Additionally, maintaining a 2-person minimum on all service routes provides for a safe work environment. Student workers are available to help each other in the lifting and transportation of heavy materials and loads, and each worker has an immediate contact person or partner in the event of an emergency. Lastly, assigning students to work in pairs provides for a more knowledgeable work force and a more enjoyable work environment. The only regular exceptions to this work crew norm are the "special case" duties of servicing the EMU and Lawrence, and the Walking B/C routes, all of which duties are generally are generally (although not exclusively) performed by solitary students

Given that a.) students determine their own availability, and b.) pairing is required for most duties, the "trick" to scheduling is to pair students up as individual Availabilities dictate without a lot of regard for specific times of day. In general, most service needs can be met without a specific daily schedule as long as certain weekly labor totals are met. Therefore, schedules can vary greatly from day to day and from morning to afternoon without detriment to service (exceptions to this include the EMU and Lawrence, both of which require at least some daily service; the off-campus apartments, which require Monday and Friday servicing; and some Housing sites, which are best serviced on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays).

The following represents the weekly labor-hour totals which Campus Recycling currently requires and schedules to meet service needs. Special or specific needs are also noted:

Staffing Campus Recycling currently requires approximately 450 scheduled student labor-hours per week to meet its service and administrative needs, and to allow for time lost due to routine illnesses.

Individual students at the University of Oregon are prohibited from working more than 20 hours per week while attending school (although they can work up to 40 hours and beyond over breaks, including summer). Campus Recycling additionally imposes a minimum of between 6 and 8 hours per week on its student workers (a student working less than 6 hours per week is generally not worth the training, supervisory and personnel investment). Consequently, the typical student recycler works between 6 or 8 and 20 hours per week, with 10, 12 or 15 hours being a common weekly hour request from students.

Tracking hours over the past several years has shown that, on average, a student represents approximately 11 scheduled labor hours per week. Current staffing needs were determined based upon a variety of factors representing increases over staffing needs from the previous school year, including: increases in material tonnages; site additions; service route frequency changes; and maintenance and project needs. The weekly labor-hour total of 450 was arrived at. Based upon the average student-worker weekly labor hour figure of 11, the Operations Coordinator estimated that approximately 40 students would be required to meet staffing needs. The returning worker roster of 25 students was supplemented with 15 new-hires to arrive at a crew roster of 40 students for the 2000/01 school year. This resulted in a total availability of 475 hours, of which approximately 460 were actually scheduled for each term of the school year.

To ensure a knowledgeable and well-trained staff, as well as to provide for the variety of duties so necessary for a positive work environment, students are deliberately assigned a variety of duties.

All students (established workers and new hires) are scheduled to work as Sorters and as one of the pair of workers on both Paper and Van routes (new-hires are necessarily scheduled as a non-driving partner to a trained driver).This ensures that all workers spend at least some time both on routes and in the warehouse, and avoids any negative quality-of-work-life issues attendant upon scheduling new-hires to work all of their hours sorting materials in the Warehouse. An effort is also made to try to schedule all workers for at least one shift at the Warehouse (either Sorting or on a Paper route) and at the Trailer (on either a Van or a Maintenance route).

Housing crews are viewed as slightly more specialized given the more detailed nature of servicing the on-campus residence halls. The Housing crews are, therefore, generally staffed from a smaller subset of the crew roster. The Housing Coordinator chooses his/her own crew from the crew roster and schedules these people separately from the master schedule with an eye towards choosing workers who are particularly detail-oriented, reliable and self-supervisory. Additional hours requested by Housing workers are scheduled in the other areas of the schedule, and Housing workers routinely work on Paper and Van routes and as Sorters as the schedule allows. Since Housing crews do not use vans, Housing is also a good place to schedule workers who do not (for various reasons) drive.

In all staffing areas where pairs of students are scheduled, new-hires and workers scheduled for new duties are always scheduled to work with a worker experienced in that particular area. Much responsibility for training is, therefore, placed upon the student workers themselves.

The EMU, Lawrence and Walking B/C's workers are chosen from the roster of experienced recyclers and are offered these jobs based upon demonstrated excellence in all areas of employment. These duties are, therefore, viewed as "promotions," and students assigned to these 3 areas are also given merit raises concomitant with their new duties. Students promoted into these positions are chosen, trained and evaluated directly by the Student Recycling Coordinator and generally start out as Walking B/C's staff before being further promoted into the EMU and Lawrence duties (students in these last 2 areas are cross-trained and scheduled to work both the EMU and Lawrence). Students working in all 3 areas do not do so exclusively, however, but are also expected to work some shifts in the other primary service duties.

Job Application

Hiring Students are eligible for employment with Campus Recycling in accordance with the requirements for student employment at the U of O, which state that:      .an individual must be enrolled in an accredited educational institution, either secondary school or college. College and university student employees must be enrolled for a minimum of eight undergraduate credit hours or at least six graduate credit hours.

Although 90% of our student recyclers attend the U of O, Campus Recycling regularly employees students from the nearby Lane Community College and even institutions outside of the geographical area or state (most commonly during summer break).

Hiring preference is given to students eligible for federal financial aid funding from the Work-Study and Tech-Fee programs. The advantage to hiring students funded through these programs is financially significant. Work-Study employers pay 25% of the student's salary, Tech-Fee employers pay 50% of the student's hourly rate, and the federal government pays the balance for each program. Since students initially hired as W/S or T/F students sometimes lose this funding as they advance through their college careers, non-federally-funded students constitute a regular portion of the crew roster, as the Program elects to not terminate experienced, reliable employees based solely upon the loss of this funding. Additionally, Campus Recycling occasionally hires outstanding applicants (often those referred to the Program by current or past employees) who do not have such funding. Consequently, students without W/S or T/F funding generally make up between 25% and 35% of the roster.

The nature of hiring and staffing with part-time student employees is such that great emphasis is not placed upon previous work experience in the field or contacting former employers or references. Applicants are closely screened, however, with regard to initial impressions made during the pre-application, application and interview processes. Applicants are held to a high standard of professionalism, reliability and punctuality when contacting the program to inquire about employment, and when arriving for prearranged application appointments and interviews (applicants who are late for these appointments are rarely hired). A complete, informative, and well-written application is expected of all potential employees.

While no strict set of qualifications for employment are used to evaluate applicants, the following qualifications and experience have been shown to be indicators of a good employee, and are routinely looked for by Campus Recycling staff when evaluating applicants for hire:

1. Previous recycling experience, whether for-hire or as volunteer work. 2. Jobs involving physical labor or outdoor work. 3. Involvement in community groups or projects. 4. Membership in school groups, such as high school student government. 5. Referral by a current or former employee of the Program. 6. An interest or academic major in environmental studies. 7. A clear, well thought-out statement of interest in working as a recycler. 8. Volunteer work in general. 9. Team-oriented or leadership work, such as camp counseling. 10. A valid driver's license and clean driving record. 11. Experience driving large vans or trucks. 12. The number of hours per week desired and the available hours given.

Applicants who meet all other eligibility requirements, submit a complete and professional application, and meet one or more of the above evaluative criteria may be called for an interview.

Interviews are scheduled for a specific day, time and location to ensure that the applicant has an opportunity to demonstrate his/her timeliness and seriousness about the application process (or lack thereof). Again, applicants who are late for the interview without good reason and/or without advance notification are rarely hired.

Since many applicants seek to obtain student employment for the upcoming school year over the summer, applications are often mailed to out-of-town applicants are not in Eugene during the summer months. Once returned, applications are reviewed and evaluated. Particularly good applicants are occasionally interviewed and hired over the telephone if they have no opportunity to travel to Eugene for an interview prior to the start of the school year.

At Campus Recycling, interviews are conducted by either the Program manger or the Operations Coordinator, who are also empowered to make hiring decisions (although feedback from the other Coordinators about specific applicants is often solicited). The interview consists of two broad categories of informational exchange.

Applicants are first given a clear picture of the work involved, the Program employment expectations, and other critical requirements of the job in an attempt to determine if the job meets the applicant's needs and expectations. Items covered include the following:

The interviewer then solicits answers to several questions from the applicant to gain a better impression of the applicant and to determine if the applicant meets the program's needs and expectations. The following questions have proven useful: