Student Employee Recruitment and Retention Through Campus Partnerships

Student employees play a critical role in the operation of student recreation centers. One of the challenges faced by many recreational sports departments is the ongoing need to recruit and retain these student employees. Recruitment can be done through word of mouth, current employee referrals, and on-campus advertising. Retention can be accomplished through competitive pay rates, flexible work hours, a challenging and exciting work environment, and opportunities to advance, among other strategies (Chelladurai, 1999). Recruitment and retention are important considerations for any recreational sports department, large or small, because student employees have an enormous impact on both the quantity and quality of programs and services offered by the department. This article proposes a strategy for establishing partnerships with academic departments to aid in the recruitment and retention of student employees. These collaborative partnerships have the ability to benefit students, the recreational sports department, academic departments, and university student retention efforts. This article outlines how to establish and implement these relationships and proposes several possible partnerships between recreational sports and various academic departments. Following a description of this strategy is an example of a partnership that has been successfully established at one Midwestern university.