How to Hire a GA

Appoint the GA in as timely a manner as possible.  It is STRONGLY  recommended to provide offer letters at least seven (7) weeks before the first day of classes.

You will need to know:

1. the Student ID (SID)
2. mailing address
3. email
4. residency status for tuition purposes
5. registration status for the semester in which they will serve as a GA

You can find this information in UAccess Student, Student Services Center. 

1. Look up the student in UAccess Employee, Employee/DCC Search tile. Use their SID to search for the student.
    
2. If the student is already employed in a position, you will do a job change to the new GA position.
   • Are they a student worker or a GA and if so at what FTE?
   • Do they plan to leave their current position?
   • If a GA at 0.25 FTE, are you adding another GA position at 0.25 FTE or switching them from a 0.25 FTE to 0.5 FTE GA?
      
3. If the student is a new hire, you will need to collect I-9 documents and make sure that the new hire forms are completed online.

If not, you’ll need to request one (UAccess Employee Position request). Once the PCN is approved, you will need to add the position funding through UAccess Employee Position Funding Request.

Both the Position Request (Create/Modify Position) and the Position Funding Request (Request Position Distribution) can be found in UAccess Employee/Manager Self Service/MSS Online Forms/Position.

The Graduate College has created a GA Offer letter template. This template should be used whenever you create a new offer letter each semester. Since the legal language in the letter may change from semester to semester, you should always use the template for new Offer Letters rather than copying over ones from previous semesters or years.

Use the template to create the original memo, then copy onto Departmental Letterhead and adjust the formatting.

1. Are they an Assistant or Associate?
    
2. Are they a Research, Teaching, Outreach, etc.?
    
3. The template calculates actual salary based upon Academic or Fiscal calendar dates. If the GA is starting on a different date, you will need to prorate the actual stipend on the letter. Use the Salary Calculation Tool under Utilities in UAccess Employee (UAccess Employee/Manager Self Service/Navigator/Manager Self Service/Utilities/Salary Calculation Utility). Prorate over 12 months for Fiscal appointments and prorate over 9 months for Academic appointments. Use those amounts to adjust the actual stipend amount in the letter.
    
4. You should use a specific set of duties so that the student will know what is expected of them.
    
5. Send the GA offer letter to the student via email or Adobe Sign.
    
6. This is also a good time to remind the student that they must be registered for a minimum of 6 units.
    

Once you have a signed GA offer letter and a PCN that is funded correctly, you may proceed with your hire. Details about New Hires versus Job changes are described below.

We add Placeholders on the Student's account so that the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid (OSFA) will have the GA information when packaging the student's financial aid offers.

New Hires

New Hires are initiated in UAccess Employee/Manager Self Service/Manager Self Service Online Forms/Employment and Job Changes/Request New Hire, and are completed according to Workforce policy.

Job Changes

Job Changes are sometimes more complicated. Here are some considerations:

1. Are they moving from one GA position to your new one?

   The student (preferably) or you should inform the current home department that you have a signed offer letter for your   GA and that you will submit a job change. Submit job change in UAccess Employee/Manager Self Service/Manager Self Service Online Forms/Employment and Job Changes/Request Job Change, per Workforce Systems policy.

2. Are you adding a 0.25 FTE position to a student who already has a 0.25 or 0.33 FTE position?

   If the student currently holds a 0.25 FTE GA position, and they are keeping it, and you are adding a 0.25 or 0.33 FTE GA position, complete a Personnel Action Form (PAF) with the information, and attach it to a MSS Exception Request in UAccess Employee.

3. Are they moving from a Student Worker to a GA position?
   1. Let the student know that they cannot be a GA and a student worker at the same time. Their student worker position will be terminated when you submit the Job Change. The other department can hire the student on GA supplemental compensation if your GA position is 0.25 or 0.33 FTE.
       
   2. Submit job change in UAccess Employee/Manager Self Service/Manager Self Service Online Forms/Employment and Job Changes/Request Job Change.