Student assistants at Ea perform ad hoc tasks as well as work on projects. They are given responsibility and are involved in ongoing and challenging projects relevant to their study. This responsibility can both be a challenging pleasure and a way of developing new skills, and it should not be felt like a burden. Ultimately, students are not held liable (legally responsible) for their work, but will be guided by full-time employees on the same projects.
The student assistant will participate in one or preferably more projects, and it is the responsibility of each project manager to give the student relevant feedback, delegate new work and to ensure the student knows his or her role and tasks for each project. However, it is the responsibility of the contact person to have an overview of the work the student is doing and to give support to the student by addressing his or her questions or any other issue of relevance.
Student assistants are an integrated part of the company even if they only work around 15 hours per week. The working hours are flexible so it is possible to accommodate the individual student’s studies and exams properly. Depending on the student’s tasks, it is preferred that the student does not work from home. Maintaining a close contact to the project(s) and the co-workers is essential.
Staff development interviews to evaluate the student’s performance, teamwork and job satisfaction are held regularly, especially at the beginning of the employment period. At these interviews, the student’s expectations will be discussed as well as if the student’s competencies and interests are accommodated in the right way in the job. Also the need for additional training to update the student’s qualifications in tools that are used at Ea, such as models, programmes and introduction to projects, will be clarified.
Ea is open to discuss a possible future employment at Ea. Before the student finishes his or her studies, the student and Ea will meet to discuss future cooperation and to evaluate different job opportunities. There may also be difficulties associated with becoming an employee in the same company where one was a student assistant. Based on this, Ea generally supports the idea that graduate candidates should try new modes of working in other organisations. Accordingly, if a former student assistant after graduation is employed full time in Ea, it is important that the transition to the full-time job is explicit and guided. In any case, Ea would like to keep in contact with the student after his or her period of time working at Ea.
It can be arranged that a student holding a student assistant position at Ea can write his or her master thesis (or another university project) in connection to Ea. However, it is very important to make an agreement between the student and Ea about the amount of time the student works for Ea and the time used for writing the thesis. This will depend on the type of university project and the type of work preformed for Ea.