On Nov. 1, 11 part-time manager positions were posted on the McMaster Students Union employment page and will be up for two weeks until Nov. 15. Most of the jobs are usually put up later in the year, which calls into question whether the hiring board has considered the challenges this date change creates.
For those unfamiliar, a PTM is the coordinator or director of one of the 35 MSU services offered. Always a full-time student, a PTM is in charge of running the service and sets the tone for said service for the year.
The majority of the jobs put up earlier this month usually aren’t up this early in the year. Typically, PTM positions such as Queer Students Community Centre, the Student Health Education Centre and Diversity Services are hired early second semester.
It may seem like a minor shift to change to move up the hiring of these PTMs, but moving these particular jobs to Nov. with little promotion drastically hinders students’ ability to apply.
I’ve applied to work for a few services before, and the hiring process isn’t easy. Writing the cover letter that each job asks for is stressful and if you move on to the next hiring stage, you’re likely going to have to complete an assignment in addition to the interview.
While difficult, the hiring process usually lands during a relatively calm time for students. But no matter what faculty you’re in, Nov. is probably the busiest month of the semester. Hiring during Jan. has worked well for students as it ensured they had ample time to work on their applications.
That is, of course, if students are even aware these jobs are available. The MSU news page only promoted the job openings on Nov. 6 even though the positions had already been up for five days.
The MSU used their typical methods for promoting positions, but considering that the majority of the posts were delayed and that students were not expecting this sudden change in the first place, I’m wary that the typical efforts will be as effective.
Considering that most services have yet to hold their major events meant to promote their services, it’s unlikely that qualified students are aware that these jobs are available unless they personally know the current PTMs or coincidentally saw the recent social posts.
All of these factors will limit the number of applicants for each role, which is troubling considering how important services such as the QSCC, SHEC and Diversity Services are. The PTM will set the tone for what the services will do next year and without making the jobs accessible to all possible applicants, the MSU is limiting each of these services’ potential.
There’s nothing necessarily wrong with moving up the hiring date for some positions and I’m sure the higher-ups have their reasons. But without accounting for the student schedule and sufficient promotion, I’m concerned of how fair and efficient this round of hiring will be. With that said, I do wish all applicants good luck and hope that this editorial motivates those who weren’t aware of these jobs to apply.
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The McMaster Students Union employs dozens of students through part-time positions in various services with flexible hours. These often attract the best and the brightest within the student union. But working for the student union is not without its own hiccups, and students are speaking up.
Following the end of her term as part-time manager for the Peer Support Line, Zeinab Khawaja, a fourth-year Health Sciences student, presented a statement to the Student Representative Assembly. She expressed concerns about the expectations the MSU holds for their workers.
In her statement, Khawaja argued that part-time managers have not received adequate training before their roles began and subsequently did not receive adequate support from their higher-ups. She took particular issue with the expectation many held for part-time managers that they would willingly work over their hours without compensation.
“My job description contains the line ‘Time demands may exceed stated hours of work’ and there is an expectation that I will not be paid for this. This is unhealthy, unfair and quite probably in violation of labour laws,” she said at the SRA meeting on April 9.
Services, part-time managers and you
Whether you were aware or not, you have probably used an MSU service at some point during your undergraduate career.
The MSU offers over 30 services for all members. These range from leadership-oriented services such as the MSU Maroons and the Creating Leadership Among Youth conference to advocacy-driven services such as Diversity Services and Maccess, which aim to promote equity for marginalized groups on campus. MSU services are largely run by fellow students, many of whom work as part-time managers for the each service.
Broadly speaking, part-time managers are in charge of hiring executives, managing finances and coordinating events for their service. Every service has specific needs and different services require different jobs from their respective part-time manager.
For example, part-time managers for advocacy-related services such as the Women and Gender Equity Network and Diversity Services are often expected to work with other equity-related groups on campus such as the Ontario Public Research Group and the Presidents’ Advisory Council on Building an Inclusive Community.
The majority of part-time managers are expected to work for roughly 10 to 14 hours per week depending on the service with the majority of their terms beginning May 1 and ending April 30. Some exceptions exist.
Some part-time managers are paid for more hours such as the Emergency First Response Team director, or different, shorter terms for seasonal part-time managers such as the Shinerama Campaign coordinator whose job is finished after Welcome Week is over.
"This is unhealthy, unfair and quite probably in violation of labour laws."
Zeinab Khawaja
Fourth-year Health Sciences
One manager's experience
Peer Support Line is an anonymous and confidential support line where any McMaster student may receive emotional support from trained volunteers. PSL saw a marked increase in usage this year, and Khawaja ran into new, unprecedented problems with her own safety being compromised at times due to her association with the service.
“Our usage more than doubled from last year, meaning we were much busier than we have been in the past. I was repeatedly talking to security services/police because of certain unprecedented situations, and I often had to drop academics or other commitments to do so due to the urgency of the situation,” she said.
To ensure the service ran smoothly and that her volunteers were also being supported, Khawaja had to work over her paid hours repeatedly. Because of this, she asked for retroactive pay from the Executive Board, the MSU committee responsible for the day-to-day operations of the student union. Khawaja asked for three extra hours per week from Sept. 1 to March 26, and was denied this request. This denial sparked her desire to speak up about her working conditions.
In Khawaja’s last Executive Board report for PSL, she expressed her lack of compensation for the work she and her executive team had put in throughout the year, but received little support from the board.
“When I shared the things we were struggling with, I got no support. I explicitly said that I needed help with a few things, but there was no feedback, follow-up or guidance provided. In fact, none of the concerns I brought up at EB throughout the year were ever mentioned again unless I actively brought it up multiple times,” said Khawaja.
“It feels like our dedication to our services is used against us, because it is known that we will continue to do the work and put in the hours even though we are not being compensated fairly for it. … Yet going above and beyond in our roles — something implicitly expected of a “good” part-time manager — is not rewarded, and instead deemed a ‘personal choice’ of the part-time manager that was never explicitly asked of us.”
Khawaja also expressed concern about part-time manager training, since they were not explicitly trained to do the day-to-day activities expected from them such as filling out a purchase order, working with the MSU Underground for promotional material and booking spaces on campus. Many other part-time managers came to Khawaja to learn how to do these tasks.
“These are basic tasks that all part-time managers have to be able to do. This not only indicates that the training provided to us did not prepare us for our jobs, but also that there wasn’t a supportive environment where part-time managers felt they could ask for help without fear of being judged,” she said.
While Khawaja was the only part-time manager to speak at the SRA meeting, she states she has the support of other part-time managers who were not comfortable speaking up.
“I didn’t ask anyone be included because I know it’s difficult and no one seemed very excited to be included. Some people explicitly said they didn’t want to be named. ... I’m someone who’s comfortable and it was really important to me to bring this to attention so that it would hopefully change, and I know that how other people feel,” she said.
While Khawaja was the only part-time manager to speak at the SRA meeting, she states she has the support of other part-time managers who were not comfortable speaking up.
What is being done
Preethi Anbalagan, the current vice president (Administration), cannot comment on Khawaja’s statement since she is not at liberty to comment on closed meetings or disclose similar information. She does, however, plan to support part-time managers through various other means and pointed out that there are steps in place within the union to support part-time managers.
All part-time managers are expected to report to the Executive Board, a committee consisting of the board of directors, some SRA members and some of the full-time MSU staff. Part-time managers are expected to meet with EB regularly and submit EB reports. These EB reports are typically two to four pages in length and discuss updates, service usage, budgeting, volunteer retention, successes and challenges and similar topics.
“You do have that nine person panel, where you are supposed to talk about some of the challenges you face on a day-to-day basis or put them in the EB report so that nine people around that table are able to look at those challenges and provide some recommendations and how part-time managers can navigate the challenges they’re facing,” Anbalagan said.
Anbalagan also plans to implement an anonymous feedback form where employees may comment on how she can improve in her role as their support. This will exist in tandem to the traditional one-on-ones vice presidents (Administration) have held in order to support their workers. At this time, however, it is unclear whether issues concerning compensation and unpaid hours will be addressed by the upper management of the MSU.
Part-time managers continue to work diligently to ensure their services run smoothly and grow. With Khawaja’s statement ringing in the ears of the higher-ups, there is hope more safeguards will be put in place to maintain a more equitable work environment for all MSU employees.
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By Tanoy Biswas
As the new carries on, so does a new round of hiring both inside and outside of the
university. The McMaster Students Union in particular hires its employees and volunteers
throughout the year because of the demand for the various services and resources offered
by the school.
With departments such as the Silhouette, TwelvEighty, the Union Market, Campus Events,
Compass Information Centre, the Underground Media + Design Centre and over 30 services
to hire for, the MSU is responsible for employing individuals for over 300 part-time positions, hundreds of volunteer positions and multiple full-time positions.
The vast majority of employees in the MSU are either students working part-time or recent graduates working full-time, with a few exceptions for some of their permanent full-time staff.
The MSU’s hiring cycles differ from one another based on the time of the year and are usually contingent on the hiring board’s availability.
“The November 2017 hiring took two to three weeks with the jobs posted, reviewing applications,
conducting interviews, selecting successful applicants etc. In November, we filled positions
for SWHAT coordinator, Horizons coordinator, Creating Leadership Among Youth
coordinator, Welcome Week Faculties coordinator, Mac Bread Bin director, Shinerama
coordinator and Farmstand director” said Preethi Anbalagan, MSU vice president (Administration).
The interviewing process is standard for all positions to ensure the MSU
maintains equitable hiring practices.
“We typically allocate 30 minutes for the interviews and provide the set of interview
questions ahead of time, albeit we ask two to three additional situational and job-specific
questions that are not provided in advance,” said Anbalagan. “Providing questions ahead of
time provides accommodations to those that may have extreme nervousness or general anxiety in interviews.” The MSU website also contains information on how to prepare for job interviews.
The various hiring boards of the MSU’s hiring process include the outgoing part-time
manager to assist and guide the selection process. Additionally, the MSU invites campus and
university partners as guests to sit on hiring boards to provide insight and guidance for
decision making for the niche positions at McMaster.
For example, the MSU may ask McMaster’s sexual violence response coordinator to sit in on the hiring of the Women and Gender Equity Network coordinator’s hiring board as a content expert.
This is consistent with hiring practices within the institution. For example, McMaster
University also attempts to use more inclusive pronouns during interviews.
The hiring cycle for summer jobs is currently underway and all sorts of work opportunities at McMaster University can found through the McMaster Students Union website, OscarPlus and MOSAIC.
