U of T Work Study Program
- Work Study Program
- How the Program Works
- Applying for Work Study
- Accepting a Work Study Role
- During Your Work Study Role
- Supervisor Information
- FAQs
- Contacts
During Your Work Study Role
Your Work Study role is a structured learning experience designed to help you build transferable skills, explore career interests, and connect your academic learning to real-world practice. Throughout your Work Study term, you’ll have opportunities to set learning goals, reflect on your growth, and develop skills that support your future career success.
To help you make the most of this experience, the Work Study Program includes mandatory and optional training, and learning activities that support your professional development and workplace success.
Supporting Your Professional Development & Learning Goals
When you begin your Work Study role, your supervisor will guide you through the appropriate onboarding, training and orientation required to be successful in your role. This will include the mandatory training listed, as well as job specific training.
Explore the following resources to start strong in your position, and feel confident in new workplace experiences, dynamics and responsibilities. Work with your Supervisor to determine which of these might be applicable to your role.
Resource list:
- Making the Most of Your Work Study Experience (PDF) provides considerations for what should be accomplished across various phases of your role in a checklist format. Check back in with this resource throughout your contract.
- A Guide for Effectively Working with Your Supervisor (PDF) outlines how to build a positive working relationship with your supervisor from day one.
- Template for Check-In Meeting with Your Supervisor (PDF) provides suggestions for areas of focus when you meet with your Supervisor and can be used to build an agenda for these meetings.
- Boundary Awareness in Your Peer Support Relationship (video) provides key considerations to students whose roles involve providing mentorship to their peers.
- Identify, Assist, Refer (eModule, 30 mins) teaches students in peer-support relationships how to identify peers in distress, hold assistive conversations, and make effective referrals to campus and community supports. Similar content can be accessed through Identifying & Referring Students in Difficulty (PDF).
- Explore resources from the Centre for Learning Strategy & Support and Health & Wellbeing to strategize on how to balance Work Study and your academics simultaneously: Time Management & Organization (PDF), Setting Your Day for Success (PDF), Five Keys to Success (PDF), Staying Productive While Working Remotely (PDF), Setting Up Your Home [for Working from Home] (PDF), Weekly Schedule Template (PDF), Motivation & Procrastination (PDF) and Hacking Perfectionism to Boost Success (PDF).
- Remind yourself you belong in this role with resources and programs tailored to support you through specific challenges: Overcoming Imposter Phenomenon (PDF), Managing Imposterism (PDF), Navigating Accessibility in Careers workshops, Accessible Learning Strategies & Skills workshops, Better Coping Skills workshops, Understanding & Responding to Microaggressions and Reimagining Self-Care workshops, and Addressing the Impact of Microaggressions in Learning (PDF).
Mandatory Training
As outlined in your Letter of Offer (LOO), you must complete the following mandatory training within 60 days of starting in your Work Study position:
1. Basic Occupational Health & Safety Awareness Training Program
The University offers EHS002 Basic Health and Safety Awareness Training through Quercus. Visit the My EHS Training website to register and for instructions on how to access training.
2. University of Toronto Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) Online Training
Once you are onboarded into the system by the hiring department’s Business Officer (or equivalent), you will receive an automated notification to your utoronto.ca email indicating when the University of Toronto AODA training has been assigned to you for completion. Until you receive this notification, you will not have access to the AODA training.
3. Two Hours Paid Training
- One hour for setting and reflecting on learning goals.
- One hour for professional development and/or skills training.
Please note that this training is provided by the Supervisor of the position and not by the Work Study Program.
There may be instances where you can be exempt from parts of this training. For further support please connect with your hiring department’s administrator, or the contact indicated in your Letter of Offer (LOO).
A key facet of Work Study is taking the time and opportunity to reflect on your learning, skills development, and career journey both independently and with your Supervisor (and possibly with your team).
There are two hours of mandatory, paid training for all Work Study students, in each Work Study role: one hour for setting and reflecting on learning goals and one hour for professional development and/or skills training. This training can include the use of the below resources, or others listed on this webpage, and is facilitated by your Supervisor. Your supervisor may support you exploring additional paid training or reflection at their discretion.
Check out resources to guide you through the process of setting learning goals early in your contract. You can decide which resources work best for you, or your Supervisor may choose to support your learning goals in another way.
Resource list:
- Develop a Personal Learning Plan for Competency Development (eModule) guides you through considering which skills or competencies you want to develop as well as crafting those goals for the duration of your contract.
- Expressive Career Writing Journal (PDF) provides an alternate approach to goal setting and career planning through a narrative and arts-based approach.
- SMART Goals (PDF) guides you through developing goals through the SMART model (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Rewarded, and Timely).
- Career Start: Exploration – What is Important to Me? (webpage) includes activities and career assessment tools to help you better understand your professional development goals and how they may be impacted by your interests, values, and personality.
The skills and competencies you develop throughout your contract will vary depending on the nature of the work you are doing and your previous work experience.
You will likely develop both technical and transferable skills during your Work Study role. Technical skills (sometimes referred to as ‘hard skills’) are those that are specific to a field or industry, such as Python programming or microscopy. Transferable skills (sometimes referred to as ‘soft skills’) are those that can be translated to any role, industry or sector, such as problem-solving, time management and collaboration.
Find programs, services and resources across a spectrum of transferable skills in the following resource list. Your Supervisor may recommend skills-development opportunities in technical skills specific to your role or interests. There are also resources below that help you identify your skills of interest, as well as how these might change depending on your values and personality.
Resource list:
- Understanding Your Strengths, Values, & Interests (eModule) guides you through self-identification of your personal strengths, values, and interests to better support your learning and career decision making.
- Career Start: Exploration – What is Important to Me? (webpage) includes activities and career assessment tools to help you better understand your professional development goals and how they may be impacted by your interests, values, and personality.
- Check Folio for Career Exploration & Education workshops such as: Know Your Skills. Check Folio each term for the workshops that are currently on offer.
- Communication & Conflict Resolution workshops hone active listening, teach you to communicate with confidence, and build the skills to resolve conflicts constructively through a four-part series that can be completed in-full or in-part.
- Active Listening: Appreciate the Difference between Listening & Hearing (PDF) explores techniques for active listening rooted in curiosity and ensuring others feel heard.
- Intercultural Learning Framework (website) provides a starting place to explore skill development in intercultural learning through a theoretical and practical approach.
- Strategies for Working in Teams (PDF) provides academic collaboration guidelines that can easily be translated.
- Creating Inclusive Environments workshops cultivate the capacity to create equitable and inclusive spaces in many areas of your life.
- Rotating Graduate workshops with the Centre for Learning Strategy & Support build skills across a spectrum of areas that may be applicable to your current role: Strategic Reading for Literature Reviews, Plan & Manage Complex Projects, and Reducing Writing Anxiety. Check the link each term for the workshops that are currently on offer.
- Leadership workshops build life and leadership skills through reflection and peer engagement. These workshops have two different audiences: undergraduate and graduate. Undergraduate workshops focus on Learning to Lead (What is Leadership?, Integrity & Leadership, Barriers & Challenges to Leadership, Introverted Leadership, Goal Setting & Reflection). Graduate workshops focus on Navigating Uncertainty, Making Meaning of your Leadership Journey, and Organizational Leadership: Managing vs. Leading and would be appropriate for graduate students in Work Study roles, as well as graduate students providing leadership or guidance to Work Study students.
As you move through your Work Study role, you will likely have tailored opportunities to meet colleagues within your area of work, as well as outside of it. Ideally, you will also have opportunities to connect with peers through your role.
When you are connecting with others and building reciprocal relationships, you are networking. Networking is often an intimidating task, but through adopting an approach based in relationship-building, respect and reciprocity with anyone you meet in your work, networking can become approachable and a part of your day-to-day.
Consider the following resources to enhance your comfort in connecting with your Supervisor (or other staff and faculty), to facilitate connections with like-minded peers and/or peers who share a similar identity to you, and to explore networking with professionals in your areas of interest.
Resource list:
- Work Study Professional Development events and Networking sessions are often hosted during the Work Study cycle to bring Work Study students together for shared learning, development and community. Be sure to sign up for the student newsletter to receive notification of these events!
- Reaching out to Instructors [Supervisors] (PDF) outlines considerations and process for connecting with professors or other staff, particularly when this might feel intimidating. While this resource is an academic one, the approaches outlined are equally as valuable when working with staff and faculty as Work Study Supervisors.
- Optimizing Your LinkedIn (PDF) moves your LinkedIn profile beyond a digital resume and into building professional identity, connecting with mentors, and discovering career opportunities.
- U of T Hub on Ten Thousand Coffees is a career networking platform for the whole U of T community. With more than 3,000 alumni professionals across many fields, students and recent graduates can seek out career advice anytime and from anywhere.
- Flexible Futures offers graduate-specific careers workshops, including telling engaging career stories for interviewing and networking.
- Career Navigator (website) provides connections to alumni in industries related to your studies and interests.
- Check Folio for Career Exploration & Education workshops such as: Networking Strategies and Finding Your People: Build Your Network of Career Support. Check Folio each term for the workshops that are currently on offer.
- Identities @ Work sessions invite personal exploration of the intersection of one’s identity and workplace experiences, as well as barriers to access and inclusion. The model of these sessions often results in building lasting connections with peers who share your identity.
- Identity-focused Student Engagement programs provide connections to academic, career, wellness, and many other services to foster a sense of belonging and community with peers, as well as navigating barriers to access and inclusion. Explore African Black Caribbean Student Engagement, Latin American Student Engagement, Southeast Asian Student Engagement, and First Generation Student Engagement.
- Each of these groups also offer Mentor Navigator Drop-In Appointments, where students can meet a Mentor Navigator with a shared identity and explore connections to academic, career and wellness, as well as navigate barriers to access and inclusion.
- Access Us Peer Mentorship provides mentorship for students new to Accessibility Services, building effective personal and professional relationships through social engagement.
- Social Groups provide informal connections and community for students registered with Accessibility Services. They include broad, activity-based social groups, as well as spaces for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and women and trans students with ASD.
- Black Alumni Mentorship offers partnership with a Black alumni mentor who aligns with your interests, allowing you to build lasting connections and expand your network.
- PROUD Family Mentorship (Perseverance Refined Out Of Unrivaled Determination) offers on-campus guidance and leadership from upper-year Black students, focused on navigating university, learning more about campus and growing as a leader.
- Career Journey: Keeping the Fire Lit is a five-part, cohort-based series for Indigenous students that embodies the Medicine Wheel framework to holistically approach career development.
- Changemakers Certificate workshops provide an opportunity to engage in social change learning and participation in ways that are personally meaningful, building community with peers with similar values.
A key facet of Work Study is taking the time and opportunity to reflect on your learning, skills development, and career journey both independently and with your Supervisor (and possibly with your team). You are encouraged to reflect on your learning goals and growth at the beginning, middle and end of your contract, with the support and feedback of your Supervisor.
Below are resources for reflecting on your learning goals at the mid-point of your contract, as well as at the end of your contract. You can decide which resources work best for you, or your Supervisor may choose to support your reflection and feedback in another way.
There are two hours of mandatory, paid training for all Work Study students, in each Work Study role: one hour for setting and reflecting on learning goals and one hour for professional development and/or skills training. This training can include the use of the below resources, or others listed on this webpage and is facilitated by your Supervisor. Your supervisor may support you exploring additional paid training or reflection at their discretion.
Resource list:
- Template for Check-In Meeting with Your Supervisor (PDF) provides suggestions for areas of focus when you meet with your Supervisor and can be used to build an agenda for these meetings.
- Reflecting on Your Competency & Career Development (eModule) guides you through a tailored reflection on your Work Study experience, your competency development throughout the contract, and your learning goals as identified at the beginning of the contract. This resource can guide your reflection at both the mid-point and final reflection.
- Check Folio for Work Study workshops such as, Reflecting, Pivoting, & Planning: Learning Goals Check-Ins. Check Folio each term for the workshops that are currently on offer.
- Career Start: Exploration (webpage) includes activities, referral pathways, and career reflection tools, providing alternate perspectives on each of your professional development goals.
When your Work Study contract is over and you have reflected on your learning, it is time to consider how your wealth of new experience can become your next chapter. This requires translating your reflections into action statements on your resume, building the skills to tell your career story, and considering what comes next in your journey.
Whether you are aiming for further education, another Work Study role next cycle, or your first full-time job post-graduation, your Work Study experience can be the foundation from which your build your future.
Resource list:
- Check Folio for Work Study workshops such as: Optimizing Your Work Study Experience, Beyond Work Study: How to Use Your Experience to Stand Out, Leveraging Your Work Experience in Research. Check Folio each term for the workshops that are currently on offer.
- Check Folio for Career Exploration & Education workshops such as: Resume & Cover Letter, Admissions Letters & Personal Statements, AI in Career Exploration & Job Searching, I’m Graduating. What’s Next?, Dream Job Academy and more. Check Folio each term for the workshops that are currently on offer.
- Career Start: Further Education (webpage) includes decision-making tools, application information, and questions to promote self-reflection if you are considering further education (a Masters, PhD, or Professional School) following graduation.
- Career Navigator (website) demonstrates career pathways connected to specific degrees and areas of study.
- Expressive Career Writing Journal (PDF) provides an alternate approach to career planning through a narrative and arts-based approach.
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