Work is education
The reframing of student employment
What is Work+
Work+ believes work is education.
What if we stopped thinking about work and learning as two separate parts of the college experience? Student employees are already learning through their jobs. They are solving problems, navigating relationships, communicating, adapting, and building skills they will carry with them long after graduation. Work+ asks us to be more intentional about helping students recognize that learning and connect it to what comes next.
Rather than asking students to find one more experience to prepare for their future, Work+ helps us look differently at an experience they are already participating in. When student employment is intentionally designed for learning, reflection, connection, and growth, a student job becomes more than a paycheck. It becomes a meaningful part of a student’s education and a place where career development happens regularly.
And because student employment reaches students across roles, backgrounds, and areas of the institution, it creates an opportunity to make these meaningful career-building experiences available to more students, including those who may not have access to internships or other traditional career experiences.
The Work+ Story
Developed at Arizona State University, Work+ has reframed how supervisors mentor, and how educational institutions structure student roles, as well as the articulation of that value to future employers.
Our framework centers on three measurable outcomes: increased career readiness, stronger student-supervisor relationships, and the articulation of transferable skills aligned with the NACE career competencies.
Annual Arizona State University Student Employment survey
89.7% of working learners say their on-campus role helped shape their career goals and support professional growth.*
91% of students report the ability to articulate the skills they are building.*
*2025 Student Employment survey. Learn more from us about student employment at ASU through our State of Student Employment report.
The outcomes of Work+
As the official framework for student employment at ASU, Work+ is an integrated working-and-learning experience.
Driven by ASU’s charter and designed to impact student success, student employment will contribute to a working learner’s career growth through three interconnected outcomes.
By honing in on these pillars, campus employment morphs from transactional to transformational, ensuring working learners gain career confidence alongside opportunity.
Outcome one: Increasing career readiness
Outcome two: Enriching supervisor and working learner relationships
Outcome three: Ensuring working learners gain skills and confidence to articulate their transferable skills
How Work+ works
Work+ embeds career readiness directly into the work students are already doing, without adding to supervisors' workloads. Through annual Supervisor Foundations training, faculty and staff gain practical strategies, tools, and shared language that transform existing practices into intentional learning experiences. The framework strengthens what's already working while connecting those practices to measurable student outcomes.
What is career readiness?
Visit the NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers) website for an in depth overview of the Career Competencies from the organization that leads international efforts to bridge education and employment.
