Mānoa Career Center | Frequently Asked Questions

I have never hired a student before, what do I need to do?
How many hours can a student work?
What is the form I-9?
What needs to be done if the student I am hiring has another student employment job?
Why does the SEWA (hiring transaction) say the student has no SSN on file?
How much do student employees get paid?
What is FWS (Federal Work Study)?
What does it mean when I receive a memo indicating a student is no longer eligible to work?
Why does the system not let me hire a student?
Why can I not approve a transaction?
Why can I not close my job?
When are timesheets due?
Who do I contact if I am having an issue with timesheets?
A student employee is graduating, when is the last day they can work?

I have never hired a student before, what do I need to do?

The first thing you would need to do is log in to the sece jobs database at www.hawaii.edu/sece using your UH username and password. You will be prompted to create a profile, after which you will be considered registered on the system. You may then download the UH Employers Guide on the Placements/Forms tab, which has instructions on how to use the system.

Certain functions of sece require additional permissions, which you can obtain by receiving training through either attending one of our training sessions or training with your Department Liaison. If you do not know who your Department Liaison is, please contact us at 956-7007 or careers@hawaii.edu and we will let you know who serves this function in your department.

Students are permitted to work up to 20 hours per week during academic periods and up to 40 hours per week during interim periods and breaks (i.e. spring break, winter break, and summer). International students may have additional restrictions based on their visa type.

The form I-9 is a federal form all employees in the United States are required to complete in order to work. This form is completed electronically through the sece system now, making the process paperless. The student should log in to sece and complete section 1 of the form. They then bring their documents to our office (QLC 212) so that we can complete section 2 of the form. You may find a list of acceptable documents here.

If the student will be working both positions, the student should complete a 2 Job Memo with both employers and submit the original to our office at QLCSS 212. If the student is no longer working at the other job, have the student let us know that this is the case and it will speed up processing of the new hire.

A valid Social Security Number is required to place the student on the student employee payroll and it must be entered into the sece system. The student should contact our office at 956-7007 or careers@hawaii.edu to see if the number can be pulled from their student record; otherwise, the student will need to visit our office (QLC 212) in order to show us an official document with their SSN on it that we can use to enter the number manually.

The UH Pay Scale displays the hourly wages for each class/step for a position. Hourly wages are based on the duties and qualifications of the position.

Federal Work Study (FWS) is a form of financial aid awarded to undergraduate and graduate students. A student employee with FWS is provided the opportunity to earn this money in the form of income without it counting against them for future financial aid. The award covers 75% of their wages, thus requiring employers to only cover the remaining 25% of their gross earnings. Please refer to the FWS Information & Policies document for more information.

Many situations could lead to a student being deemed ineligible for student employment. When a memo is received indicating the student is no longer eligible, they must stop working immediately. They may return to work should the issue be resolved. The student should contact us at 956-7007 or careers@hawaii.edu if they have questions about their eligibility.

Because the University of Hawai‘i is an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer, jobs must remain open for three days or until five referrals have been taken.

The student must submit their timesheets on the 15^th and the last day of each month. Approval deadlines for the supervisor and Business Office vary from pay period to pay period, but due dates are listed under the Timesheet tab on sece and on the timesheet itself.

Timesheet questions should be referred to timesheet-help@lists.hawaii.edu or timesheet-tech@lists.hawaii.edu if the question is technical in nature. Questions related to timesheet approvers on a job may be sent to careers@hawaii.edu or you can call 956-7007.

The last day they would be eligible for student employment would be commencement.