How UConn Transforms Student Employment with Work+ (feat. Eran Peterson)
What if your on-campus student job could do more than pay the bills? What if it was actually a career development experience?
In this episode, host Meredith Metsker [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmetsker/] sits down with Eran Peterson [https://www.linkedin.com/in/eranpeterson/], Associate Director of Work+ at the University of Connecticut, to talk about how UConn is reimagining student employment through the Work+ program.
UConn's Work+ program [https://career.uconn.edu/channels/about-work/] — adapted from a national model pioneered by Arizona State University and the Work+ Collective — is built around a simple but powerful idea: student jobs should be more than transactional. They should be intentional learning experiences where students develop and can articulate real career competencies, and where supervisors feel equipped, supported, and valued for the role they play in student success.
Eran walks through how the program works in practice, including the professional development content and tools built for student "working learners," the robust supervisor training and resource ecosystem UConn has developed, and the impressive early results from their pilot year — including a jump in students' sense of belonging from 83% to 98%.
He also gets into the challenges of scaling a lean operation, the unexpected ways supervisors are finding out about Work+, and his honest advice for anyone looking to start something similar at their institution.
IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN:
— Why UConn focuses on supervisors first — and why that order of operations matters
— How the Work+ team is building scalable, on-demand resources so the program doesn't depend on constant one-on-one support
— What peer-led supervisor mini sessions look like and why they've become one of the program's biggest wins
— How UConn is evolving Work+ to serve supervisors who manage large teams or service-based roles without regular workstation access
— Why belonging matters for supervisors, not just students — and how Work+ is working to change campus culture around that
— The surprisingly simple job posting tweak that's driving a flood of new supervisor interest
ABOUT THE GUEST:
Eran Peterson is the Associate Director of Work+ at the University of Connecticut, where he has worked for over 13 years. He started his career at UConn as a career coach before stepping into his current role focused full-time on transforming student employment. Eran is passionate about helping students recognize and articulate the skills they're building on the job — a perspective informed by his own varied work history before landing in career services.
RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE:
— Eran’s LinkedIn profile [https://www.linkedin.com/in/eranpeterson/]
— Eran’s email: eran.peterson@uconn.edu [eran.peterson@uconn.edu]
— UConn’s Work+ program [https://career.uconn.edu/channels/about-work/]
— The Work+ Collective [https://www.workpluscollective.org/]—the national network of institutions building Work+ programs; Eran's top recommendation for anyone looking to get started
— Center for Career Readiness and Life Skills [https://career.uconn.edu/]—UConn’s virtual career center housing all career development content, resources, tools, and more (powered by UConnect [https://www.gouconnect.com/])
— Articulate 360/Rise [https://www.articulate.com/360/rise/]—the e-learning tool UConn uses to build professional development modules for working learners
— Suitable [https://www.suitable.co/]—the platform UConn uses to collect evidence of student competency development
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