Jobs

Thank you for your interest in working at the Writing Center. We strive to provide students with thorough, high-quality assistance with their writing. Our goal is to guide students through improving their writing from the first thought to the final draft.

There are two student employee roles that we hire at the Writing Center: student assistants and writing tutors. 

Student Assistants

• Typical Duties and Responsibilities

  • Student assistants who work at the Writing Center are SJSU undergraduate students from various disciplines. Their primary role is as front-desk team members, who work 5-20 hours per week and include the following duties:

    - work in a customer-facing environment at the Writing Center front desk.
    - welcome visitors, answer questions, and assist students with registering in our online scheduling system.
    - explain and enforce Writing Center policies and procedures clearly and consistently.
    - know all the functionalities of our WCOnline scheduling system (and be able to explain them to new and returning users/clients).
    - answer the phone, check voicemail, and return phone calls as needed.
    - manage the traffic of tutoring appointments in the Writing Center (e.g., ensuring that tutees fill out the evaluation survey at the end of each session).
    - clean and disinfect tables, laptops, office supplies, etc. as needed.
    - open and/or close the Writing Center at the start and/or end of each business day (e.g., opening doors, putting out the necessary signage).
    - assist in maintaining a safe environment.

• Pay and Benefits

  • The starting pay rate for student assistants is $17/hour. As the role is customer-facing, we typically seek candidates who can work in person for a minimum of 10 hours per week at the MLK library location of the Writing Center. 

    Experienced student assistants may have the opportunity to progress to the higher pay rate of $18/hour and take on workshop moderation (via Zoom) as well as project work.

    Our student assistants also receive priority class registration.

• Required Experience, Qualifications, and Skills

  • To be a student assistant, you must

    - be a currently enrolled undergraduate student at SJSU.
    - have a minimum overall GPA of 3.0.
    - have evidence of excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
    - have a highly professional and customer-focused approach.
    - have strong writing skills.

• How to Apply

  • We are not currently accepting applications for our student assistant position. When we re-open applications, the job(s) will be posted on the SJSU Handshake website. (A hard copy application is also available upon request to writingcenter@sjsu.edu.)

Writing Tutors

• Typical Duties and Responsibilities

  • All writing tutors are current SJSU graduate and undergraduate students from various disciplines. Writing tutors in the Writing Center work 5-20 hours per week and are responsible for the following duties: 

    - conduct one-on-one and small-group tutoring sessions (in person and/or online) with writers of all levels and disciplines on a variety of assignments and projects, such as essays, theses, proposals, lab reports, research papers, and job search correspondence.
    - develop and present one-hour instructional workshops.
    - work on Writing Center projects (e.g., creating instructional handouts or videos, writing for our blog, working on DEI projects/collaborations).
    - attend monthly staff meetings/training sessions.
    - maintain tutoring records and communicate with SJSU faculty via email.
    - participate in outreach activities.
    - participate in training activities for new applicants.

    Tutors decide how they want to be deployed every semester. We have a few different types of tutoring: online appointments (via Zoom), in-person appointments (in the library), and in-person drop-ins (also in the library). Our tutors decide if they want to work a mix of these modalities.

    We also offer the option of working as a course-embedded tutor; in this role, a tutor is embedded in a writing-intensive course (e.g., 100W), providing supplemental instruction to students in that class. Course-embedded tutors work three hours per week for each class they support, and they work on a flexible schedule agreed upon in advance with the instructor they're paired with.

    The professional training that tutors receive while working at the Writing Center has helped lead our former employees to work at places like Google, Facebook, Netgear, and National Geographic; other Writing Center tutor alumni have gone onto PhD programs and teaching positions. 

    Check out the "Art of Being a Tutor" feature on our Writing Center blog to get an insight about what it's like to work at the Writing Center as a tutor. 

• Required Experience, Qualifications, and Skills

  • To be a writing tutor, you must

    - be a currently enrolled student at SJSU with a "clear" academic standing. 
    - have a minimum overall GPA of 3.2. 
    - have earned a grade of "B" or higher in first-year writing courses (e.g., English 1A, English 1B, English 2).
    - have excellent writing, reading, and critical thinking skills. 

    Please note that to be a tutor embedded in an upper-division course, you must have also completed 100W with a grade of "B" or higher (or be currently enrolled in 100W and earning a "B" or higher). 

• Pay and Benefits

  • Pay rates begin at $18/hour (undergraduates) and $19/hour (graduate students). After you are hired, there are then multiple opportunities to develop professionally and earn additional hourly pay increases (up to $20/hour for undergraduates and $21/hour for graduate students).

    Writing Center tutors also earn digital credentials (badges) for their extensive training, get parking permit discounts, and receive priority class registration. 

• Hiring & Training Process

  • The initial hiring phase takes at least four hours to complete. To be hired, you must complete the following steps (in order):

    1. submit a complete application (online).
    2. participate in an oral interview with the Writing Center Director.
    3. complete a pedagogy test in which you will demonstrate your knowledge of the writing process and your ability to explain concepts related to style, grammar, organization, essay structure, and content development.
    4. participate in a tutoring session as a student, bringing in a piece of your own writing.

    Once you have finished the initial steps for hiring, your paid training will begin. This process takes 15+ hours to complete. The following steps must be completed:

    1. observe and respond to two videos of our experienced writing tutors facilitating sessions.
    2. discuss best practices with an experienced tutor.
    3. complete training about working with multilingual learners.
    4. participate in a one-hour trial run for a mock tutoring session.
    5. conduct a minimum of four mock tutoring sessions with experienced writing tutors (two focusing on grammar and two focusing on content), following the Writing Center format for tutoring and writing follow-up e-mails to instructors after each session.

    Upon conditional hiring, you will have to complete a required training module about online tutoring. After approximately one month of work, you will be shadowed and evaluated by experienced writing tutors and/or the director for two tutoring sessions.

    You will not be considered an official Writing Center tutor until all training requirements have been met. If the training requirements cannot be met, you will only be paid for the training that you completed

• How to Apply

  • We are not currently accepting applications for our writing tutor position. When we re-open applications, there will be a link/button to apply on this page. (A hard copy application is also available upon request to writingcenter@sjsu.edu.) 

    If you would like to be notified when tutoring applications open, please complete our job interest form.

SJSU is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer committed to non-discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender status, marital status, pregnancy, age, disability, or covered veteran status consistent with applicable federal and state laws. This policy applies to all SJSU students, faculty, and staff as well as University programs and activities. Reasonable accommodations are made for applicants with disabilities who self-disclose. 

The latest San José State University Safety 101 Uniform Campus Crime and Security Report is available. You may request a copy of San José State University’s annual safety report by contacting the University Police Department at (408) 924-2222 or by visiting the Crime Statistics and Reports website.

This position is covered by collective bargaining Unit 11