Student Employee Onboarding Checklist

AG, HHS & VET MED EMPLOYMENT CENTER

Student Employee Onboarding Checklist

Congratulations on your new student position in the College of Agriculture, Health and Human Sciences, or Veterinary Medicine!

To guide you through the onboarding process, we’ve put together a list of onboarding steps. This includes items like the New Hire Wizard overview, background check policy, and timekeeping requirements, including payroll deadlines. Completing each step on time ensures your information is set up correctly and helps prevent delays with your pay or start date. Most steps must be completed on or before your official hire date. Follow the list below for a smooth and successful start.

Note: Any training, orientation, or required activities related to the position you are hired into are considered paid work time. As a result, your hire/start date must reflect the first day you participate in training or orientation, even if no regular work duties are performed that day.

Failure to complete required steps or meet deadlines may result in ineligibility to work or a delayed start date.

🚫 Do Not Begin Working Without I‑9 Documents

You may not begin working, participate in training, or attend employment related orientation unless Form I‑9 requirements have been met. If you will not have the required documents to present for Form I‑9 Section 2 by the deadline, you must notify your supervisor and delay your start date. This applies even if training or orientation has been scheduled or you have signed an offer letter. All offer letters are contingent upon meeting Form I‑9 requirements.

The New Hire Wizard is a required, multi‑step process used to collect the information needed to set up your student employment. 

You are responsible for completing all onboarding steps on time and for monitoring and responding to communications from the Employment Center throughout the process. If you anticipate any delays in completing required steps, you must notify the Employment Center before the deadline.

You access the New Hire Wizard through the Welcome Letter email sent by Purdue HR (hr@purdue.edu) with the subject line “Welcome Letter.” This email contains important links and should be kept for reference throughout onboarding.

Important: After you activate your Purdue account, the original New Hire Wizard link you clicked may no longer work. If you need to return to the New Hire Wizard, go back to the Welcome Letter email and use the “here” link provided later in the message to log back in and continue your tasks.

If you did not receive the Welcome Letter or cannot access the New Hire Wizard:

  • If the email was sent to a personal email address, check your spam or junk folder.
  • If the email was sent to your Purdue email account, check your spam, junk, and quarantine folders. Purdue email security (Microsoft Defender) may hold legitimate messages. See Microsoft Defender (spam filtering) for more information.
  • Reply to the pre‑onboarding email sent by the Employment Center to request troubleshooting assistance.

Need help completing the form? Refer to the Completing New Hire Wizard step‑by‑step guide.

You must complete the Data Collection step in the New Hire Wizard before your start date. This step includes two separate tasks that must be completed in order. Both tasks are required to continue onboarding and must be completed before your hire date.

What to complete:

  1. Provide Personal Data
    Enter your required personal information as prompted in the New Hire Wizard.

  2. Provide Additional Data
    After completing Personal Data, complete the Additional Data task. This step collects additional employment‑related information required to move forward in the onboarding process.

Rehire note:
If you are being rehired by Purdue, there may be a short waiting period between completing Provide Personal Data and being able to access Provide Additional Data. This allows Central Payroll time to review and validate the information you entered. This is expected and no action is needed during this review period.

Failure to complete both tasks by the required deadline may delay your onboarding or affect your eligibility to work.

Form I‑9, Section 1 is required to verify your eligibility to work in the United States and is completed within the New Hire Wizard.

This step must be completed on or before your official hire date. Although federal regulations allow Form I‑9 Section 1 to be completed on your first day, completing it early helps ensure smooth access to systems and onboarding resources.

If you do not complete Form I‑9 Section 1 by your hire date, you may experience delays accessing your position details or other information in the Employee Launchpad.

Document note:
If you do not have your original I‑9 documents in hand when completing Section 1, you may upload scanned copies or photos at this step as long as you will have the original, unexpired documents available for your Form I‑9 Section 2 appointment (no later than the third business day after your hire date). Original documents must be presented for Section 2; copies cannot be accepted.

Tips for completing Form I‑9 Section 1:

  • Use your current U.S. physical address (on‑campus or off‑campus).
  • Do not use a permanent home address unless you currently live there.
  • If you are outside the U.S., wait until you arrive to complete the form.
  • If using a U.S. passport book, upload:
    • The main passport page (photo, passport number, signature), and
    • The barcode page inside the back cover
      (Both pages must be combined into one file.)
  • If using one of these documents, upload both the front and back in a single file:
    • U.S. passport card
    • Permanent resident card
    • Employment Authorization Document (Form I‑766)
    • U.S. military card

After completing Form I‑9 Section 1, you are required to schedule and attend an appointment to present your documents.

Completion of Form I‑9 Section 1 is required before Form I‑9 Section 2 can be finalized.

Form I‑9, Section 2 verifies your identity and authorization to work in the United States and must be completed no later than the third business day after your official hire date.

See our Employment Authorization (Form I‑9) page for important details and to schedule your appointment.

Important requirements:

  • You must present original, unexpired documents for Form I‑9 Section 2.
  • Copies, photos, or scans cannot be accepted for this step, even if they were uploaded during Section 1.
  • Form I‑9 Section 1 must be completed before Section 2 can be finalized.
Additional notes:
  • The documents you present for Form I‑9 Section 2 do not have to be the same documents you referenced or uploaded during Form I‑9 Section 1. You may present any acceptable combination of original, unexpired documents listed on the Form I‑9 Acceptable Documents list.
  • If you will not have the required documents available by the Section 2 deadline, you must notify your supervisor and delay your start date to remain compliant.
  • Do not begin working, participate in training, or attend orientation until Form I‑9 requirements have been met.

All employees entering a new position (including new hires, transfers, or rehired employees) are required to complete a background check to support a safe and secure environment.

Candidates for undergraduate and graduate student appointments are subject to a Sex and Violent Offender Registry Check before their appointment with the University. This check will happen without further action from the manager or employee.

However, please note that a few limited positions do require an additional background check. Students in a position that involves one or more of the following tasks will receive an email invitation to complete the necessary information in HireRight:

  • Master key access to buildings, including residences or other facilities
  • Direct responsibility for the care, safety and security of people, or the safety and security of personal and university property (includes childcare workers, physicians, student affairs officers, residence hall supervisors, coaches, transit drivers, etc.)
  • Direct responsibility for the care, safety and security of animals
  • Direct access to or responsibility for cash, cash equivalents, checks, credit card account information, or university property disbursements or receipts
  • Extensive authority for committing the financial resources of the University
  • Direct access to or responsibility for controlled substances or hazardous materials
  • Direct access to or responsibility for protected, personal or other sensitive data (includes auditors, information systems personnel, Human Resources and payroll staff, registrars, etc.)

Please complete this step immediately to avoid delays in your onboarding process. Refer to the Background Checks section of the Faculty and Staff Handbook for complete details and the official policy.

Background Checks

A Social Security number (SSN) is required for everyone working in the U.S.

If you do not already have an SSN, you must apply for one through the Social Security Administration within 30 days of your start date. This number is required for payroll, tax purposes, and benefits enrollment. Follow the steps below to complete this requirement.

Apply for SSN: For detailed instructions on how to apply, open the document below.
How to Apply for a New Social Security Number (PDF)

Add SSN in Section 1 of Your I-9: Once you have your SSN, update Section 1 of the I-9 form in the New Hire Wizard with your new Social Security Number. For detailed instructions, open the document below. If you need assistance, please contact your Employment/Payroll Center.

How To Add Your Social Security Number When Received

Federal Work Study is an award that allows students to earn income while working on-campus or with an approved off-campus non-profit agency. 

If you are eligible, follow the Work-Study process for the college where your position is located:

  • Colleges of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine: Contact your departmental business office to complete the necessary steps for Work-Study fund setup.
    AG BUSINESS OFFICE Vet Business Office
  • College of Health and Human Sciences: The Employment Center will coordinate the Work-Study setup. Please use the button below to notify them of your eligibility and begin the setup process.
    EMAIL HHS EMPLOYMENT

Please note that there are strict deadlines each semester, so it’s important to take action quickly upon hire.

As part of your onboarding process, it's essential to review and update your personal and financial information in SuccessFactors to ensure accuracy.

Please note that system access to these features will not be available before your first day. Once you have access, use the Employee Launchpad to review the following and update (if needed):

Personal Information:

  • Home address
  • Phone number
  • Emergency contact 

Bank Information:

Update bank account(s) for direct deposits. This is separate from the account setup for students through myPurdue.

Many deposits are rejected because employees enter incorrect account information. This often happens when the MICR number (the long number at the bottom of your checks used for direct deposits) is different from your account number. To avoid this, please check your direct deposit account details with your bank before entering them.

Tax Forms:

  • Update federal and state tax withholding forms.
    • Non-resident aliens cannot update their federal tax forms through the Employee Launchpad. Instead, the Glacier packet must be completed and submitted to the Tax Department. Please refer to the instructions sent by email from support@online-tax.net (subject: "Payments from Purdue University").

  • W-2: Register for online W-2 services with ADP through the ‘ADP W-2 Services’ tile in SuccessFactors.

Managing Your Employee Profile QRG (Microsoft Word)
Tax Services (Website)

Hourly students and temporary staff are not eligible for benefits through employment. However, Purdue students may be eligible for student insurance. Details are available on the Student Health Services website.

Student Health Services

 Graduate staff who are eligible for employment-based benefits should refer to the Graduate Staff - Human Resources website for details.

Graduate Staff Benefits

All hourly employees are required to submit timesheets or to ensure accurate and timely payment. Please review the guidelines below for submission details.

Submission deadlines: Timesheets are due every two weeks, with approvals required by 10 PM on the Monday following the end of each pay period.

  • Submit by Sunday: To allow your supervisor time to review and approve, it is recommended that you submit your timesheet by Sunday. Submitting weekly is also a good practice to avoid missing the deadline.
  • No hours worked: Even if you did not work any hours, please submit your timesheet to keep accurate records.
  • Multiple positions: If you have more than one active appointment, be sure to select the correct position when entering your time.


Please refer to the resources below for additional information.

Payroll Calendar

Employee Information, Timekeeping and Time Off

Time Sheet Instructions for Hourly Students and Temps

WebClock Recording and Editing Time QRG (Word Document)