2025-26 USG Staff Applications

For questions, please reach out to the incoming presidential team, Riley Hetland (hetla042@umn.edu) and Ethan Fiegel (fiege052@umn.edu), and the incoming Chief of Staff Team, Izzy Ward (ward1210@umn.edu) and AJ Brenner (brenn800@umn.edu). We are more than happy to answer any and all questions. Messages both via Slack and Email work for us.

We will conduct interviews and select the candidate that we believe would be the best fit for the role. That being said, we do prefer to have staff members stay for the full year, although it's not something that should immediately prevent you from applying. The application includes a question asking if you are available for both semesters, and this will be taken into consideration when making hiring decisions.

While having prior USG knowledge and experience can be helpful, it is not a requirement for joining staff. We do hire external candidates and encourage anyone interested in joining USG staff to apply!

If you are applying for an Executive Director role, the incoming President, Vice President, Chief of Staff Team will be in the interview.

If you are applying for any other staff positions, the incoming President, Vice President, Chief of Staff Team, Director of Human Resources, and the newly hired Executive Director for the team that you’re applying for will be in your interview.

Besides being on staff, there are many other ways to become involved in the USG! At the end of the summer and early in the fall semester, applications for Junior Staff and Intern positions will open. During the semester you can also run to be an At Large Representative (ALR) or Student Group Representative (SGR). Learn more about the ALR and SGR roles here. Additionally, our committees and task forces are open to all undergraduate students. Learn more about them here.

The Junior Staff and Intern roles are both great opportunities to get started in USG! They will be hired in the late summer and at the beginning of the fall semester. The Intern cohort will be made up of 20-30 members and will participate in weekly programming overseen by the Director of Human Resources. Interns will attend Forum and Committee meetings throughout their first semester while they learn about the organization, and will be given the opportunity to pick a specific project to work on during their second semester. There will also be junior staff positions for each team within USG. These positions are unpaid, and the level of commitment will not exceed 6 hours per week. Junior Staff work is more specialized, and you will work on projects with your assigned staff member exclusively throughout the year.

Knowing how much time you’re able to commit to USG is very helpful when thinking about how you want to get involved in student government. Junior Staff & Intern positions are both entry-level positions that’ll give you the opportunity to explore the organization, the different initiatives being worked on and work alongside other staff members. The time commitment for this role is no more than 6 hours per week. Staff members required a higher commitment, with approximately 10 hours of work per week. If you are interested in joining USG but are not able to commit as much time, consider some of the other opportunities listed under the “If I don’t get hired for a staff position, how can I still be involved in USG?” question answered above.

Meeting all of the expected criteria and skills is not necessarily a requirement for each role. While we do look for certain qualifications and experience in candidates, we also believe that students should have an opportunity to grow and develop their skills within their staff roles and USG.

Specialized Committees were formerly known as Task Forces. Due to a change in the bylaws, Task Forces are now called Specialized Committees and will be overseen by Board of Committee Directors and will report to the Speaker of Forum.

Vice Chairs are nominated and appointed by the Board of Committee Directors. These will be made at the beginning of the fall semester.