Most of us think that by the time we finish college, we’ll have a set career path in mind. For some, that turns out to be the case. But for just as many students, what comes next is as ambiguous in their senior year as it was when they entered the classroom as a wide-eyed freshman.
The career choices you make early on will impact your career path from here on out. Not every degree comes with a “rubber stamped” first job after graduation. Many liberal arts and social sciences degrees prepare you for a variety of career possibilities, but which road you take is up to you.
Maybe you’ll enter the corporate world and start moving up the ladder. Maybe a private sector job is more for you. What about government work? Graduate school? Or maybe you’ll consider staying in the university environment even if you don’t go to graduate school right away.
I’m not talking about being a perpetual student and modeling your life after Van Wilder. I’m talking about the option of working for a university.
You don’t have to plan on earning a Ph.D. or becoming a professor to build a satisfying and challenging career at a college or university. There are a variety of entry level professional positions in higher education settings. Many new college graduates transition to the workforce by taking on one of these positions. For some of these individuals, college and university administration or student services become a lifelong career.
My first job after graduation was working at an internship placement office at a two-year college. I was hell-bent on a career in journalism, but while I was getting my feet wet I needed to pay the rent, so I took the first thing that came along.
Over ten years later, I’m still working in university environments. I’ve been a career development office, an academic advisor, an assistant registrar and a project coordinator for information systems development. I found that once I started working in higher education, the opportunities to do new and different things were abundant, and I had no desire to leave.
Why would you want to work at a university?
There are many advantages to working in a college environment. Here are just a few of them:
1. Most entry level positions offer a good starting point for developing transferable professional skills.
Whether you build a career in the college world or just start out there and move on to Corporate America, most entry-level university positions will give you the chance to develop a wide variety of transferable skills. Depending on your position, you’ll interact with many people, including students, faculty, alumni, other university staff members, and parents. The networking opportunities are endless.
2. Need intellectual stimulation? You won’t have to look far.
One of the things I like about going to work each day is that I’m guaranteed to interact with a variety of intellectual, liberal-minded, free thinking people. It is rare that a day goes by where my work doesn’t require me to spend time with students studying a variety of subjects, professors researching topics ranging from laughter to the impact of the internet on creativity to nuclear physics, and other staff members who take an avid interest in their communities and global issues.
I’m not saying that working in a corporate office or a government organization will land you in a cube farm full of dolts. Interesting people are everywhere. But the university environment tends to foster awareness, discussion and debate. It is the job of a university to encourage learning and thinking, so there’s usually no shortage of opportunities to attend a community lecture on the environment after work or grab a burger in the cafeteria with an instructor who would love to discuss poetry, politics or music history.
3. Casual is okay, usually.
If you’re working in admissions, alumni services or the public relations office, then you’ll probably have to dress and act the part. But many college workplaces offer a more casual dress code and laid back office environment. If you’re looking to be a professional without having to dress in a suit and tie every day, a college workplace may give you that opportunity.
4. Benefits.
Just like any other work environment, benefits packages vary among colleges and universities. But as a general rule of thumb, most educational institutions, particularly public colleges and universities, offer solid health care coverage options, retirement plans and leave packages.
If you’re thinking about pursuing a graduate degree, chances are you’ll get all or part of your tuition covered if you attend the institution where you’re working.
If working for a cause is important to you, then look no further.
Many people need more from their work than just a paycheck. We spend most of our waking hours at our jobs. It is motivating to know that what we do all day contributes to something that we value. If you work at a college or university, you’re contributing towards providing educational opportunities for students and building an environment where people learn and prepare themselves to make their own mark on the world. That can be a really good feeling.
It Can’t All Be Good, Right?
Every workplace has its drawbacks. College and university environments are no different, and it is important to weigh both the pros and cons when deciding where you’d like to earn your living.
In many cases, positions at colleges and universities may pay a bit less than their counterparts in the corporate world. An information technology specialist working at a public university will probably earn a bit less than his buddy who is doing very similar work for a large financial institution. While this isn’t always the case, it is fairly common.
Another thing to consider is that while entry level jobs are often up for grabs for those who have a bachelor’s degree, a masters or Ph.D. are almost always required for higher level positions. College admissions and financial aid offices will often hire new graduates as counselors. But if you hope to become the director of your office one day, you’ll need to start working on that graduate degree.
What types of jobs may be available?
So, you’ve loved the university environment as a student and think a college would make a good workplace. But while you spent a lot of time interacting with your professors, you went through your entire undergraduate career without giving much thought to the other university employees you encountered along the way. What do they do, and how do they help keep the wheels turning at the university?
Below are just some of the jobs that are often available at colleges and universities and which may require only a bachelor’s degree.
Admissions Counselor
Admissions counselors represent the college to potential students and parents. They may spend most of their time meeting with people on campus, or they may often find themselves on the road locally or even nationally, visiting high schools and college fairs. They give campus tours, organize new student orientation programs, review applications and determine whether potential students should be admitted to the university. They spend a lot of time interacting with high school students, parents and guidance counselors.
Financial Aid Counselor
Financial aid counselors help students and their parents figure out the best ways to pay for college. You’ll review students’ situations and award and prepare aid packages. You might meet with students and their parents to discuss the inner workings of the financial aid process, or help students who have concerns regarding loan repayment. You’ll also interact with loan companies and other aid providers.
The Registrar’s Office
Most students just think of the Registrar’s Office as the place to go when you need a copy of your transcript. But there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes at this office in most colleges and universities. The Registrar’s Office often oversees or assists in registration, graduation, transfer credit services, grade processing, and course catalog and class schedule production. As an employee in the Registrar’s Office, you might be involved in any of the following:
Graduation
Graduation specialists review student records to determine whether they have met the necessary requirements to earn a degree, and work with students and their advisors to resolve issues. A graduation specialist might also coordinate or help organize the commencement ceremony, the graduation application process, and the ordering of diplomas.
Registration
Registration specialists participate in a variety of activities. You might work with the campus technology office to improve and maintain automated registration systems. You may help students who have issues with registration, coordinate registration-cycles, train faculty and students on using automated systems, and oversee large-scale registration activities at new student programs.
Transfer Credit
Transfer credit specialists or evaluators review courses students have taken at other schools to determine how they will apply towards a degree. As a transfer credit specialist, you’ll review records, work with academic departments to determine whether courses can be given credit, and help students understand the university’s transfer credit policies and procedures. You might also work with nearby colleges and universities to build articulation agreements which allow their students to easily transfer credits to your school and vice versa.
Catalog and Scheduling
Often, the Registrar’s Office builds the university’s course catalogs and schedules of classes. A scheduling coordinator works with departments to build the class schedule each semester, assigns classrooms, and helps develop course descriptions. Catalog and scheduling coordinators also work to provide printed and online versions of course information.
Alumni Relations
Want to put your marketing and communications skills to work for a good cause? Consider opportunities working in alumni relations.
Alumni relations officers often work on annual giving campaigns. But there’s a lot more to this office. You might also be involved in coordinating large-scale events like homecoming, or smaller-scale activities like receptions where graduates from a particular major come to network with students and give them advice on potential career paths. You may coordinate or develop content for web sites and print publications, or collect data on where alumni are working or going to graduate school.
Residential Life
The residential life office provides a variety of services to students who live on campus. They coordinate roommate assignments and move-in and move-out activities. They monitor life on campus and help work through issues or disputes between roommates or people in the same dormitory. They coordinate many activities and programs designed to help students who live on campus get involved in student life, live healthy lifestyles or develop strong study habits. They make sure that campus rules are being followed in dorms and apartments.
As a residential life staff member, you could be involved in some or all of these activities. Some positions, such as community director or coordinator for a dorm, might require that you live on campus. Others, such as developing programs or coordinating dorm maintenance or roommate assignments, may not.
These are just a few of the opportunities that are available in college and university environments. Most higher education institutions are small communities in and of themselves, and as such offer a variety of unique jobs and roles.
Tips for Job Seeking At Colleges and Universities
Get Involved Now
If you are still a student, get actively involved in life on campus. Think you might want to work in the Registrar’s Office or Admissions? Get a part-time job on campus now to gain some experience. Or volunteer for the student ambassador club, where you help showcase your university and gain the experience admissions offices are seeking. Think a job in residential life would be more to your liking? Volunteer or look into part-time work as a leader in your dorm or apartment complex.
If you’ve already graduated, contact your college’s alumni relations office. Colleges and universities almost always recruit alumni volunteers to help with admissions outreach, annual giving and career development activities for their students. Having these types of things on your resume will help you put your best foot forward.
Focus on Transferable Skills
So you didn’t get too involved in campus life as a student. That doesn’t mean you’re out of the running for college and university jobs. In your resumes and cover letters, focus on transferable skills. For most of the positions described above, directors will be looking for the following:
– Strong communications skills. College offices need staff members who can write well and are comfortable conveying information to large groups as well as individuals.
– Experience interacting with diverse groups of people. Working in a college, you’ll be interacting with students, parents, faculty and staff who may come from all over the world. Experience communicating across cultures, social backgrounds and generations is a huge plus.
– Information literary. Colleges seek employees who know how to obtain information from a variety of sources, ranging from the internet to print resources to human experts.
– Flexibility and the ability to multi-task and take on new things. Many universities run offices and departments on limited budgets. That also means limited human resources. You may be the graduation specialist in the Registrar’s Office, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be needed to help evaluate transfer credits or pull together the schedule of classes. You may be in charge of an annual giving telephone campaign for alumni relations, but your boss might also ask you to help plan a major homecoming event.
– The ability to understand and interpret policies, procedures and regulations.
Think about your current work experience as well as your academic and extracurricular activities as a student. Craft resumes and cover letters that highlight how you have honed and used your skills in communicating with a variety of people, handled multiple assignments and tasks, and sought out and used information.
Read and learn more about the various roles that college and university administrators play, and the unique challenges and issues they face.
Some good resources for doing so can be found here:
The Chronicle of Higher Education (a magazine devoted to college and university academics and administration): http://chronicle.com/
AACRAO (the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers): http://chronicle.com/
NACADA (the National Academic Advising Association): http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/
Whether you make a career of working in higher education, or move on to something new and different after you’ve gained some work experience, you’re sure to gain valuable insights, meet interesting people, and tap into a variety of skills and strengths you didn’t even realize you had.
