Nearly everyone has heard the old adage, “high school is the best four years of your life.” But perhaps, for you, those “best” four years were the time you spent at your college or university, and now, you want to recreate the joy you felt strolling the ivy-covered campus or walking underneath the arches in a school’s center quad.
Instead of enrolling in graduate school or earning another bachelor’s degree, you’ve decided you wanted to work at a college. People who work in college administration fill a variety of roles separate from faculty positions.
This guide will help you discover the areas where you might fit, so that you can work to help today’s students become tomorrow’s leaders, educators, scientists and more. Our resource guide will tell you everything you need to know about getting a job in the field of college administration.
Table of Contents
In this article from The Princeton Review outlines a typical workday for someone working as a college administrator.
Here, you’ll find a great list of different jobs that a college administrator could have, such as overseeing how funds are distributed, working in the university archives or records departments, helping students with financial aid, job placement or housing.
The article also shares a sort of “ladder” for job opportunities, including possible entry-level jobs and degree requirements for higher positions.
If you're looking for a tell-it-like-it-is resource, this article from Masters in Education fits the bill. The article shares pros and cons of working in higher education administration and a list of questions, such as how to get your start in higher education and typical salaries.
This question-and-answer article from Inside Higher Ed’s 'Ask the Administrator' shares tips on how to break into the higher education field. The author suggests slowing down one’s search to focus on what you might want to do as a career and reaching out to people in different university departments to get a sense of what they do at work each day.
Here, USA Today outlines some of the benefits of working in higher education. This article included several positives, including career opportunities in a variety of fields, and access to different college culture programs, such as guest speakers and concerts.
VelvetJobs Expert Tip
Decide what you want your specialty to be before you apply for employment.
As administrators become more specialized, such as beginning in basic financial aid and then working specifically with adult students at a business school, one may want to have a business background in addition to their administrative degree.
It's worth noting that as a prospective job candidate improves their specialty area or areas, their salary can increase.
At the Chronicle of Higher Education’s website, author Rob Jenkins shares an advice column about working in higher education administration. Some of his suggestions include considering all factors of the job, including stress levels, salary, and more.
Here, you’ll find some basic information about becoming a post-secondary education administrator. Some of the categories include work environment, location-based information and similar occupations.
At Higher Ed Jobs, this article takes a look at one person’s foray into finding a job in student affairs. The article discusses some of the challenges student affairs administrators face and the different aspects of their job, including student retention, safety and economic factors for students wishing to attend high education.
If you’re just looking for the basics, this article from study.com is a good place to start. Here, you’ll find the required education, projected job growth, a job description and average annual salary information.
The Higher Ed Job Board allows prospective candidates to search more than 50 different areas of academic administration. You’ll find thousands of jobs in categories including admissions and enrollment, human resources, residence life and publications.
This job board focuses solely on community college employment. People can search by category, such as administrator or science and tech jobs, or by location. Job seekers can also post resumes, save their favorite jobs and receive job postings by email.
Two unique features of the website are the career updates section, where leadership changes in employment are shared, and the community college news section, which includes information on people’s plans to retire or college searches for their next presidents.
The Inside Higher Ed Career job board allows job seekers to search for employment based on keyword and location, as well as area, such as teaching, administrative or higher administrative positions. The website also has a “featured jobs” section, a place to post your resume, and a career advice page.
The Higher Education Recruitment Consortium, or HERC, has over 30,000 jobs posted on their website. Prospective candidates can search for jobs based on keyword, job type or location.
The website also offers a “dual career” job search engine, which allows candidates to search for two jobs for a person and their partner within a commutable distance. They also offers higher education news, career advice and a blog with advice for job seekers, such as five questions to ask in an interview.
Chronicle Vitae’s search engine connects candidates with employment opportunities in higher education. People can search based on keyword, location or when a job was posted. The website also features career advice and networking opportunities.
Academic 360 offers more than 3,000 job postings to an international audience. Candidates can search for jobs in the United States, Canada or Australia. More than a dozen administrative categories are listed, including career services, fundraising, information technology and more. The website also has diversity resources and selected articles from Higher Ed.
The University Council for Educational Administration Job Board, or UCEA, offers a listing of jobs on their website. Each job post includes the university’s name and location, the job title and description, and a hyperlink to apply for the position.
#social
Social Media Groups and Forums
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Many universities and individual university departments have their own Facebook pages, but social media can also be a place for those working in college administration to connect with one another. Here are a couple of examples of where you can do just that.
Chronicle Vitae has a variety of discussion groups on their website. Some recent discussion topics included advising in academia, diversity in hiring, and maintaining your digital identity in academics.
This Facebook group is a place for college admissions counselors to get advice and share experiences. The group has more than 14,000 members.
This global symposium, the first of its kind, and put on by Inside Higher Ed will be a place for academic professionals and academic leaders to learn from one another. It will be held in November 2017 in Orlando, Florida.
At this workshop, college administrators will be able to focus on learning about financial management and accounting tools in order to make informed decisions about higher education institutions. The workshop will be held in November 2017 in Sydney, Australia.
An annual conference focused on female roles in higher education, this conference is organized by the national organization for Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, or NASPA.
The event will feature women from a variety of different university departments, including facilities and operations, student affairs, administration, recreation and libraries.
This year’s event will be held in December 2017 in Amelia Island, Florida.
The American Association of University Administrators has created a professional mentorship and networking program called Think Tank. As part of the Think Tank program, college administrators are paired with mentors and able to discuss challenges, learn skills and develop relationships outside of their home institution.
This conference, organized by the National Council of University Research Administrators, focuses on learning more about your field and making connections with administrators across the country. This year’s conference will be held in March 2018 in Orlando, Florida.
Organized by the American Association of State College and Universities, the 2018 Academic Affairs Winter Meeting is titled “Public Universities in Challenging Times,” and will focus on the purpose of institutes of higher learning and those institution’s obligations to their students. The 2018 meeting will be held in February in San Antonio, Texas.
To a Degree: A Higher Ed podcast focuses on the people, institutions and organizations that are working to bring higher education to all people. The podcast is a product of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Anthill podcast focuses on “unearthing stories from the world of academia.” Recent episodes discuss science, music and Brexit.
The Times Higher Education podcast focuses on university news, higher education analysis and more. The podcast describes itself as “essential listening” for professionals working in a university setting.
The Society for Research into Higher Education Conference and Network, or SRHE, is a U.K. based podcast that focuses on higher education. Through insights and research, the society hopes to show the importance of higher education. Recent topics include research stories and academic mobility.
The FIR on Higher Education podcast is a bi-weekly podcast that focuses on news and interviews about communicating effectively in post-secondary education.
When listening to the Higher Ed Happy Hour, you’ll hear from three Washington, D.C. based journalists and policy makers: Kevin Carey of New America, Andrew Kelly of the American Enterprise Institute and Libby Nelson of vox.com. The three personalities discuss the latest news in higher education policy, research and pop culture. Some recent episode topics were the confirmation of Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s higher education plan and campus free speech policies.
