r/studentaffairs

My career path has been circuitous but I am 50, worked for about 20 years as a tenured Professor -- but didn't make much at it -- my Department was stripped down to next to nothing and I was going through a divorce and so I early-retired.

I had a half-time position as part of my job running grant-funded academic programs that were public-facing at the University, with high-touch support. That was my 3rd program I had run in the same general area. I also had been an Academic Coordinator a long time ago, so I have solid clerical skills and understand staff well.

A position arose suddenly at my University making more than I made as tenured faculty, and my Supervisor would be someone I know and like. It is an Academic Advising position. I have done lots of major Advising and varied student support and am still on the payroll.

I was referred for it internally and told it was an expedited hire. I overhauled my CV to a resume and applied and got an interview for two days from now.

Now I hire all the time and conduct interviews myself. But I am pretty old-school about them with a very intuitive approach to hiring.

On the other hand, I haven't interviewed in ages. And I am totally faculty still, psychologically... I taught Philosophy and am very detailed but you know how we are, although I am more work-aligned than many Professors because I have directed and coordinated so many front-facing student-staffed programs now.

Okay, so I don't know what to expect for an interview for a full-time dedicated Academic Advising position (it's for our largest college and is a highest level Advising job). And I feel like a fish out of water! I do know everything they want me to know, from GEs to articulations to policies to campus resources.

But I would love any help with what to expect in terms of questions. I am a great public speaker but a world-class rambler one-on-one. And I am prone to anxiety attacks under stress. And I keep wondering what they are really looking for and how Academic Advising will be different than it was for faculty Upper-Division Advising in my Department? I did do GE Advising too but always with Philosophy majors, in my case.

I would love anyone tips!

I definitely want this position! I am not as ready to retire at 50 as I had previously thought. Also I am highly altruistic and thrive on seeing students succeed. And I truly love my University, warts and all.

howdy yall, I’m currently working in a live in position for a private boarding school and while I’m already planning on working here next year I’m aiming to eventually move out and move on to eventually working in a college. I’m aiming to wait until around this time next year when I have about 2 years of experience working here. Would that alongside the fact that I currently carry a bachelors (it’s in history but it helped me land this) make me stand out as an ideal candidate?

Also a little bit of reason why I’m looking for a position like this, I genuinely enjoy the benefits of a job like this but I want to:

1. Move out of the deep south.
2. Put me in the best possible position to go back to college.

If any of you all have anything to comment I would greatly appreciate it.

Hi everyone, I’ve been working as an academic advisor for the past 4 years and am honestly burnt out. While my job’s caseload is more or less average, my department has to wear so many different hats that the volume of work is overwhelming. Add that to the fact that there’s very little support and the university I work at has a disturbingly corporate workplace culture, and it’s left my resolve worn down.

My background is in mental health counseling, and I had turned to advising as an alternative, but my current experience has left me wanting to find a different job. I could work at other universities, but I’m not in a financial position to move away from my current area.

If anyone has made the transition to another job from Academic Advising or higher ed in general, what recommendations do you have? And what area of work did you transition to?

I’m a 4th year undergrad student who is pivoting to student affairs and higher education. The work we do to transform student lives speaks to me, and I find the work extremely fulfilling and enjoyable.

I’m graduating this December, and I would like to be more proactive and intentional with my professional development. I’d like to hear people’s insights and perspectives for success.

I’m in Southern California and I (somewhat) have some experience as student assistant.

1. What was your experience in student affairs/higher education conferences like NASPA/ACPA, and do you have any tips for how I can make the most of my time there?
2. How can I improve my networking skills/follow up skills with professional staff?

I’m also planning to pursue grad school, but I’m currently trying to figure out how I can continue my education with assistantships, tuition remission, and a direct pipeline to a role after graduation.

Original Post

Well, it’s been three months since I wrote the OP, and unfortunately, my patience with students continues to wear thin. I am tired of their lies, like claiming they didn’t get accommodations when we have record of us going above and beyond and giving them things not supported by a medical need but because they kept pushing and demanding we gave into them and made compromises. I have to repeat timelines a lot to anxious students because they expect me to make their requests a priority and say “it’s nerve wracking” for them to have to wait. In reality they are no more important than the multiple other requests waiting behind them. I can’t make them my top priority because they told me I have to.

I did interview for two jobs but neither worked out. One was a program coordinator role that told me I was thoughtful, collaborative and they liked my interest in their work…only for them to hire someone else. I also interviewed for an L&D specialist role that ended up hiring nobody because the company decided to “re-evaluate their staffing needs.” Ever since then I have not had any interviews. I am in the expats group on Facebook but truthfully, I feel demoralized when looking at it because it feels like everyone else is able to pivot out so easily and get their dream job while I’m stuck and my mental health and personality just evaporates every day. I have never had to work this hard to find a better job and am exhausted from the continued reframing/translation and practicing interview answers. It can feel degrading in some ways…the “you’re not good enough for anything else” feeling.

Truthfully I’m thinking of abandoning my goal to get out and work in HR or learning and development. I don’t know what else to do, though, as everything is so saturated with applicants and I’m not cut out for the trendy jobs like nursing (I’m fine working in healthcare but want to be behind the scenes and not deal with patients) or skilled trades. And forget teaching K12 or something. I guess this is just it for me. 🤷‍♀️

Currently I'm a classified professional at CA Comm College. I do some advising and admissions work. My job pays well and my boss for the most part is chill and flexible. However, currently there is little to no opportunity to move up. Only option is to be faculty counselor but I don't have adjunct experience which sometimes feels required in order to get one of the full time roles.

I've seen Assistant Director or Director roles at the CSU's and UC's that catch my attention. However, many of those roles would require me to take significant pay bump. The trade off, I feel, would be that I'm taking on some more responsibility, building my resume and do work that I'm more interested in. I have a family and my paycheck is the main source of income which makes it hard to justify making the move. I'm feeling stuck in my role and fear that I'm losing out on experience to move up. I wanted to post on here to see if anyone has any input or advice. TIA!

I have found this often.

For some reason when meeting with admissions or counseling, it seems colleges these days offer general advice but don't want to tell students what they should major in or what classes to register in based on their career aspirations.

Almost like they do not want to be held accountable if it doesn't work out. You don't know how many times I've heard... "I wish someone had told me to pick this major and now I want to switch".

Even though college students are now technically adults, I feel they shouldn't be left to themselves to make decisions. With the cost of tuition these days, college admissions should be more able to help students and tell them it's a bad idea. My parents (love them) but were completely clueless about college.

I just get this general vibe that many admissions counselors are told not to speak their personal opinions to students. I've never been told by an admissions counselor or academic advisor "that is a bad idea" and wish I had.

It doesn't take a lot of work to research what degrees are more likely to make you succeed in the job market. Just something I've been curious about.

I’m currently a finalist for a fully remote Enrollment Advisor position and would love to hear about other people’s experiences in similar roles. Right now I work as an Academic Advisor at a university and am mostly in person aside from one remote day each week.

I’m really curious what a fully remote work environment actually feels like long term. My current remote day honestly doesn’t feel like “real” work because I don’t have appointments or meetings that day and mostly focus on projects. I know a fully remote role would obviously be different since all advising, communication, and collaboration would happen remotely. And it would still be a traditional 8-5 schedule (unfortunately), just fully remote.

I’m a pretty major introvert, so the idea of not having to leave the house every day (lol) honestly sounds really appealing, but I’d love to hear both the positives and negatives from people who’ve done it.

Another thing I’m struggling with is that the new position’s salary range is about 3k - 6k lower than what I currently make. I’ve already told myself I probably couldn’t accept it if the offer comes in at the bottom of the range, but the idea of fully remote work honestly does feel worth a small pay cut to me.

Part of why I’m looking is because my current work environment is pretty toxic, but I’m also nervous about leaving because I keep worrying that somewhere else could be even worse.

Hello! I work at one of the “New Ivies” universities as an Assistant Dean of Students. I really like my job but can’t help feeling like my salary is not a competitive salary at $64,000.

Do you all agree with me? If so, what can I do to make a more competitive salary? Any help and advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

I'll try to keep this as short as possible, but any advice or next steps would be greatly appreciated. My relationship with my supervisor has gotten to the point that I feel overwhelming frustration and sadness everyday. I'm just over a year in my role and started straight after my grad program, so I'm not sure if this is normal or something worth discussing, but I'll speak solely from my perspective:

• I am CONSISTENTLY disregarded, contradicted, or interrupted by my supervisor in almost every meeting we've attended together. Like straight up mid-sentence, in front of people, publicly. To the point that others have noticed and tried to steer the convo back.
• My supervisor has on COUNTLESS occasions put me in uncomfortable positions due to their lack of preparation or punctuality. I've been asked to lead meetings with less than 10 minutes notice due to their tardiness more times that I can count. I've been asked to prepare materials that they forgot about with less than a day's notice. I've shown up to incorrect locations or times of events because of their error in messages, calendar invites, etc. I've been asked to last-minute lead meetings that I wasn't even on communications about.
• I am regularly left OFF email chains or other communications that directly affect my ability to fulfill my role. Like, I was even removed by them from chains I was ALREADY ON because it was "at a higher level now", only to find out that they missed important deadlines that we wouldn't have missed had I stayed on the chain.
• When we have scheduled meetings or 1:1s that I clear my schedule for, I spend a grand majority of the time (15-30 minutes minimum) sitting there waiting for them to be ready to begin. Usually they are sidetracked or distracted with emails and won't even acknowledge my presence. These meetings, of course, then go over time and cause me to be late to other meetings.
• I am perpetually trying to do damage control for their erratic decisions that are made with no warning or forward-thinking. Like, adding prospective staff members (that I supervise) to random listservs and work files before they are even hired. Emailing people on my behalf (who directed their email towards me) instead of allowing me to respond. Spending money we don't have and not having any form of budget tracking. I could go on and on.
• If I begin to advocate for myself, I am met with defensiveness and questioning. There was one time I asked to be added back to an email chain that directly affected my work that they took me off of, and I was met with a two paragraph message that questioned why I needed to be on it and if I was doubting their ability to relay information to me.
• ^To that point, they are constantly telling me about things after the fact, when it is far too late to weigh in. We sent things off to print that had typos and errors in it, printed 500 copies, and I was only told once they were already in production: "oh btw I sent these to print...."
• They constantly change the work I produce solely for the point of making changes without any reason to back it up. Like.... adding things to design work, taking things away, etc. The kicker is, I have a graphic design background. The work they change is usually sent back for revision and ultimately revised to my original version.
• I have never, not once, had a meeting by myself without them present (unless they're late). For some reason, they constantly request to be added to any meetings I schedule without them. For the record, I am not on any type of performance plan and have never had a conversation about anything that would cause them to feel like they couldn't trust me.

I'm so sorry this is a lot, but this relationship is making me the most miserable I could be. I have always been the type of person to learn quickly and push through, even during moments of conflict or challenge. This goes beyond that and I keep finding myself during the points above just shrugging and deciding it's not worth the fight anymore. It has torn me down. Managing up isn't really an option, and their supervisor is kind of disengaged as well.

If you read all of this, thank you. Open to any advice or feedback given.

This may have been posted somewhere on here before, but I think Ive hit a breaking point after a meeting I had today. Are any other institutions leadership really pushing you to use AI? I’m having a really hard time with it at my university (I work in career services) to the point where our work is being centered around it now and I feel like we are missing the plot and purpose of what we are there to do. It’s so normalized and if someone else says “it’s the future, we have to accept it” that’s not what I’m looking for right now.

I’m feeling hopeless and just wondering what other student affairs professionals have to say, solutions to navigating this with complex feelings or how your university is going about using it. Sorry for the soapbox. 🥺

Well I did it. I graduated. I went to school full time, did three semester long practicums, 20 hours a week GA position, heck I had my first baby and still finished on time.

Everything I did, the moments I missed with my new born, the stress of finding halfway decent child care, the essays I wrote, interviews I conducted, none of it feels worth it.

I’ve applied to 22 jobs, leading to one phone interview that left me with so many red flags. I’ve followed up at 8 places which no response. I’ve heard back from two places saying they closed the position without hiring anyone.

Was any of it worth it?

Hi everyone,

I've been working in a student facing role in higher education for the past decade or so. In the past year my mental health has been declining and I find myself majorly struggling to do my work, help my students, or even play nice with my annoying colleagues.

I have done research on burnout and I feel like I am a textbook case. Luckily my university has a very generous leave policy - up to 26 weeks at 100% salary. I don't think I would need that much time (I was thinking just the entire summer off). I do think I could get my doctor and therapist to sign off on this and get everything approved my HR.

My concern is more in the long term and consequences for my career. I have heard of people getting let go when coming back from leave and I have no doubt taking several months off would be disruptive to my department.

People in my office have taken leave but it's mostly been for having children or surgeries. I realize I don't have to disclose anything but as a (mostly) healthy young childfree woman, I think it will be pretty obvious.

I don't really know if this would even help but I am SO desperate for a break. I feel like I can't make any healthy decisions for my future from the place I'm in now.

If anyone can share their experiences with taking FMLA for mental health reasons and going back to work, I would really appreciate it!

Hi! I just graduated from my college over the weekend and applied there for an Academic Advisor position during the week. To my surprise, I got a call back fairly quickly! I have an interview scheduled for next week.

This is all so new to me, I have never worked a demanding job like this, let alone a full time job. I have done tutoring before and worked with students throughout my undergrad years, but not at this level. I would say I’m a fast learner and pretty organized, and I know what the advising system looks like at my school and how to navigate around it.

Any advice or tips for this position? I am so nervous to be interviewed (luckily it’s a Zoom meeting, so that eases my nerves a bit, but still anxious)!

Just wanted to tell you, congratulations!!! I'm graduating this week and we are almost done! I know it's a weird time to be in higher education. The job market sucks, AI is a can of worms, and some people are leaving the field. But we still accomplished a big goal, finishing a master's degree. Even if everything's not perfect, that's something worth celebrating! 🥲

hi everyone!! i have an interview coming up next week for assistant director of student engagement, i am BEYOND excited and truly believe this opportunity will open up so many doors for me. i am currently a student life coordinator with almost 5 years of experience working with clubs, campus events, orientation, commencement, and marketing. this role will help me grow more in my field and help me continue do what i believe i do best.

does anyone have any inkling on the type of questions they may ask or things i should make sure to touch on in the interview? im freshening up on knowledge about the campus, the job description, and anything else i may need to know. i know i am more than capable to do this job and this would be an amazing opportunity for me, i want to be the most prepared i can be! thank you so much in advance! 😊

Hi!
I graduated this May with my Masters in Higher Education. I have applied to many jobs but am having no luck. I have had several 1st and 2nd round interviews, but end up being unsuccessful. I’m starting to considering transitioning outside of just higher education at this point as I only have a limited time before my current role is done. (Wanting to work in South East area). Would love advice for those in similar situations.
Current am I graduate assistant and have 2 years experience with facility operations.

I’ve been working as an academic advisor for over 2 years and I was taught that we only meet with current students and if there’s an formal students or perspective students, we send them to transfer advising since we do not analyze transcripts.

Today, I had a student email me all their transcripts and wanted me to tell me what classes will they have left if they returned to the university. The transcript included out of state and some military universities (like institutions for active military members). I told them that we only meet with current students and provided the information on who to contact.

Apparently I was wrong and I was supposed to advise them? I do not understand how I could possibly look at an out of state transcript and analyze it and email advise them (something we aren’t allowed to do).

I told my supervisor that I didn’t feel comfortable having to analyze a transcript and provide advising when the student hasn’t taken classes here for more than 10 years now. She said okay and that the student can contact the department I said.

If the student hasn’t take any other college classes and wanted a general idea, then I might’ve been inclined to provide advising, but I don’t believe I get paid enough to analyze transcripts.

Now I feel like I’m in the wrong and this will negatively impact me.