Student Affairs “Adjacent” Careers
Student Affairs “Adjacent” Careers
Student Affairs “Adjacent” Careers
Student affairs can be a very tough, unforgiving, and challenging career. There are so many functional areas of the field. They include student activities, residential life, academic advising, orientation, opportunity programs, and admissions just to name a few.
Searching for work in student affairs can be even MORE challenging than just working in the field. Covid-19 made it so that this normally difficult process has been thrown into over drive. Now more than ever, student affairs professionals are clamoring for new opportunities and roles that they can that utilizes their knowledge, background, skills, abilities, experience, and education.
But what are those roles? How do student affairs professionals apply for them given the current landscape of higher education? What should you do if those roles are completely outside of higher education?
This article will review reasons to look for jobs outside of student affairs. It covers transitioning outside of the field of higher education. The article includes how to look for work outside of traditional academic circles. Specific steps for bridging the gap and making this transition are outlined. Transferable skills that student affairs professionals already have as well as the power of networking are discussed in detail. Finally, student affairs alternative job roles, titles, and options are provided.
Reasons to transition out of the field
Working in student affairs for me was a homecoming of sorts. I always loved my time in college and after I graduated I searched for a way to keep that feeling around forever. I found that outlet in student affairs work. However, many professionals are out of work and are going through fruitless searches. They may WANT to stay in the field; but the economy and the availability of positions right now doesn’t support that desire.
That reality is unfortunately reflected in many of student affairs hiring practices with high attrition among entry level professionals. This is unfortunate as within 5 years between 50%-60% of professionals that you entered the field with will no longer be working in student affairs.
New professionals that join the ranks often remain in their first position for the first few years of their career. This is easier said than done for some professionals. That’s because salary for student affairs professionals often doesn’t balance out against the cost of earning the credentials to work in the field. Often the same work that student affairs professionals are doing right now could be done for a company or corporation at a much higher salary.
If you were like me, then you stuck it out in the field for as long as you gained value from it. I enjoyed working with students; creating programs; and challenging and supporting undergraduates to attain their own dreams. However, for other professionals they only stay within the field for a certain amount of time before deciding to call it quits.
What I want to make abundantly clear is that deciding to work outside of higher education does not represent a personal failing. Sometimes you will need to review your career and personal goals and decide that the place you want to go next is not in student affairs. Your next position may not even be in higher education.
Sometimes you are in a position to make that decision for yourself. Sometimes the field makes that decision for you. No matter how you’ve come to your decision to look for work outside of higher education and student affairs, know that your new interests and passions are part of your growth as a person and an individual.
We are not monolithic. We are human. We grow and change over time. Your career should grow and change WITH you. You shouldn’t be a prisoner to your own degree.
Looking for work outside of higher education
Student affair professionals (like our faculty counterparts) often go through the job search process with blinders on. We know that we want to work in residential life. Or that we want to work in campus ministry or volunteer services. So we bind ourselves to a narrow job market. Instead, we should open up our horizons to focus on what we WANT to do and what we ENJOY doing.
Because of this, I recommend job seekers have goals in mind for what they want to get out of the next step in their careers. Do they want to earn another degree? Do you want to live near family? Do they want to help people learn?
We often don’t ask these questions of ourselves in our job search. Often they are glossed over. But they are incredibly important. Not only for finding work that is meaningful. But for finding work that will help us survive AS WELL AS thrive as professionals.
In addition, it’s also important to note that the search process within higher education is different from search processes outside of higher education. Higher education can be slow to hire - often taking over 110 days from posting to offer letter. This means that job seekers need to be nimble; open; and flexible when conducting their job search outside of higher education.
Deciding to leave higher education can be a difficult and challenging choice to make. But you should make it YOUR choice. This should be a choice that you’re willing to embrace despite the realities of the market, economy, and demand of professionals. By doing this you take the first step in actively reclaiming your career.
Your next position shouldn’t be work that you SHOULD be doing. But it should be work that you CAN and WANT to do.
Bridging the gap
Making the career change over to something outside of higher education can be scary. But with some insight, dedication, and focus you can prepare and empower yourself to make the switch.
One thing to consider is that hiring managers need to be convinced that the skills and experience you’ve developed working in the field can be applied outside of higher education. That means making the argument for your Transferable skills sets; knowledge; experience; and abilities outside of roles traditionally sought after by student affairs job seekers.
Of course there are technical skills, communication skills, critical thinking, and project management that can be bought over from your student affairs career into your next role. But, what hiring managers are looking for is the bridge. This is the connection between what you’ve done in the past and what you can do now.
This is often reflected in your application documents such as your resume and cover letter. Having those prepared ahead of time will help you. But you also need to take into account the kinds of oral arguments that you’ll make to your hiring manager. Those include HOW working in residential life prepared you to manage conflict and WHAT you’ve learned through advising opportunity program students. Those are the types of connections that hiring managers will look for.
Perhaps the most important thing to consider when bridging the gap between your student affairs career and what comes after is WHY you’re making the move. Some choose to make the move because they want to earn more money. Perhaps they want to work more normal hours. Perhaps they are just tired of the opportunities that the field can offer them.
No matter what the reason, it’s important to consider how leaving the field will help you move TOWARDS something that you want (i.e. a better work life balance) versus AWAY from something that you’re trying to avoid.
There are many reasons to leave the field and almost as many reasons to stay. But in order to leave you’ll need to first determine what you are looking for in order to prepare yourself for the transition out of student affairs.
Steps towards making the transition
There are many ways that you can approach making this transition outside of higher education and the field. If you are currently looking for work and are unemployed then you can start by reviewing the job titles and descriptions for roles that you could fulfill (more on that later in this article). Otherwise, if you’re currently working in the field, then one of the first steps to take is how you might address your transition with your supervisor.
Professionals’ relationships with their supervisors can be dicey. Searching for work in the field with your supervisor can also be incredibly difficult to navigate. This is even more challenging when you’re considering leaving it all together. If you are fortunate enough to have a good relationship with your supervisor, then you can confide in them in order to take these next steps in your career.
After you’ve decided how to handle this with your supervisor, you can determine what you can do with your background and experience outside of academia. These will often relate directly to your Transferable skills and how you can use them in student affairs adjacent positions.
You might think that it’s best to downplay your higher education background. However, it’s important to market and promote yourself as a professional who has knowledge and skills that can be applied in other areas. You’ve just spent some time applying them in one industry (education). Now let’s work on applying what you’ve learned here to places outside of the academy.
Making the argument for how your past background and experiences influence what you can do in other industries and positions is paramount. That is the kind of mental argument that hiring managers are trying to make when considering you for a role. Don’t make this part of the process harder for yourself than it already is. If you see a role that requires some of the transferable skills that you already have then apply for it. This selectivity will set you up best for success throughout this process.
Lastly it’s important to consider the organization you’ll go to next in your job search. It won’t be in student affairs or higher education. But it should be to a place where you want to be and doing what you want to do. This is perhaps the most challenging part of the process. Most student affairs professionals I know want to work in the field to work with students. If they don’t get to work with students, then what’s the point?
Discovering what you like MOST about working with students and then translating that desire into other areas will help you choose what you want to do and be part of. Sometimes that means focusing on organizations that value their employees’ personal development. Other times it could mean looking for work with organizations with humanitarian missions. No matter what, you should concentrate on finding organizations, people, and positions which cater to what you’re ultimately looking for.
Transferable Skills
Perhaps one of the biggest factors of being able to leave the field is the type and experience of student affairs professionals’ Transferable skills. Often these come from professionals working as generalists in different functional areas. All areas provide professionals with base level skills.
What’s more challenging is the ability to articulate how these Transferable skills make you relevant and competitive for other positions outside of higher education. Some of the most relevant Transferable skills include communication. This specifically includes the ability to communicate information, processes, and intentions to others in order for them to take action. This also includes communicating across different modalities such as in-person, email, video conferencing, phone and text. Working in admissions often addresses the wide needs of communicating to others via these different mediums.
Additionally, most student affairs professionals find themselves in sort of direct or indirect educational role. The ability to communicate, relate, and assist others educationally is an important transferable skills that can help you transit the field. Not only as an educator in a different field like learning & development but also as an organizational leader.
Networking
Student affairs professionals also can’t underestimate the importance of networking in order to find and capitalize on new positions and openings in other fields and industries. Networking is often overlooked for its importance; but it’s critical in order to make sure that you get yourself in front of the right people with opportunities that could benefit you.
One of the best ways to do this is to setup an informational interview with other student affairs professional who have successfully made the transition out of the field. They can help provide you with a wealth of information including their past experiences; Transferable skills; and advice to offer you in making your own transition.
Informational interviews also provide the real benefit of taking advantage of “back-channel” hiring where new positions and openings are referred to candidates before they are even made public. Informational interviews aid you by getting in front of key hiring managers who can help you make the transition.
Student affairs alternative job titles
Knowing what Transferable skills make you competitive in addition to informational interviews can help set yourself up for a transfer out of the field. However, some of the best advice can be gotten by looking at actual positions out there that require skill sets from student affairs professionals.
Often these titles include Learning Community Manager. Here, student affairs professionals could use their background and experience in administration and advising to help student succeed in an educational program.
Likewise roles like Course Support Representative require the advising skills of student affairs professionals to provide support to students on a more individual basis. This ties in closely with Relationship Manager that combines some of the aspects of course and academic support with how students engage with a learning management system.
Roles like Learner Advocate and Student Advisor also require the same skills that student affairs professionals call on a regular basis. Professionals in both roles are required to support and advocate on behalf of students throughout their learning journey.
Roles like Student Development Specialist and Enrollment Services Manager also work with students closely in their relationship with an organization or learning platform. In both positions, student affairs professionals must apply their advising and support skills through cogent communication and actionable advice.
Student affairs adjacent job titles from the Job Hakr
In reviewing job postings from The Student Affairs Job Search by the Job Hakr, I’ve come across multiple areas that demand the skills of student affairs professionals outside of academia. The most common titles that I’ve seen and reviewed include:
-Academic Coach
-Academic Coordinator
-Academic Interventionist
-Academic Program Coordinator
-Admissions Manager
-Admissions Representative
-College Application Counselor
-Director of Training
-Director of Leadership Development
-Education & Training Manager
-Education Coordinator
-Education Specialist
-Learning Coordinator
-Online Education Associate
-Student Success Associate
-Student Success Manager
-Student Support Specialist
-Training & Development Specialist
-Tutor
Expatriates of Student Affairs
In anticipation of writing this article I also solicited the help of some colleagues over at the Expatriates of Student Affairs Facebook Group. The group’s description includes: “Have you left Student Affairs? Are you thinking about it and don't know where [sic] to start or what to do? Share resources and feelings on leaving Student Affairs.”
In an anonymous survey I asked three questions of group members:
-What functional area did you LEAVE in student affairs?
-What industry / field do you work in NOW after leaving student affairs?
-What was your TOP transferable skill that helped you attain this new position?
Twenty-nine (n=29) group members provided anonymous responses to the survey which was open for 5 days.
Representative functional areas of respondents was diverse with professionals leaving student affairs roles in student activities; financial aid; career services; residential life; new student programs; cultural centers; career services; assessment; academic advising; leadership programs; admissions; Greek life; and campus events.
Respondents indicated that they were working in a variety of different industries now. Those industries included: educational technology; radio broadcasting; non-profit management; project management; K-12 education; property management; consulting; online learning; youth development; healthcare administration; law enforcement; human resources; event planning; marketing; and public outreach.
Finally, respondents shared their top Transferable skills that they relied on when working in their new field and industry. The top most cited skills included technology; communications; event planning; counseling; assessment; project management; budget management; data analytics; customer service; critical thinking; equity based practices; training & facilitation; research; and marketing.
Takeaways
This article reviewed reasons to look for jobs outside of student affairs. It covered transitioning outside of the field of higher education. The article included how to look for work outside of traditional academic circles. Specific steps for bridging the gap and making this transition were outlined. Transferable skills that student affairs professionals already have as well as the power of networking were discussed in detail. Finally, student affairs alternative job roles, titles, and options were provided.
I hope that you found this article useful! If you need some additional help on your student affairs job search, then check out the eBook The Student Affairs Job Search: A Comprehensive Guide available here.
Happy searching,
References
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Cite this Article
Eng, D. (2020, August 18). Student Affairs “Adjacent” Careers. Retrieved MONTH DATE, YEAR, from https://www.jobhakr.com/blog-1/2020/8/18/student-affairs-adjacent-careers
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