And Carrie On

Higher Education is my second career. I started my career in journalism, and quickly realized I didn’t fit into the news space.

I couldn’t fully articulate it at the time, but it just wasn’t a great fit. I was looking for more. Like so many, I fell into higher education. I finished a master’s degree, and the local university was hiring someone to take the lead in the social media space.

I had a strong writing background, and I was young enough to have a social media account, so I got the nod. As I reflect back on that time, I find myself incredibly grateful for happening upon a role in our industry and profession.

While higher education absolutely has its challenges, it also has four things I am incredibly thankful for. As we are in a season of being thankful, I want to take a moment to highlight some of the things I think are so special about our industry.

Four Things I Love About Higher Education

Community

The higher education community is like no other. I’ve been in multiple situations and others who have more experience have been willing to share their plans, strategies, approaches, and even contacts. Coming from a tv news world, being able to collaborate was never something I had the privilege to experience. In higher education, it’s the exact opposite. Everyone is willing to share their experiences. Sometimes I’m learning from a colleague, and the next minute, I’m teaching someone something I’ve done. I love that we can all be teachers and students at the same time.

Sense of Urgency

Coming from a television background, the pace in higher education is certainly different. Sometimes I wished things moved faster, but I also appreciate that we have the chance to review something and get it right the first time. It isn’t like the news world where there’s pressure to meet the evening news deadline, every single day. I like being able to shop around for the right vendor, discuss a strategy deeply, or get feedback on a plan from someone. These pauses help me to get trust my instinct and make sure I’m making the right decisions. When urgency takes over, often, those pulse check moments disappear in favor of getting the task complete.

Scrappy Approach

Higher education doesn’t have the large marketing budgets that corporate does. Personally, I like that because it’s really fun to find creative ways to achieve something. I remember once looking at changing a printed piece by .25 of an inch and seeing a $10,000 price difference in savings. When you have to be a little scrappy, I think it generates a creative approach that can pay dividends in lots of other ways. Higher education isn’t a career where you always have to buy the service to do the work, and there’s something fun in figuring out a way to work smarter, to stretch resources, or to automate something to save time.

Career-Focused

Because of our education focus, higher education as an industry is much more focused on career longevity. With benefits such as tuition assistance and access to speakers, life-long learning and growing is possible (and encouraged). In many other professions, growing outside of your traditional skill set isn’t appreciated. However, higher education regularly offers opportunities to learn news skills and find ways to grow as a person and a professional. I believe it’s one of the reasons so many people fall into the career and end up staying for dozens of years.

What Are You Thankful For?

What in our industry is incredibly special to you? As we consider how our profession continues to grow and change I’m curious what you’re thankful for that this profession and industry has given to you.