Considering a Career in Higher Education? Start Here

Note: This is Part 1 of a 2-part series.

Higher education careers can offer meaningful work, strong workplace values, and long-term opportunity. They also require applicants to ask clear questions about workload, growth, flexibility, and institutional stability.

Higher education can be hard to understand from the outside.

People often know the most visible parts: faculty, students, classrooms, research, athletics, admissions, libraries, and campus life. But higher education is also a large and complex employment sector with roles in human resources, finance, technology, student support, communications, facilities, compliance, advancement, academic administration, advising, research operations, and many other areas.

That means “working in higher ed” can look very different depending on the institution, role, department, supervisor, and career stage.

HERC’s 2026 Higher Education Workforce Survey offers a useful starting point for anyone considering the field. The survey included 810 respondents after cleaning, including current higher education employees, people who previously worked in higher education, and people considering or searching across sectors. Among respondents currently working in higher education, the verified base was 484 employees.

The picture that emerges is not simple, and that is what makes it useful. Higher education is not a perfect workplace, and job seekers should not be asked to ignore concerns about workload, career growth, compensation, or uncertainty. At the same time, the survey shows why many people keep choosing this work: mission, culture, benefits, flexibility, supportive leadership, and the chance to do work that feels connected to something larger.

Start with the good news: many employees are satisfied

Among currently employed respondents, 70% said they were satisfied or somewhat satisfied in their current role.

That matters because the story of higher education work is often told through stress, burnout, budget pressure, or uncertainty. Those realities are present, but they are not the whole story. Many people working in and around higher education are still reporting positive experiences in their current roles.

For someone considering a higher education career, this distinction matters. Satisfaction does not mean every part of the job is easy. It does suggest that many people are finding value in the work, their teams, their institutions, or the stability and purpose their roles provide.

A useful way to approach your search is not to ask, “Is higher education a good place to work?” A better question is, “What kind of higher education workplace, role, and supervisor would help me do good work and build a sustainable career?”

Mission matters, but it should not be the only thing you evaluate

Higher education often attracts people who care about students, learning, research, public service, access, community, or institutional mission. That matters. Meaningful work is a real strength of the sector.

But mission alone is not enough information to make a career decision.

In the survey, job seekers placed very high importance on workplace fundamentals. Among respondents evaluating jobs, 76% said a supportive supervisor or leadership was very important, 76% said healthy workplace culture was very important, 63% said work that aligns with personal values was very important, and 59% said work-life satisfaction was very important.

Benefits also mattered. 71% rated healthcare benefits very important, and 63% rated retirement or pension contributions very important.

That combination is worth paying attention to. People are not choosing between purpose and practical needs. They are looking for both.

When you evaluate a higher education job, listen for how the institution talks about mission, but also look for how that mission is supported day to day. Ask about staffing, supervisor expectations, onboarding, professional development, advancement, flexibility, and how teams handle busy periods.

Mission can make work meaningful. Structure helps make it sustainable.

Workload is a real factor, so ask about it directly

One of the clearest findings in the survey is that workload deserves serious attention. Among higher education employees included in the Workload Strain Index, 50% fell into the Rising or Critical strain categories. Only 9% were in the Stable category, while 41% were Moderate, 38% were Rising, and 13% were Critical.

This does not mean every higher education job is unsustainable. It does mean workload should be part of your evaluation process, not something you discover after accepting an offer.

During interviews, ask questions such as:

• “What does a busy season look like in this role?”
• “How is work prioritized when everything cannot be done at once?”
• “How are vacancies, leaves, or staffing gaps handled?”
• “What support does the team have when workload increases?”
• “What would success look like in the first six months?”

The goal is not to avoid every demanding role. Many meaningful jobs have demanding periods. The goal is to understand whether the workload is managed intentionally, whether expectations are clear, and whether the institution has a realistic view of the work.

A strong answer will usually include specifics. A vague answer, or one that treats overextension as normal, is worth noticing.

Career growth may require planning, not assumptions

Higher education careers can be long and meaningful, but advancement does not always happen automatically. Some institutions have clear career ladders. Others have flatter structures, specialized roles, or advancement paths that require moving across departments or institutions.

In the survey, career advancement opportunities were highly valued by job seekers: 43% rated advancement opportunities within the organization as very important, and another 37% rated them somewhat important.

That means career growth is not a side issue. It is part of how people evaluate whether higher education can support their future.

If you are early in your higher education career, ask how people in similar roles have grown. If you are changing institutions, ask whether advancement usually happens within the department, across the institution, or through external moves. If you are entering from another sector, ask how your prior experience will be recognized and what skills you may need to build to move forward.

Good interview questions include:

• “What are common next steps for someone in this role?”
• “How does the institution support professional development?”
• “Are there examples of people growing from this role into other opportunities?”
• “How are internal candidates considered for openings?”

You are not asking the employer to promise a promotion. You are asking whether the environment gives you enough information to plan.

Meaningful work, supportive leadership, and opportunities for growth can make higher education an appealing career path. But finding the right opportunity requires looking beyond the job description. In Part 2, we’ll explore what job seekers should look for when evaluating potential employers, from salary transparency and workplace culture to institutional stability.

Check out Top Articles on HERC Jobs.

About the Author: Jennifer O’Neill is the director of programs and research for the Higher Education Recruitment Consortium. Her background includes multiple roles in higher education, including departmental administration, academic advising, student services, community college governance, and faculty positions at both community colleges and universities. She is passionate about providing sociologically-informed, data-driven educational experiences in any context and enjoys providing others with the tools they need to be more effective in their roles.