A Look Back at the 2017 WCET Member Job Posts

WCET Job Postings are a compilation of member higher education job posts, emailed directly to our WCET membership and also posted to the WCET website. Rosa Calabrese, the WCET Manager of Digital and Project Support Services shares the job posts weekly via the WCETNews email list. Over the last year, Rosa observed several items of interest regarding the job post submissions she received.

Today we welcome Rosa to discuss her observations of 2017 job posts in higher education AND announce two new features of the WCET job posts that I know you will like.

Enjoy the read and enjoy your day,

~Lindsey Downs, WCET

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If there is any particularly interesting take away I have from reviewing all the job posts that WCET received for our member job distribution in 2017, it’s that Instructional Designers are in high demand right now! While this isn’t particularly shocking (I think most of us have noticed that as higher ed courses become more digital, they also require more skilled professionals who understand how to translate previously offline content into an online environment), my inner sociology enthusiast is nonetheless excited to be able to witness the ways in which higher ed is changing based solely on career openings.

But a substantial need for Instructional Designers is only one of many observations that I have made in looking back at the 2017-member job posts.

What Jobs Does WCET Post?

As a reminder to anyone who could use a refresher or is unfamiliar with the WCET member job posts, these are position openings at member institutions sent directly to me weekly, which we call attention to at the end of each week. Only WCET members can submit posts and only for positions at WCET member institutions or organizations.

Every Friday afternoon, I compile a list of all the positions that I received during the week and send them to our members on the members-only WCETnews email list along with weekly announcements (did you know member institutions have unlimited subscriptions to the WCET email lists? Learn more). I then add the positions to our website on the Member Job Post page, where each position stays available for two weeks. Submissions need to follow certain guidelines and each organization/institution can submit up to five positions per week.

Much Diversity in Geography, Positions, and Institution Types

In 2017, WCET received 270-member job posts, which came from 40 states plus Washington DC. On the map below, you can see the approximate number of job posts that we received from each state.

I also categorized all 2017 job posts (to the best of my ability) by subject matter. Of those 270 positions, 81 positions were for instructional designers or instructional technologists, the largest specific category. Other common categories I found were technical positions (17), financial positions (12), marketing positions (10), professor/teaching positions (9), accessible design positions (6), and state authorization/compliance positions (6).

However, there were about 85 positions that I broadly categorized as administration positions. Many of these positions had unspecific names such as Project Manager or Program Director, or if they did have specific topics, they mentioned things such as advising, faculty, and admissions. I placed a further 36 positions into the slightly more specific category of eLearning administration, which were similar positions as the previous category, but with an emphasis on distance education, educational technology, and online learning. Lastly, 8 positions escaped categorization by my measures.

I was pleased to see that we received quite a few high-level positions. We received job posts for 20 Managers, 29 Directors, three Executive Directors, three Chief Information Officers, one Vice Dean, seven Deans, three Vice Provosts, one Provost, and one President.

Additionally, the job posts that we received in 2017 were from many different types of institutions. We received positions from 2-year institutions, 4-year institutions, state/system higher ed offices, non-profits, for-profits, and corporations. I think that our 2017 job posts were pretty well rounded and could fit the needs of just about anyone looking for a job in higher education.

New Features of WCET Job Posts

Finally, I’m excited to unveil two new features of the WCET job posts. First, we have decided to begin allowing members to send us Adjunct Pools to be posted with our other positions, with a few conditions. Each Adjunct Pool can only be posted once every six months so as not to overwhelm the rest of our list with reposts. Additionally, institutions must resend positions themselves after six months as we will not repost unless we are asked during the week leading up to the post.

Secondly, starting today, we will now archive all positions from the past two years on the WCET website. This new Member Job Post Archive page (which can be found linked at the bottom of the main Member Job Post page) will primarily serve as a reference point for the creation of your future job posts. For example, if you are looking to hire, say, a Course Developer at your institution, you can refer to our archives to read the job descriptions and minimum qualifications for that type of position advertised at other institutions. All future job posts displayed on the WCET website will continue to be available in the archives moving forward.

So what are you waiting for? Share a job opening at your institution with us! And make sure you share our weekly posts with an aspiring job hunter you know. Happy job hunting!

 

Rosa Calabrese
Manager, Digital and Project Support Services
WCET – WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies

 

 

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