When colleges and universities hire new faculty, they have to consider not only their institutional goals but also the employment landscape around them. What are job seekers looking for in an academic position? What do potential faculty value? How can institutions position themselves as employers of choice to a changing workforce?
The Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC) is a nonprofit coalition of more than 500 colleges and universities working to diversify the academic workforce. The organization conducts an annual job seeker survey to gain insight from current and potential employees in higher education and identify how institutions can better attract, select, and retain staff and faculty.
Results from the 2024 survey highlighted key issues that higher education employees are concerned about today, including pathways for career advancement, flexible and remote work, and an inclusive, thriving workplace culture. While some findings may not surprise college and university leaders, others bring new and critical insights that will inform institutions’ efforts to recruit, hire, and retain faculty. To further the conversation, HERC joined Interfolio for a session at the 2024 Interfolio Summit, exploring the survey results and considering how these insights could be applied to their faculty recruitment strategies.
Job Seekers Are Open to Opportunities Outside of Higher Education
HERC surveyed a diverse pool of respondents: Many are staff or faculty with more than 10 years of experience, while some are new to higher education. As Jessica Wise, co-executive director of programs at HERC, pointed out at the Interfolio Summit, “We no longer have the luxury of keeping people for life.” Higher education employees are open to finding jobs in other industries, so colleges and universities must have strategies in place to become employers of choice.
Of the job seekers surveyed, less than half (38%) said they were looking for career changes within higher education alone. Fifty percent said they were looking for jobs in many industries—including higher ed—while just 9% said they were ready to leave the field.
What Job Seekers Are Looking for in New Roles
More than three in four survey respondents (77%) cited compensation and benefits as the most important element in their job search. Other important factors included:
Work-Life Balance
More than half of respondents (54%) said a healthy work-life balance was important to them. For many respondents, this balance included flexibility, including the ability to work remotely. Women were more likely to value flexible work options (61%) than men (43%).
Similarly, respondents who reported having a disability were more likely to say they were looking for fully remote employment options (28%), compared to respondents with no reported disability (22%).
Workplace Culture
Job seekers in higher education are looking for positions where they will feel connected and valued at work. More than one-third (35%) of respondents cited team dynamics and culture as a top reason to find another job.
When asked how important it was for their institution or employer to share their values when it came to national politics and current events, 40% of respondents said it was very important, and 19% said it was extremely important. The majority of job seekers also said that a potential employer’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policies were important to them (86% of minority/underrepresented respondents and 74% of white respondents).
Professional Development
About one-third of job seekers (34%) cited professional development as a top reason for seeking new employment. While most job seekers (51%) say the opportunity to advance their career is very important to their employment decisions, few believe they will find that advancement in their current positions: 70% of survey respondents said they would look somewhere new, and not at their current institutions, for opportunities with more upward mobility.
How Institutions Can Attract and Retain Talented Faculty
Disaggregated data in the HERC job seeker survey provides an important reminder that the higher ed workforce is not a monolith. “We can’t just look at the numbers overall,” Wise pointed out. “We really need to think about the demographics we’re trying to reach.”
It’s more important than ever for faculty hiring committees to respond to the needs and priorities of a diverse and changing workforce—not just to deliver on institutional goals, but to make sure they can recruit, hire, and retain top academic talent.
This is where tools like Interfolio Faculty Search can make a significant impact on faculty hiring strategies. When institutions understand the diverse needs of their current and potential employees, they can implement more efficient, equitable, and successful practices.
Faculty Search is an all-in-one platform that supports institutions throughout the faculty recruitment process, from job boards to committee review. In a hiring landscape where, according to a recent HERC poll, 77% of academic job seekers find the application process for higher education positions more difficult than other industries, the added ease and transparency of Faculty Search not only saves time for faculty hiring committees but can also attract more talent.
With the support of robust data to inform decision-making, Faculty Search can also empower institutions to:
- Recruit new colleagues strategically and effectively
- Manage faculty recruitment, recommendations, and reporting easily and fairly
- Deliver on academic diversity and inclusion efforts
Ready to streamline your faculty recruitment process and position your institution as an employer of choice? Learn more about Faculty Search here or request a demo.