I am an experienced corporate executive that has past experience as an adjunct in undergraduate and graduate courses. As a new mother who has taken time off, I would like to work as an online adjunct only---without the day job. Can I get hired on the strength of past experience, or will they require that I have a full-time job now?
To my knowledge there is no general requirement that you be employed full-time (or even part-time) in order to be an adjunct. You situation (stay at home Mom) is so comonplace that I can't imagine even an eyebrow being raised. To my way of thinking, you might actually be a superior candidate as you might have more time to devote to the job than the person working full-time.
Most schools won't bother to check employment status. Most schools only require transcripts and references for employment. Some schools like UoP, only check that your Master's degree is dated at least two years before your first gig. This means that you might have finished your MBA and worked two years as a car salesman and then get the gig. I wouldn't worry much about the fact that you are taking time off. As a matter of fact, this is a plus as they know that you will be more reliable for gigs as you have the time flexibility.
Slight correction... Jazzy, RFValve has good points but several colleges/unis that I know DO require that you be working in the field in which you will teach. University of Phoenix is really strict on this and that applies to faculty as long as they continue to teach there. Several others do require current employment: Regis University, CityU (Seattle) are among them, off the top of my head. The rationale is that they want actual "practitioners" and they advertise that fact. Most other places don't care. If you want to, you could start a consulting business and put that on your resume. Many instructors combine consulting with teaching and no-one is going to ask for your 1040 Tax Return to prove consulting income. I think combining online teaching and being a SAHM would be a great gig. Good luck.
Well, that is what they claim but in practice they have quite of few adjuncts that make a living as full time online adjuncts there. I know few that only teach at the UoP for a living. As you say, all you have to do is claim that you are self employed as a consultant. Some get real estate licenses to show a "practicioner" resume. Getting a real estate license is not that hard and shows that you are a business professional. You will be surprised the amount of real estate agents that work as full time adjuncts.
That may be true once they're hired but I don't know that I'd want to test it(personally) during the pre-employment vetting stage. It is also different, I believe, if you are a full-time employee with development/chair responsibilities, so maybe that's what your friends are doing. For Jazzy, I guess you can make up your own mind based on this input.
I was once called in for an interview for an adjuncting position in history at Terra Community College in Fremont OH while unemployed. I'm guessing that they wouldn't have called me in for the interview if they had had a policy of not hiring unemployed individuals. So, it's possible.
