Best way to get into adjuncting at local CC?

Discussion in 'Online & DL Teaching' started by dlady, Jan 26, 2009.

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  1. dlady

    dlady Active Member

    I've filled out the on-line employment form and sent all the stuff in. Other than doing nothing and waiting, is there a reasonable way to approach CC folks to open a dialog? Who would you contact, the Dean, the Chair, someone in HR?
     
  2. Vinipink

    Vinipink Accounting Monster

    If you know someone that works for the college,that can be some help. But community colleges, if they need you they will contact right away. I put my application and in less than a month I got contacted for an adjunct position but they needed me full time for one semester and then part-time. Several things that did not work for me, they wanted me to teach in several locations and no benefits, that required to leave my full-time job(sure thing and benefits).

    I was willing to do it part-time but there was never a meeting of the minds. So, I declined the position. However, in another county with another community college and even that I knew someone, never got called or even a letter of thanking me for applying. So, hang in there, it is possible that with the economy status, must places have a hiring freeze.
     
  3. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    >>

    In a CC, I wouldn't hesitate to contact the dept chair. At my cc, the chair does all the adjunct hiring- the dean isn't involved at all, and HR is only involved if the chair placed an ad or needs the service.
     
  4. dlady

    dlady Active Member

    Thanks, I'll ping the Chairs of the programs I'm interested in, good advice.

    I have another question, which is what is the hiring cycle for more traditional adjunct employment at schools with fall, spring, and summer sessions, does anyone know?
     
  5. cookderosa

    cookderosa Resident Chef

    >>

    That's hard to say. Our cc does staffing almost a full year in advance due to printing of the catalog. (??? yeah- lame excuse) However, if we don't have an instructor, we use the term "staff" in the slot- those can be open up until a few days shy of starting!
    So, if you wanted to snoop, here are a few unofficial things you could try.
    First, you could go into the dept. and look ahead at the fall schedule/catalog (if it's posted yet) and see if there are any unassigned classes. These would be hot hot hot and ready to be filled- even if a job posting has been made. Perhaps the chair has made arrangements to fill it, however, if they are using an adjunct that means that no full timer teaches it- in other words, it might be open NEXT time, so give them your name now.
    Second, cross check names within the department and count their credits. Full time teachers will teach at least 15 credits on the ground. So, if you see Jim Smith is teaching 18, he is full- the chair can't use him to fill in the "staff" class in a bind.
    On the other hand, if you see several names who are teaching only 3 or 6 credits, these people are potential teachers for other classes, but they are certainly adjunct and those classes may be open NEXT semester.
    Lastly, if you zero in on 1 or 2 classes that look open and you think you want to teach- simply call registration and ask who the instructor is for class 1234 section abc from x time to x time. If a teacher is slated, they will be happy to tell you his name. If no one is listed, then you should assume it is open!
     
  6. dlady

    dlady Active Member

    Top shelf advice, thanks, I will do exactly this..
     
  7. barik

    barik New Member

    The best way seems to be to already know someone who works at the Community College. That's how I accidentally ended up with my current position as an adjunct instructor. I also have a full-time job, so this is just something extra.
     
  8. me again

    me again Well-Known Member

    Why in the world would you want to work at a CC when they pay so dismally? In lieu of working for a CC, you could find another school and work with them for a minimum of three years, thus helping to develop your academic work history -- and then use it as a springboard for wherever you want to go. Many places require a minimum of three years teaching experience, so it would fill that particular block. Just an idea.

    I started off at a CC, so I guess it helped a little on the resume.
     
  9. dlady

    dlady Active Member

    Well, the problem I am facing is the exact one that comes with an online doctorate, and you yourself mention it. I am getting little interest because I don't have any teaching experience. Never mind all my work experience, the positions I have held, things I have done and so on, and never mind the credentials. I feel like a kid again, with the old how do you get experience without experience.... I would think a CC would offer the best chance, but believe me I wouldn't be looking for ideas if I was getting the call backs...
     
  10. dlady

    dlady Active Member

    Yes, this is known as the scholars value proposition: 100% accurate, but not overly helpful... :)
     
  11. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    Credentials are nice to have but the best way to land jobs at CCs is to have skills in areas in demand. A general DBA or MBA won't open many doors unless you have some credits and experience in some specific areas. Fields that are in demand at the CC level are technical courses (Web, programming, etc), accounting, marketing, finance and real estate just to mention a few. If you have a real estate, accounting or finance license such as CPA, CFP you might have good chances.
     
  12. dlady

    dlady Active Member

    I'm with you. I've been programming since I was 8 and have recently taken to PHP (my software development company is working on some breakthru type Web 2.0/food service stuff), plus I've been the CTO for a division or Marriott, not to mention several other hands-on and leadership positions in the industry. My challenge seems to be that I'm not even getting the chance to talk to anyone, I even pain Excelsior (they offer this to current students) to review my resume/CV from an adjunct standpoint and they said, with some small changes, that is was pretty good. They said one of the problems is that I may look 'to expensive', so what I'm working on doing now is toning it down some.

    Not the end of the world for sure, I'm sure if I keep trying and keep publishing (just had an article picked up in a good journal plus I'll be presenting at a conference) things will pick up.
     
  13. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    Your resume sounds good for an MBA lecturer or MIS adjunct position but it might be too high level for CC in my opinion. I have been teaching at the CC for many years in IT and they mainly look for vendor certifications rather than degrees. Most of the CC teachers that I know in IT don't even hold master's but tons of certifications such as CISCO, Microsoft, etc. I think it might be a good idea to get an MCT (Microsoft certified trainer) or CCAI (Certified Cisco Academy Instructor) certification if you want to do some CC work. However, with a resume like yours an adjunct position at an MBA program might be more effective. The MBA type is not an easy sell for CCs as they need teachers with a more hands on approach and CTOs might be just to high for the level of students they have.
     
  14. me again

    me again Well-Known Member

    Slave wages as an online adjunct

    I agree with you.

    When I started at CC, all they required was a Bachelors degree -- and I was invited by a friend who was in the loop to teach there. Thus, I got the job not based upon my qualifications (I had a Masters degree at that time), but based upon who I knew. :eek:

    Later, I started applying for online adjunct teaching jobs (with just a Masters degree). Surprisingly, I got no nibbles (at least it was surprising to me)!!! I had submitted so many online applications that I forgot to whom I applied.

    Eventually, I got a phone call for an online adjunct job -- and I treated the interviewer like she was the hen that lays golden eggs. I went through multiple interviews, each lasting anywhere from 40 to 90 minutes. It was intense. She wanted me, so I eventually got the job, but little did I know what I was getting into!!! :eek:

    The online school that I work for is very hard and it's time-intensive. The older adjuncts said that when they began, classes were about 25 students, but now we are up to 40+ students (not in all classes). You do the math: If you get 40 students and if each turns in a four page paper and if you have three days to grade them, then it can become time-intensive, especially if you work a full-time job already!!!

    IMO the book "Make 100k teaching online" has been a great disservice to online teaching because it gave college administrators the idea that online adjuncts had too much time on their hands. Remember: college administrators read that stuff too. As a result, the student-to-teacher ratio has changed for the worse, all in the name of maximizing profit.

    It's quite possible for an online adjunct to work for slave wages, by the time it's a all calculated!
     
  15. Vinipink

    Vinipink Accounting Monster

    I wonder how the author can do it, apparently teaches in multiple places, I have seen the author in 6 different places that I have taken classes or considered studying, I took one class with the author and I was not impressed, remembering asking a question, was not able to help me out and referred me to technical support, funny this is the author's field and line of work. Although a pleasant person to deal with.
     
  16. me again

    me again Well-Known Member

    A student made a similar complaint e.g. they asked a question via email and never got a reply back.
     
  17. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member

    Same here, the demands of the online schools seem to be increasing. Students start sending emails with complaints to the school if you don't reply within 24hrs and expect you to reply during weekends and holidays. Salaries seem to be going down as more people are interested in teaching online. Requirements are increasing as before you needed a master to teach online but now the PhD is more the norm than the exception. I don't count with the income for online teaching for future, I'm just enjoying it while I can but I'm sure that it will get to a point where is just not worth it anymore. Books like "Make 100K as an online teacher" don't help as more people are driven into the business and online PhDs with easier access and quicker graduation times just dumps more people into the market.

    It seems that the trend is towards quick PhD, DBA, DMs, or any type of doctorate offered either by online or traditional schools. The fast track doctorate programs will just saturate the market even more in my opinion. It would be much better to get a tenure track or a union protected position even at the CC level than teaching online for sure.

    I'm sure that Dlady's experience is not the only one. I always wonder what happens with those hundreds of graduates that Capella, NCU and other online schools generate. If you look at the positions available at places like higheredjobs.com, you can find at the most 100 full time position across the US and Canada for a particular field so I wonder what are the options for the hundreds of yearly graduates from these programs. I'm sure that these programs produce some quality graduates but I'm not sure if the massive graduation approach is the best to keep these people with some employment options after graduation.
     
  18. Vinipink

    Vinipink Accounting Monster

    The demand for qualified teachers online, will surpass the supply, as more college enter the online game, you just will want to wait for that. As an online facilitator your responsibilities should be par with the student schedule. If your are getting into to this as to supplement your income(reason as per why there so many horrible facilitators) you are out of your league. There are many options to get into a Doctorate program and easier to get in, but that does not mean that you can finish it.

    There is no quick approach to finishing a doctorate unless you buy one from a diploma mill. Average time to finish it is 3-7 years unless you are extreme procrastinator that want to change the world and wants a perfect dissertation then it will take you forever and or will become a ABD for sure.

    Most graduates from a doctorate programs are already established professional that just want to enhance their credentials and or put a lit bit of spice in their resume and perhaps meet some requirements for some teaching positions. Bottom line if you are getting a doctorate to just being able to teach or perhaps a carrer change, you are in a road for more that you can bargain for, keep your options open and stay marketable.
     
  19. RFValve

    RFValve Well-Known Member


    Traditional PhDs normally take 4-6 years full time. PhDs from online schools report record times of 3 to 5 years part time study for graduation. Basically you are reducing the time by almost half with the online schools. This is basically the same trend of the MBA that came from a two year full time program to some of the new one year executive part time programs.

    I've been teaching online for almost 9 years now and I can see that things have changed quite a bit, most online teaching gigs require a minimum of a PhD and some require publications. In my last teaching interview, I was required to submit links to published work and the doctorate was a must. For my first online teaching gig the requirement was only a master's degree with some working experience for an online teaching position at the master's level. The same school is hiring only PhDs now and this only in span of 9 years.

    Overall, I think that distance education provides more access to education and this is great for most people in the planet. However, this provides opportunities and challages like anything in life. I'm greatful that I'm able to work from home due to distance education but I'm also concerned about the increasing demands from employers and lower salaries available.
     

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