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National Association for College Admission Counseling • Career Paths for Admission Officers: A Survey Report
a large public or private with a more national reputation—in order to advance
their careers, whether or not the job was a significant advancement.
A director who moved from assistant director at a small state university
to his current position at another small state university is ready to begin
searching for a position as vice president or associate vice president for
enrollment management. To expand his future career prospects, he has
decided that the next post should be at “a small or mid-sized college that
is more national in scope.”
Another director has stayed at one institution and managed to focus on
his special interests in marketing and enrollment management. Now he’s
interested in a vice presidency and thinks it may be time to look to a larger
flagship public university. A Big Ten university is the goal of a director who
has already moved a few times, with a mix of public and private institutions
in his background. He chose his current job because it was “a career
changer—it’s given me more management experience and challenges.”
Now he wants “to be successful in a larger setting.”
The challenge of building a new program, division or operation may motivate
a move, even for those who have been in one place for a long time. A
long-time vice president who had built her university’s enrollment management
operation took a “bold career leap”—and a considerable geographic
jump—to take on a similar challenge at a new university.
A vice president who has moved three times in order to advance ultimately
expects to leave his mid-sized private university for a similar but more
nationally-recognized university to “get to the next level.” However, he
commented, “I don’t want to leave too soon or stay too long. I need to keep
my ego from getting in the way.”
For one vice president, education, professional development and a few
strategic moves defined a successful career trajectory. Beginning his career
as a counselor, he credited the NACAC Middle Manager Institute with
providing “a broad perspective of how admission fits into the financial
side of the house.” A master’s degree, a move from a large state university
to a mid-size private university in order to move up, and finally, “when
I was ready for my own ship,” a cross-country journey for a position where
he is part of the president’s cabinet, marked his path to achieving his
goals. “I tell my staff that you are in a profession. There is a trajectory,”
he noted.
Not surprisingly, most professionals said they received job leads from
friends in the field. At the senior level in particular, most were recruited by
search firms, often on the recommendation of friends and colleagues.
Advancing in place
Those who’ve stayed in one place often cite both professional and personal
reasons: “There are some options for promotion…this is a value and
trust-centered environment, a great community for raising children, the
university supports PD [professional development],” reported an associate
director in an interview. A current director who has spent 14 years at his
small college said he has no plans to leave: “I love what I do because the
business is always changing.”
A vice president who has worked for his alma mater since receiving his
master’s degree has been able to expand his portfolio to include expertise
in nontraditional and graduate admission, financial aid and marketing. He
plans to stay put for the near future. However, he said he recognized he
may need to relocate eventually, preferably when his children are older, for
career advancement.
Essayist David Burge, who has been at his current university for two years,
credited his seven years at one institution with playing a major role in his
career success: “I had told myself I would be at the University of Nebraska
for five years but it turned into seven. During those…years I had the
privilege of working with a number of incredibly talented men and women
in a culture that promoted from within…there are now five of us that are
directors of admission or enrollment at large public universities.”
Limits of trajectory
As the survey responses indicated, a successful career is not necessarily
defined by constant advancement. Not every senior professional is a vice
president or wants to be. And some professionals have capped their careers
at the associate or director levels. Interviews provide additional insights
into this topic. A former counselor who is now an associate director and still
does a lot of recruiting, “because I enjoy it,” expressed some ambivalence
about moving up to a director’s spot. She said she knows it’s a next step
but worries that her strengths are not in policy and budget and that a
directorship could mean fewer connections with students and families. An
associate director who is also a Ph.D. student voiced similar ambivalence:
“I changed institutions to go from assistant to associate director, but I
don’t know if I want to be a director. I wonder if it will sustain my interest.
Will I still be able to work with students”
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