coordinator

assistant professor

admission counselor

swim instructor

senior hvac technician

Berea College

This is a great opportunity for students with no way out. I respect the work of the talent they attract to the school who actually believe what the college markets. 

But it's hard to extend patience to any organization who does not display 

integrity (a willingness to connect their actions and resources with their organizational mission), 

a willingness to create a safe, healthy professional organization (stress related medical costs are an institutional norm and often cost full time employees more than what they actually make, and they've had several employee deaths in the past 3 years whose conditions originated and worsened with no accountability shown from the administration), 

or any willingness to improve the situation through their practices.
They often hire grads with little to no experience outside to staff their operating functions. The college just hired an HR director (in 2015) due to a series of unfortunate incidents which called for an increase in oversight into their labor relations practices.

I would not recommend this job to any employee who wants to improve their professional reputation.

There was also no onboarding for legal compliance issues, mostly because they hire administrators who either don't have or actively choose to ignore the health and safety of their faculty, staff and students. I couldn't even courteously ask to discuss how those needs could be addressed without a senior administrator forcing me to choose between silence and the risk of termination. They just continuously shuffle positions around when they find themselves in legal trouble and shift liability to inexperienced people who have never filled the roles before while allowing the offenders to get off scott-free. 

Anyone who values their health and integrity would do well to steer clear of this organization.

Berea requires students to work for the college in exchange for tuition, and while they do get $7+ /hr in addition, they are not actual employees of the College. I was a full employee of the College, so my ratings reflect my experience as a traditional employee.

There are many times when you could be asked to work extra hours, and if you are salaried you will not be compensated with 'comp time' Special events, requests from administration, etc. could happen at any time and you so you can't always prepare or make arrangements.

Many employees graduated from Berea so they only know how to do things the Berea way. People with experience are not always welcomed because the culture is very set. This varies from department to department, but the organizational culture is set.

This was a good job for a time, but there was a great deal of stress and conflict. There are a lot of people who have been there for a long time and a lot of people who only worked there for a couple of years, but not too many people in between. The pay was good for a College and the benefits were about average.

The hardest part of the job was dealing with the politics - there is a lot of politics here. The easiest part of the job was when things were going normally and we could all do our jobs as planned. 

Planning is not common - most work seems to happen in small groups and only a little information is given out to the people who need to know. Decision are made at the top and passed down and the people who are involved in the work don't get much of a say in it.

At the storeroom, we manage a range of supplies that are utilized in maintaining the integrity of the college. Our staff are often sent on delivery runs to distribute needed supplies to the various buildings on campus. Additionally, we are often sent on pickup missions from companies both in side and outside the city lines. At this job, I learned how to multi-task, handle customers in a calm and efficient fashion, input data into the system for the outgoing supplies, and work to improve the storeroom with every action I take. The hardest part of the job would have to be the days when you are by yourself. Due to the ever shifting nature of student life, their are times when we are forced to work on our own as opposed to with another student. This can become challenging if it is a busy day. Finally, the most enjoyable part of my job was getting to drive around all day. I enjoy driving and it was the perfect opportunity to do so.

Berea College offers the labor program as a means of offering financial aid to students as a labor grant.  The labor program gave me the chance to attend and graduate college with no debt whatsoever which is incredible to me.  

The workplace is diverse with many departments to work in all across campus; I was part of the Student Crafts department and Child and Family Studies Education.  Both jobs provided a culture of autonomy to my class schedule by having me draft out my work schedule.  This taught me initiative and how to facilitate proper responsibility for my personal accountability.  

I enjoyed working in Berea.  Having independence and choosing my work hours granted me substantial control over my productivity as both a student and an employee.

Working with the Berea College Upward Bound program was one of my work study positions while in college. At the time, I was my intended major was Math Education, and this job kind of allowed to get some work experience in the education field.

I was familiar with the Upward Bound program having been a participant in the program myself. This program was a lot smaller than the one I was in and the students came from multiple different counties across Kentucky.

I had the pleasure of working with some of the kids individually, some in group sessions, and I did a lot of lesson and activity planning as well as filing, documenting, and reviewing their work in their personal files. 

The staff I worked with was incredibly supportive and tried to make as many moments as possible teachable. There were some times when there was miscommunication, but that happens to everyone.

Berea College is a private work/study program, so all students had to work for the college.  Depending on the contract students are only allowed to work 10 hours a week, which was majority average. Berea college is unique because it pays their students unlike other work/study programs, but it was very much below minimum wages, but the institution pays for most of the education. It is a "free" college, so that is how it works. But after a year of working food service during freshman year I landed a job in the art galleries, and I love it! my boss was fantastic, co workers were amazing, and I loved my job. Everyone was kind and respectful, and it was a wonderful community. I handled art works, transportation, installation, de-installing, and making sure the gallery was safe, on top of other responsibilities not mentioned in the job description. But, as stated earlier, I loved it.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Supporting the mission of Berea College and the people I worked with.  They were the BEST.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The expectations of the job.  From day one, I never knew what to expect.  Some days I was a cook, some days the janitor and some days I sat at the front desk and answered phones.  Some days I was able to perform the job I was hired to do.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Rapid pace, great staff! The staff at the CDL were among the best I have ever worked with.


What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Cook in the morning, meet with parents in the middle of the day, close at the end of the day.

I taught here as a visiting professor for two years, and overall I really liked the experience.  I won't say there aren't downsides; things can get hectic sometimes, and technical support can be unresponsive sometimes, etc.  However, I don't think there is anything especially uncommon about those sorts of issues; they just come with being employed a lot of times.  Overall, Berea is a small school, and the motivations of the faculty there are clearly centered around not only teaching, but developing the students as people as well.  I would say that the drawbacks about Berea are similar to the drawbacks you would find anywhere, but its strengths really do make it stand out.  I enjoyed my time there, and would happily return.

I loved working at Berea. Everyone is friendly, and it's a very diverse place. All types of people are there, and everyone accepts everyone. Berea is a very liberal college. I don't know much about a real day working there, I only worked 15 hours a week. I didn't actually WORK there, just worked there. I was a student at Berea, and every student has to have a job on campus to attend Berea College. I was only making 6.25 an hour because I was a student. Students don't make minimum wage, so taxes aren't a thing. I'm sure if you have a actual job at berea because you aren't going there as a student, you would actually make real money.

As a continuous learning environment built upon Berea’s Great Commitments and Common Learning Goals, Berea College expects all workers “to be active learners, workers and servers,” and seeks to be a place where the Christian values of human compassion, dignity, and equity are expressed and lived.
Therefore, workers are expected to:
Exhibit enthusiasm for learning
Act with integrity and caring
Value all people
Work as a team
Serve others
Encourage plain and sustainable living
Celebrate work well done

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Coordinator 3 salaries reported	$44,667 per year
Assistant professor 3 salaries reported	$57,333 per year
Admission counselor 3 salaries reported	$39,127 per year
Swim instructor 1 salary reported	$32.50 per hour
Senior hvac technician 1 salary reported	$58,724 per year

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