student assistant

assistant professor

cook

academic advisor

program coordinator

Kennesaw State University

Time spent at Kennesaw State University registration department was valuable for me in terms of learning more about people in general and obtaining updated office skills, and making new friends.  Also, in a college environment, staff are offered classes that enhance their ability to interact more professionally with students and the general public.  A typical day at work would begin by starting the day at the window in order to service the students and public who came by to sign up for or learn more about classes we offered.  For staff, that would also involve answering the phones, processing refunds, transfers to different classes, aiding teachers with various requests, constructing teacher packets which included the roaster, evaluation forms, any pertinent message from the registration department.  Handling large amounts of money in the form of checks, cash, credit cards meant that staff had to be diligent in accuracy in order for till to balance at end of work day. My coworkers were instrumental in maintaining an atmosphere of mostly calm in the mist of, and at times, a very busy, bustling office. The hardest part of the job was leaving for retirement because I knew I would miss the interaction of my coworkers and the students.  The most enjoyable part of the job was sharing  the excitement of the students being introduced to the unknown.  Because I had to record student grades, I was able to kept up with their progress.  It's very gratifying to watch a student go through many levels of their classes, obtain a degree or certification and make plans for a better future.   That's what school is all about.  Schools need administration assistants of all kinds.  I was blessed to be a part of the registration department.

I worked two different part time jobs for the university. One was managing a weekly farmers market through the culinary department. The other was as a supervisor in a nonprofit survey lab through the Burrus Institute.  I learned how important taking initiative, asking for more to learn, and how much just showing up and having empathy can matter. 

With the farmers market, I started off as a volunteer and over a few years was promoted to manager. I had a close family of local vendors that took care of me, but also taught me a lot about general project management. Weekly event set up and break down, coordinating, dealing with that responsibility and being who people look to for answers. How to be a decisive leader was taught through trial by fire. 

What I learned at the  farmers market became my approach for my next job with the university working at an on campus research center. We took projects from governments and other universities to survey a random sample. this job had easy days and then days when we were redialing numbers and making little progress. Here again, I soon advanced to the role of supervisor in a few months. My boss was highly instrumental in demonstrating what management should be, how to deal with people who can't follow protocol, and how to help people by having them learn rather than doing simple tasks for them. 

My favorite things to do were training new hires and getting passionate people on the phone who understood why we were calling and just wanted to be heard. additionally, I always treasured being given extra projects to work on, the challenge of something new and extra responsibility, like learning how to access the data set and work the software

The vast majority of faculty and staff at KSU are highly dedicated employees focused on their mission to educate.  However, in recent years, Georgia State politics has had a detrimental impact on the working atmosphere at KSU.  KSU has grown exponentially in the last fifteen years and had established itself in a number of areas.  The University System of Georgia and the Board of Regents felt that KSU was beginning to impinge on the reputations of the University of Georgia and Georgia State University and began "stepping on" the university.

We are on the fourth president in three years, including one who had no experience working in education at any level and who was named without a national search.  The last two Presidents have fostered a climate of distrust and competition between schools, divisions, and departments.  Senior staff has been fired at the whim of the president despite their immediate supervisors stating there was no cause (including one who was ordered fired before the president even arrived).  This has all led to decisions being made out of fear rather than from measured evaluation.

This is all unfortunate..when I researched working for KSU, it had been named one of the top places to work in the Atlanta area.

The university offers free undergraduate and graduate courses to employees but does not provide any allowances for employee family members.

The pay is significantly below other universities of comparable size, but the cost of living in the area is relatively good.

A typical work day in the department is iffy. There are days were you can read an entire book, depending on how fast you read; and there are days where you'll frantically scan and organize the work room. There's not guarantee what type of day you'll get during the semester. However, during breaks, you'll have a lot of down time, which usually means you'll get asked to do busy task like organizing cabinets and checking back stock. 

If you have another student assistant working with you, the both of you will sometimes do the same task right behind the other, which gets annoying. It's best to leave each other notes or send each other emails just so you both know what was done, what's going on, what gets moved, etc. My coworkers would move things and not let me know, which made my time at the desk a little more difficult when I needed something and couldn't find it. Another issue I had was that a coworker would take credit for work that I did and would often take what I did down, throw it away and put up something else that wouldn't work. She also would keep important forms from us which  meant we had to recreate documents in order to have access to something related to the job. Management often encouraged the divide without realizing that's what they were doing. 

After a while, you'll start to get used to do specific tasks that is way above pay grade. If we got paid more than what we did which was right at the federal line, it would have been worth it. We often had to move professors from one office to the next, grade tests, proofread magazine articles, etc. It was a fun job, but I just wish I had been paid a lot more than I was.

There are many good people working at KSU! The benefits were great and there was quite a bit of flexibility in my job. My immediate supervisors were also very supportive and flexible. Unfortunately, the moral and work environment are not what they used to be. Essential departments are understaffed, have communication issues, and don’t collaborate with other departments before changing overlapping processes. Processes have become overcomplicated, too time consuming, and involve an excessive number of employees. Many employees I spoke to seemed to expect confusion, disorganization, and a lack of communication. It was very disappointing and frustrating! I know this happens in a lot of places, but it would be so great if department and university leaders decided to strive for better so KSU could be an exception. If they would take the time to collaborate with other departments, provide prior notification to university employees before making major process changes, ask lower level employees what is working well and what improvements could be made to help them perform their jobs and increase efficiency, and if these leaders would consider how their decisions, actions or inactions affect employees at all levels, KSU would be as great a place for employees as it is for students. Employees in the right positions just have to decide not to settle for less!

On a typical work day I will come in first thing and read/respond to any pertinent business emails or messages. Then I go about the Education Center lab by lab to clean the computer areas from the classes the day before. I also apply any necessary updates (browser, network, Windows, software/hardware) for the scheduled courses and maintain consistent settings for computers on the network. Occasionally, I will have to change out large amounts of hardware and go through the surplus process with the obsolete items. 
The management is very kind and understanding of my sporadic student schedule. I am allowed to come in multiple times per day so long as my duties are completed in a proper and timely manner. The hardest part of the job is dealing with down time when there are no big tasks for me. I enjoy being occupied and working towards a defined goal. I will take this down time to create organizational charts for the IT department (lab settings, hardware location, etc.) or, with the approval of my manager, study for my current university courses.
The most enjoyable parts of the job are being able to work with computer and electronics with polite and professional team members and the flexibility around my academics.

Much like everything Board of Regents/University System of Georgia Kennesaw State is a bastion of mediocrity, mismanagement, and good old boy cronyism.  The running joke is KSU is the training ground for GA Tech since all the employees who leave end up going there.  The most abusive and incompetent people are promoted and handed titles they don't deserve or qualify for, and the people who truly deserve the position are systematically pushed out.  People are allowed to sit in jobs and do no work whatsoever, and those who do the work are overloaded with trying to clean up the messes created by the dead weight.  Complaints to supervisors, upper management, HR are minimized and not taking seriously because no one wants to address the obvious problems.  Everyone wants to bury their heads in the sand and pretend people leave solely because of the low salaries, and while it is true that others pay more, the full unadulterated truth is employees are leaving because it's awful place to work.  It's just politically incorrect to say that openly so departing employees hide behind the low salaries as their departure reason.  The only good thing about KSU is BOR/USG offers tuition assistance to employees and you can go to school for free.  If what you want is a safe job with a regular paycheck that'll keep you from being homeless come on down.  If you want anything more, don't waste your time.

The work day at Kennesaw State University was rarely "typical."  There was always something going on with the students, staff and/or visitors be it a social event, marathon or student protest.  I learned to take everything in stride and to keep a very level head in the face of a crisis and how to deal with anything from traffic accidents and to investigations.  The management was very staff oriented and always ensured that we had the proper equipment to work with, good advice when needed, as well as a helping hand when issues arose.  My co-workers were more like an extended family.  Everyone took an interest in what was going on with one another and we were very close-knit. We had very rigorous training every 2-3 months and although we were State certified police officers, we participated in  training on a regular basis. We were very proficient and the training taught us to look out for one another.

The hardest part of my job was having to explain to a parent why his or her son or daughter had been arrest or overdosed.  The most enjoyable part of the job was interacting with the students while on bike patrol and through giving safety classes.  

Overall, my experience working for Kennesaw State University was probably the best job I ever had.

KSU is great for a work/life balance, and the benefits are incomparable to any other place that I worked at.  However, there is a trade off since the pay rate is well below what industry pays.  Pay raises are based on state funding, so it is not unusual to go years without a raise if the economy is slow.  However, job security is very high with no layoffs during the last recession.  The job security keeps many people from leaving, so advancement opportunities are limited. 

On the good note, good insurance is dirt cheap compared to everywhere else.  I receive 12 sick days and 15 vacation days a year plus 8 paid holidays off a year.  KSU also gives multiple retirement plans from the guaranteed state retirement to the state equivalent of a 401k through Fidelity, which vests you from day one and lets you choose your investment plan.  They require you to contribute 6% of your pay, but they match it with 10%.  I have a larger retirement with them after 3 years than I did after 10 years in corporate that only matched 2.5% to my 5%.

If you want security, this is the place to go.  If you want room for advancement to hit the big bucks, you need to look elsewhere.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The pay was better than some other companies where I have worked.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
My work was constantly rejected by my supervisor and I had to go to 9 or 10 versions for it to be accepted.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Employees were harshly scrutinized made to feel very uncomfortable by constantly having to look over their shoulders. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I would get to my desk at 8:00. (I found out later that the hours were 9:00 - 5:00.) I would go to Trello to find what work there was. I would start with the Revision Folder which was always full because everything was sent back for revision after revision. Then I would move on to new projects. After four hours of sitting in the same spot, I would go to the on campus gym to work out over my lunch hour. I would get a call from my supervisor every other day at 1:05 as I made my way back to the office. After getting back to the office, I would sit at my computer for four hours knocking out design after design.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Student assistant 17 salaries reported	$10.65 per hour
Assistant professor 2 salaries reported	$90,182 per year
Cook 8 salaries reported	$13.80 per hour
Academic advisor 5 salaries reported	$53,694 per year
Program coordinator 5 salaries reported	$50,520 per year

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