administrative assistant

program assistant

postdoctoral fellow

office assistant

accounting assistant

University of Alabama

To the contrary of reality, often students imagine their Professor simply arriving on campus, picking up mail from a faculty mailbox, perhaps making one or two telephone calls in their office, and then heading to class. Truth is, the actual work of a College Professor is forever ongoing – many days, 24/7.

Committees and Professional Panel Participation

Professors serve on countless academic committees (in the roles of both Committee member and Committee Chair) for which the Professor must research, and prep for, sometimes extensively. Being prepared to serve on academic panels (both on and off one's main campus) and/or to serve within academic seminars and workshops are often a given.

Book Review and Selections

Many Professors are charged with reviewing and selecting the best and most effective textbook for their students and often, for multi- courses within their department. Most Professors have scheduled appointments with local and national Book Publishers or their representatives (or as often happens, are caught off guard when the reps inevitably wonder by).

Scheduled Office Hours

All Professors hold scheduled office hours dedicated solely to and for their individual students.

Professor Evaluations; Staff Development Sessions; and Workshops

Many Professors contribute weekly slices of hours to update and maintain their academic portfolios, for various reasons, including for pedagogical evaluations (mandatory – regardless of tenure) – or simply for the purpose of escalating possibilities that their academic proposals will be granted financial funding. Its a given, that all professors are expected to be actively involved (and often) in Staff Developemnet workshops and professional presentations, for the purpose of learning new ways in meeting and maintaining academic excellence.

Moreover, most college Professors go about the business of reading, daily, various newspapers; pedagogical commentaries and academic viewpoints (found often inside their subscribed ‘Chronicle of Higher Education’); review specialized Journals to assure awareness of forever ongoing trends in Education

Networking; Supervision; Campus Event Planning and Additional Prep

Most Professors converse often, with various leaders throughout off-campus communities for the purpose of securing that these leaders will agree to visit, speak, and assist in inspiring their students. Many professors assure and monitor internships for their students overall career success. Professors also supervise students who work for them through work-study programs, in which they must also assure that state regulations and policies are being followed correctly, as well as schedule and attend to cumulative work hours.

Professors often utilize many hours within their workday, planning and implementing statewide; national; and/or international academic events – which require a great deal of preparation to assure high levels of success and positive publicity for their department, division, or overall, the college or university, in general. Professors must prepare their lectures and academic discussions, review and order academic film, and often create highly creative PowerPoint presentations to further inspire their students with forever ongoing trends in Education

Writing Responsibilites

Many College Professors spend countless hours, and sometimes years, to author academic textbooks. Many Professors utilize many hours of 'at home' time (in addition to before; between; and after giving lectures), to research and write about various academic dynamics; general knowledge regarding any specific entity; or simply writing about how to make the world a better place. Community College Professors must concentrate on teaching effectiveness. University Professors must write and assure constant publications.

Assuring Student Recongnition; Support; and Student Recommendations (both vebally and in writing)

Often, Professors create academic awards to further inspire and motivate their students. For me, 'Leadership Awards' for each class at semester's end, have proven to be priceless in promoting further self confidence within my specific academic discipline (Speech Communications). The awards include 'Most Likely to be Promoted to the Highest Ranks of His/Her Professions' and 'Most Likely to Lead our Nation within the Century', and are especially rewarding because I, as Professor, have nothing to do with selecting the winner. The Award Receipient is selected by college peers.

Professors often meet, and converse with Human Resource professionals regarding current and former students’ academic achievements. Professionally and individually, I have been interviewed (several times, in fact) by such VIPs as the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to discuss, always in person, the ethics and character of students desiring to work within the American criminal justice arena, or specifically perhaps, desiring to work in Homeland Security.

Meeting Deadlines; Academic Curriculum Planning; Development; Implimentation; and Student Assessment

Professors always have deadlines (sometimes, critical) to meet, and federal and state reports to submit. Accredited universities and colleges require that their Professors participate actively in the planning; development; and implementation of general education curriculum requirements, as well as developing specific criteria for their individual academic department, including the assurance that crucial core skills and competencies are being taught and assessed appropriately and effectively. Of course, Professors are solely responsible for reading and evaluating essays; term papers; observing oral presentations; developing; and administering quizzes and exams (computerized or/and in writing).

Of course it’s a given that Professors are also required to read and respond to emails from students, college administrators, and other on and off-campus professionals and colleagues. Finally, but never least, Professors must also assure that their students with special needs receive proper and professional guidance and attention.

TLDR: Management spies on you. Punished for using sick days. Incompetent leaders.

The pay was alright, but definitely not worth the 36 or 48+ hours a week. I was once scheduled a 26 hour shift and management was too stubborn to admit they made a scheduling mistake. Ended up working 50 hours that weekend over just a 3 day period (between 6pm Friday and 6am Monday). 

Management will always tell you how horrible you are doing and complain about how all employees are just there to take advantage. I worked here for 2.5 years and have never encountered a place that provides you sick leave but then also punishes you for using it. Even with a Dr’s note you still get points toward being written up and eventually fired. I worked for a Fortune 500 company before this that was renown for having the strictest attendance policy in industry and this place had an even more strict attendance policy than them. 

Do yourself a favor, just work as a cashier or somewhere else. It’s not worth being berated and constantly put down just for $2 more an hour. I left this with PTSD, Generalized Anxiety, and Major Depression. Management and supervisors made me feel like a useless person after all the bullying and constant degrading. 

Also, this job takes a toll on your body. I walked an average of 9 miles a night because the department was too cheap to buy enough vehicles. Management spends too much time spying on its own employees rather than improving workplace morale. 

Additionally, one of the managers pushes her MLM hair products and essential oils on employees and pressures them into buying from her. 0/5 Stay away at all costs.

I started in 2008 and am still employed with the university. My wife is employed with the university as well in a different department. Seeing the difference better the departments is unreal. My wife's department treats their employees with dignity and understanding. My department, while it used to be ok, has slowly went downhill. Pay is ok. hours are great. time off is/was ample.  Benefits are being taken or having the price raised. Overtime is gone. Lazy workers due to inefficient hiring. Immediate management is great until they're bosses say not to be. Dont expect your managers to stick up for the little guys, it wont happen. The job itself isnt hard but isnt very fulfilling. Little to no chance for advancement. Building is dilapidated and needs to be demolished. I honestly feel that it would be shut down if the right person saw it. They dont match retirement anymore. Last but not least, you have to PAY TO PARK!! You have to pay to go to work. That's not right. To sum it up, it's not a bad job if your standards or aspirations aren't the highest. You wont get rich but as long as you come to work you'll have a job. You will need to work on the side though, everyone does.  Also a great job for a lazy person. There are employees who literally sleep more than they work but they still have a job.  Do the pros outweigh the cons? It's all about what you want, a career or a mediocre job you'll be stuck at for 13 years like me. Other departments may be worth it but this particular one isnt one of them.

A typical day at is morning workouts, then all of your schedule classes for the day. After class we would then get dressed for practice and break up into positions and watch game film. After game film we would then have practice. After practice is over we would then go to study hall and get all of our homework done and study for any upcoming tests. After study hall we would have dinner and get ready for another productive day of training and practice. The hardest part of playing football for the Crimson Tide was a balance between football and your school work. My experience of participating on a competitive team is a tremendously valuable advantage in the work environment. Coming from this background I've already been exposed to workplace dynamics. With sports you have to be results oriented, focused and handle pressure well, and always strive to improve. Football taught me how to be coachable and always willing to learn, have strong work ethic, have time management, have persistence and endurance having the ability to wring a maximum effort from yourself whenever necessary and most importantly having discipline and the ability to work well with others as a team. The most enjoyable part of this experience for me was seeing all of our hard work pay off by winning national championships.

As part of my Capstone project for my master’s degree I served as an online teaching assistant at the University of Alabama’s College of Human Environmental Science. The most enjoyable part of being an online teaching assistant was interacting with the students and facilitating a creative and enjoyable eLearning environment.  The hardest part of the job was providing adequate feedback and constructive criticism to 50+ students. A typical work day consisted of checking and responding to emails from students (this was done three times a day); proofreading previous lectures to insure they were up-to-date and accurate; generating lectures via podcasts, Word tutorials, and website training modules; and uploading these lectures to the Blackboard Learning Management System; grading assignments; posting grades;  and providing feedback for each student. While in the performance of these duties I learned a lot about time management and how to effectively communicate with individuals who are spatially separated. The Professors and Associate professors that I worked with were some of the best in their field. From them I learned to develop eLearning solutions to meet an organizations training needs.

A typical day at work included maintaining each of the four different 3D printers in the lab as well as processing printing orders from students and faculty and adding to and organizing the queue for each of the printers. Often times, people in need of the lab's services also needed design recommendations for parts that would allow for optimal printing and strength. Using primarily SolidWorks, I would open their part or parts and make any necessary changes before deciding which of our printers best suited their project's needs. The lab has four main printers, an ABS plastic Stratasys Dimension 1200es, a petroleum-based photo-cured resin Stratasys Objet 30pro, a gypsum powder Projet 660pro, and a Markforged Mark Two flexible nylon printer. Aside from providing design recommendations, handling cost estimates, and managing the queues, I also held weekly SolidWorks demonstrations for students needing help with the software as well as provided daily tours of the facilities for prospective students.

I served as a resident advisor for several semesters. The pay is very low compared to similar universities ($200-225/month). The RAs and CDs are generally great, but upper housing is a disaster. Their communication is extremely delayed (they take months to respond to emails, and do not take responsibility for the harm that this causes) and they struggle to do basic things like ordering enough envelopes for move-out (how is this possible? They know exactly how many students live on campus). They were very unkind about dietary restrictions during move-in. They prevent student workers from gaining any experience in the summers, professionally or otherwise, because their inefficient training scheme requires students to be on-campus nearly a month before classes start. They also continue to employ a few RAs who consistently do not meet their supposed expectations, while forcing others to end their employment because they need to arrive a few days later. While it is worth it for many students work for HRC because they receive free housing, it is not worth it to be working for people who don’t care about you at all and don’t care how their incompetence inconveniences and damages the lives of the people working for them. 

I absolutely loved this job. I got to work the hours that fit my busy life.  but most of all I loved my girls and my girls loved me. They were so sweet, caring, funny and always helpful.. I did general cleaning in the mansion 4 floors from the basement to the 3rd floor. Management was not good at all. The housemother was terrible and stressed the crew out especially the Housekeepers and Butlers. The alumni made this house a terrible place which the girls were always complaining and just made it a negative environment you always had to walk around on egg shells which made you even more nervous and caused you to forget to do something or do it wrong. The hardest part of this job was putting up with the Alumni they were not nice ladies they constantly pick and criticize everything you do which will eventually lead to your termination. I was awesome at my work, and fantastic building a relationship with the girls, but they did not like me for some reason so I was doomed to begin with. The staff was wonderful we all clicked like brothers and sisters and when we could we always helped one another out.

The gossip between shifts and the poor management is not worth being there.. It could be your weekend off and you have made plans, then you get a call late Thursday evening saying you have been selected for mandatory overtime 10+ hours on Saturday..The attendance policy states that even if you are sent home from supervisor or the doctor for being sick, you receive a disciplinary point.. 5 points is a verbal, 6 points gets you a written, 8 your’e fired.. The disciplinary points then take 12 months to roll off from the time you acquired the first point.. Myself and numerous others argued what is the point in getting sick time if you get penalized for using it?? Nobody would ever give us an answer and management didn’t care to bc they didn’t abide by the same point system, imagine that...The Security Resources department recently went under the UAPD umbrella, and has declined daily as a result..  I believe around 10 people have left this department  since the start of 2019, most of these people took lesser paying jobs just to get out

The University of Alabama provides a lot of opportunities for graduate students. Teaching Assistantships, if awarded, are a secure way to pay for school and receive some money through instruction of lower level classes. The pay is decent, the amenities on campus and in Tuscaloosa are typical of most college towns, and the people are very friendly. The graduate departments do a wonderful job of putting together lectures series, bringing in guest speakers, and providing outlets for future prospective career options. They also encourage all students to have a social life, and do so by setting up dinners, outdoor trips, pizza parties etc. Everyone is very enjoyable to be around, and I have had a wonderful experience within this University's graduate studies program. While balancing the work load and teaching is most definitely the hardest part of the job, the academic mentors are incredible with assisting and providing helpful insight whenever possible.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Administrative assistant 206 salaries reported	$19.60 per hour
Program assistant 93 salaries reported	$32.65 per hour
Postdoctoral fellow 133 salaries reported	$59,125 per year
Office assistant 42 salaries reported	$29.36 per hour
Accounting assistant 61 salaries reported	$20.43 per hour

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