graduate researcher

postdoctoral research associate

assistant professor

research assistant

graduate assistant

Washington-State-University

What is the best part of working at the company?
You bank time off quickly and the campus is beautiful. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
There are few procedures for daily functions and so everyone is making up their own way to do things, to the point where HR, a supervisor, and administrative support all differ on the idea of who's responsibility it is to complete new hire paperwork. They also spend poorly because they do not work together and piggy back off each other - the main campus and the satellites operate independently when they could be collaborating and often disagree and fight about how the brand should be portrayed, which leads to very different university experiences. Their faculty and staff are working very hard but their supervisory and upper level administration enjoy perks like housing stipends when they make the most money - how many weird things like this do they have that add cost during a budget deficit? They have a mix of lifetimers working alongside new staff, which causes conflict when the new staff know efficient ways to do things and the lifetimers simply refuse because they do not want to learn a new way of doing their job. Some people don't know excel at this university and they are administrative support and upper management - they do not use the software and programs at their disposal and instead suffer through trying to do things in ways that are out of date and in some ways risk data. It is difficult to be a voice trying to fix things among people who see no problem with the way things have been running, even though feedback from staff and students is poor. There is also no food or drink options on campus other than a 7/11 style food store with no humans manning it - very inconvenient to physically have to work at.  

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Stressful and emotional. Many people are using their emotions to drive everything and others are failing to factor in the humanity of a workplace as they cut costs - it makes for a very dramatic situation, especially when managers do not manage well and often do not talk with staff directly and instead issue blanket emails staff have to figure out if applies to them. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Lots of emails with no decisions being made and having to follow up to get more information to be able to do my job. Lots of meetings to have meetings but no one owning projects. They really need project managers.

The culture at WSU is one of mediocrity.  Most of the employees are overpaid for their level of expertise and where they would compare with their counterparts nationally experience and proficiency wise.  Their is an overriding sense among the long time employees and management that WSU has it "all figured out". which couldn't be further from the truth as anybody that has ever worked on another major university campus quickly discovers.  For example, the university only recently implemented a formal annual budget process for all departments and department heads to control spending. Additionally, the level of technology on the campus was astoundingly bad with horrible main campus IT people that at best were complacent.  My initial thoughts when I accepted my appointment at WSU was "this all seems to good to be true, let's see if its sustainable".  It is not and was not.  What started out looking like the opportunity of a lifetime quickly became a struggle to carry out my assignments based on fragmented support and too much power and say-so relegated to low level employees that had neither the positions nor depth of experience to influence decision making by upper management in the manner that they have been allowed to. Their is a deep division between "outsiders" and the old guard. In my view people with previous experience on other campuses that are significant assets to a university,  encounter resistance and flat out sabotage by those long time WSU staffers who's best counter argument to new ideas and creativity is that this is the way WSU "has always done it". On another note, Pullman is the most pathetic college town that I have ever been in, regardless of the size of the college or university that resides in that town.  If you have a young family, this might be a nice place to raise your kids for a few years but if you are single at any age and value culture and vibrancy in your home city, you better think really hard about accepting any position at this university and living in this pathetic excuse of a town.

I thought I wanted to work in higher education because I had such a positive experience in Pullman as a student, years ago.  The Pullman campus may be different so I can't speak to that. The Tri-Cities campus is another story. I naively thought there was some grand, esoteric reason for wanting to work here, but after only two weeks I wanted to leave, and I've been here over a year; biding my my time until I find another job far, far away. No room for growth. I gave this category three stars for the security, not advancement. If you're looking for that, you wont find it here. People need babysitting, are resistant to change, may preach inclusiveness and teamwork on a higher level, but you get in the trenches and that's really not the case.  I have found people to fish for gossip, want to do things only their way, have tunnel vision and really dont care about interacting with you more than need be.  It could be that folks are overworked, but I really don't think so. I often wonder how some of the management staff got the jobs they have, and if they actually do the work they've been hired to do. Not everyone is difficult to work with and I do have work friends and a couple that have developed into friendships outside of work. Certain staff create enough issues though, that it could deemed a hostile work environment, and some the behavior i've noticed is ridiculous and I dont know why its tolerated. There is too much about negative to offset the positives about WSU Tri-cities. It doesn't instill much confidence in me. Within a couple of departments I have seen a lot of turnover.  It's a good thing the computer systems are being brought into the 21st century soon.  As it is the systems are archaic, processes are convoluted and are made harder than they need to be, and henceforth terribly inefficient.  I can't recommend this as a good place to work. I think you'd be happier elsewhere, in the long run.  On the flipside, I would suggest going to school here, with that part you really can't go wrong. It is a good school. But save yourself any heartache and find work elsewhere.

I was a TA for an Econometrics course at Washington State University. Econometrics is essentially the combination of statistics and economics, aimed at providing quantitative evidence to economic questions. To apply to become a TA, you must first pass the class with an A grade. 
Primarily, I assisted students with their homework, projects, and lectures. 
It helped me reinforce my econometrics skills after I'd already taken the course. This was especially beneficial at the time because I was working on my capstone project, which required heavy use of econometric techniques. 
The teacher I worked under was fantastic, and always kept us busy. I worked with a small group of TAs for the class, which was a very compatible arrangement for the reason that we had similar classes and schedules. Everybody was flexible, even with schoolwork involved.
The hardest part of the job was communicating with foreign students. It's a complicated class to begin with, and trying to learn the material when you can barely speak english is a tremendous task. It always took longer to assist the foreign students, but I just had to find other ways to convey the ideas from the curriculum, such as pictures and graphs. 
The most enjoyable part of the experience was reinforcing my econometric knowledge which I could apply to my capstone project, and the networking/connections I gained through working closely with my professors.

This is a positive working environment where the co-workers are over-all very friendly and helpful. 

A typical day consists of working to open and close the dining areas while working to assist customers needs and maintain the dining areas' quality and cleanliness in between. There are rush times characterized by large customer volume and fast service and there is quite a lot of down time where employees can focus more on the needs of the customers with more care and attention. 

The manager and his assistant are very helpful and are driven to help employees succeed professionally and personally. 

My co-workers are mainly all students at the University and most of them share an interest in bettering themselves professionally as the University is focused on this goal in practice and not just in theory. Generally co-workers are friendly and work as part of the team well. 

The hardest part of this job is dealing with difficult co-workers and working alone during large rushes in the Cafe. 

The most enjoyable part of this job is working with fun co-workers, helping regular customers and satisfying customers needs and wants.

I started as mostly a secretary that maintained files and databases but my skill and talent was soon recognized and over the next almost three years my tasks and skills were grown and nourished by my supervisors. A typical day at work consisted of entering bulk data, pulling and filing documents in seven different filing systems, working with different departments to create regulatory documents that are required on construction sites, evaluate materials in mechanical closets documenting and display safety signs across the university, set up document and evaluate results of indoor air quality tests, schedule meetings, write communications on behalf of managers, organize medical surveillance programs, and many other miscellaneous tasks. I learn extreme attention to detail, documentation, and organization skills. As well as technical writing styles and effective communication skills. My Management was encouraging and supportive of expansion of my skills and enabling me to create a more efficient and effective program.

This was an excellent side-gig for me. My manager was great, participated in the training along with the employees. She advocated for the program to continue. This was a fairly independent role and reporting to the manager was mainly remote. Also, there were discussion/ online meetings where we educated others doing the same role in different locations, each taking an equal responsibility in covering a topic. I felt like compensation was fair, including mileage reimbursement. I had an intimidating event in the parking lot of the location I was working remotely and immediately my manager obtained new supplies to keep from having to make multiple trips to the car and got information for security at the worksite. She did this not just for me, but for everyone working this role in the different locations she managed. I, regretfully, had other commitments that inhibited my ability to continue coaching for future classes.

My day is varied with direct student and customer support, administrative support, committee involvement and coordination of meetings and events. Over the past ten years with WSU Vancouver I have learned that quality customer care often involves time to research, compassion and a clear understanding of processes in order to properly address student's needs. In Student Affairs and Enrollment we continually encourage each other to offer to 'follow up' with answers to questions, rather than provide the fast response that may not fully address an issue. I find that collaboration with co-workers both locally and across campus' has become an essential part of our success in receiving high compliments regarding our customer service satisfaction. The most rewarding part of this job is in helping students to achieve their educational goals and being part of showcasing this amazing campus!

A typical day at work would consist of organizing the warehouse, receiving shipments, sending shipments, moving in furniture to dorms, repairing dorm rooms and moving out old equipment. 

I learned how to stay very organized and work with Excel that involved all inventory, shipments received and shipments being sent out. I also learned how to work hard for 10 hours a day on my feet with minimal break time. 

Management was good. They helped you with anything that you needed and worked well with all employees.

The culture was very relaxed. Even though we were working on our feet all day, our management was very laid back.

Hardest part of my job was standing on my feet doing physical labor for 10 hours a day and 5 days a week. I love doing physical labor, but had never done that much of it day in and day out.

By the 2nd week of work, the hardest part of my job became my most enjoyable part. I got used to lifting heavy furniture and working all day on my feet and I loved it. I was getting a good workout and got in the best shape of my life. It was amazing to see because I never thought the hardest part of the job would end up being my favorite.

WSU has what I would call a slightly-more-difficult-than-typical graduate program in chemistry. The coursework and seminar requirements are what one would expect of an R1 university and the research requirements vary by PI. My particular PI was very generous in encouraging a good work/life balance. The faculty in Physical chemistry generally have very high expectations for their students, and coursework generally required >20 hours per week of homework. Although this was a major consumer of time while taking classes, I feel I learned the material much better. Compared to other universities I've attended, I felt that there was a rigorous emphasis on basic and broad knowledge of the discipline. I have been given great opportunities to develop both personally and professionally here. I've taken on experimental design and worked closely with other research groups to develop methods and analyses.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Graduate researcher 8 salaries reported	$29,538 per year
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