Articles & Stories

Creating Inclusive Workspaces: 6 Strategies to Support Neurodiverse Employees

By Marcia Silva posted 13 days ago
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The term "neurodiversity" is becoming more familiar, reflecting a growing awareness and respect for the variety of ways people perceive and engage with the world. As the understanding of neurodiversity expands, more individuals are openly identifying as neurodivergent, leading workplaces to consider how they can better support this essential segment of the workforce. Neurodivergence encompasses a range of conditions—including autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and more—that influence how individuals think, learn, and interact. These unique ways of processing and perceiving can offer valuable perspectives, skills, and creativity to the workplace. By adopting inclusive ...

New HERC Report Highlights What Matters Most to Current and Prospective Higher Education Professionals

By Marcia Silva posted 07-16-2024
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We’re excited to share the results of HERC’s annual job seeker survey in our new publication, “2024 HERC Job Seeker Survey Report: What Matters Now – Insights from the Higher Education Talent Community.” Recruitment and retention remain top priorities for higher ed employers, especially with the recent media attention on higher education leadership and on-campus activities. The report shares the needs and expectations of today’s higher education job seekers and employees, and pinpoints practical, realistic, and impactful enhancements higher education employers can take. Members can download the full report here . The report provides timely insights into ...

Are We Really a Nation Divided on DEI: A Revealing Q&A with Amanda Shaffer

By Marcia Silva posted 07-09-2024
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Amanda Shaffer is a professional coach and consultant with extensive experience supporting both institutions and individuals to initiate, transform, and grow. She has written multiple diversity-focused guidebooks, toolkits, and videos for national associations and academic institutions. Learn more. What are the challenges of doing DEI work now? At this point, if you are paying attention to the DEI legislation tracker on the Chronicle of Higher Education you are pretty familiar with our current challenges. We’re facing a lot of restrictive and vague legislation, book banning, and quite a few fear-based preemptive changes. There is also an attitude ...

Job Seeker Engagement: Spotlighting Higher Ed Professionals

By Marcia Silva posted 06-06-2024
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HERC positions higher education as an attractive career option and expands the higher education candidate pool to bolster our members’ diversity outreach efforts. A key component of our work to engage both active and passive job seekers at different stages in their careers is through content marketing – producing and distributing relevant, useful content that supports career exploration, job searching, and career advancement. Our content for job seekers includes profiles of diverse higher ed professionals in various positions and career stages. Our goal with these profiles is to share real stories of individuals who have pursued careers in higher education ...

From Career Transitions to DEI: LinkedIn Polls Shed Light on Job Seeker Priorities

By Marcia Silva posted 04-17-2024
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With nearly 27,000 followers, LinkedIn continues to be one of HERC’s top channels for reaching and engaging with job seekers, particularly those that identify as being in the middle stage of their careers. We leverage social media and regularly post LinkedIn polls to learn about what potential and current higher ed professionals think about relevant and timely topics related to working in higher ed. Below are some recent poll results to reflect on as you consider employee recruitment and retention initiatives. Changing Careers is Common When asked if they’ve ever switched career paths, nearly the same percentage ...

Membership Milestone: HERC in All 50 States!

By Marcia Silva posted 01-12-2024
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We are thrilled to announce HERC’s nationwide expansion, now offering membership in all 50 states! This strategic decision marks a significant milestone in HERC’s journey, opening doors for colleges, universities, and other higher ed across the country to join our community dedicated to fostering an inclusive higher education workforce. After conducting an internal assessment of regional health and membership needs, HERC leadership approved the restructuring and expansion of HERC regions to strengthen our member network, expand the institution types in our region, and help us grow sustainably. “Transforming HERC into a nationwide organization ...

LinkedIn Poll Findings: Job Seeker Insights on Various Topics

By Marcia Silva posted 07-28-2023
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Harnessing the tools of social media can result in a breadth of knowledge. When used well, creators can not only send out their message and vision, but also draw insight on their community. HERC continues to develop a better understanding of potential and current higher ed professionals through the utilization of LinkedIn poll features. Despite the limitations of a brief poll, several interesting observations have been made in the most recent batch of questions to higher ed professionals. Searching for jobs using various channels Job seekers are finding their roles in higher ed in a variety of ways. When asked how they found ...

Wright State University: 5-Year Anniversary as a Lead Institution

By Marcia Silva posted 06-16-2023
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Wright State University has been the lead institution of Ohio-Western Pennsylvania-West Virginia HERC since 2018. To acknowledge and celebrate this 5-year milestone, we highlight individuals at Wright State University and other regional leaders that have helped forward HERC’s mission and demonstrated their commitment to creating inclusive workplaces where people of all identities and perspectives can thrive. We are also grateful to the institution’s community partners that have helped strengthen our efforts to reach and support our members and job seekers. WSU Mission: We empower all students to excel in their lives and chosen careers through integrated ...

HERC Report Shows Growing Competition for Stagnant Higher Ed Candidate Pool

By Marcia Silva posted 06-13-2023
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We’re excited to share the results of HERC’s annual job seeker survey in our new publication, “2023 HERC Job Seeker Survey Report: Understanding the Higher Ed Workforce.” As recruitment and retention remain top of mind for higher ed employers, the report provides a timely pulse check on today’s higher education job seekers. One of our goals for the report is to identify actionable, realistic, and impactful improvements that higher education employers can make to find, select, and retain staff and faculty. Members can download the full report here . The report provides insights on the current job seeker landscape, factors affecting ...

Remembering Eddie Freeman, HERC Champion and Leader

By Marcia Silva posted 05-19-2023
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It is with deep sadness and heavy hearts that we inform you of the passing of HERC champion and DEI leader, Eddie Freeman. It is an immense loss for our community, and we mourn the departure of a visionary leader, mentor, and dear friend. Eddie played an instrumental role in shaping the foundation of HERC. With unwavering dedication, he guided us through big changes and towards growth. His vision for HERC was to continue to grow and connect our community of practice; collaborate to build tools and knowledge that allow us to advance our shared mission; and continue on a path that strengthens the organization. His passion and commitment have been an inspiration ...

Greater Missouri HERC Now Called South Midwest HERC

By Marcia Silva posted 05-09-2023
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We are excited to share that the Greater Missouri HERC is expanding to three more states and changing its name to reflect the new expansion. Renamed the South Midwest HERC , the region now includes Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and southern Illinois. This expansion provides opportunities for membership growth, more regional and national member networking and collaborations, increased dual career support, additional thought-leadership opportunities, and more regional programming. When launched in 2007, the regional HERC was a collaborative of member institutions working to address the many challenges and opportunities of academic recruitment and retention ...

Forging Connections Through Intergenerational Leadership

By Marcia Silva posted 01-11-2023
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Dr. Saint Rice, Jr., Assistant Dean in the Washington University Olin School of Business and Director of Faculty, Staff, and Community Engagement, Washington University in St. Louis and HERC Advisory Board Member As an administrator in the criminal justice field, Dr. Saint Rice saw younger generations entering the workforce and noticed that the practices regarding leadership development were not connecting with Millennials and Gen Z and needed to be updated. New employees that were excited to enter the field and impact their communities quickly became disillusioned. “Probably within seven months or so, I saw the glow in their eyes was gone, and many of ...

5 Data-Informed Steps for Retention & Recruitment

By Marcia Silva posted 01-10-2023
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Setting actionable goals for the higher ed workplace can be a daunting task. With so many aspects of employee management, it can be a challenge to pinpoint tangible tasks to meet your objectives. One of HERC’s objectives in the past year was to better utilize LinkedIn polls to engage and learn from higher ed job seekers. With over 20,000 followers, LinkedIn is HERC’s largest social media channel to reach its community of job seekers and others employed in higher ed. Below are 5 steps to strengthen recruitment and retention efforts at your institution, informed by what we learned from our LinkedIn polls. 1. Offer work from home and/or flexible schedules ...

Meet Kari Steele and Jessica Wise, HERC’s Co-Executive Directors

By Marcia Silva posted 07-19-2022
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We are pleased to announce that Kari Steele and Jessica Wise have been promoted to Co-Executive Directors of the Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC). Kari and Jessica bring a wealth of knowledge about our organization as well as complimentary skill sets and shared values to lead HERC’s future growth. As Co-Executive Director/Director of Operations, Kari focuses on operations, including technology and finance. Kari is passionate about growing internal infrastructures, companies, communities, and, most of all, people. She has more than 20 years of experience in strategic technology development, financial planning, and board governance. Kari previously ...

New HERC Report Highlights Changing Higher Ed Candidate Pool Make-Up

By Marcia Silva posted 06-15-2022
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We’re excited to share the results of HERC’s annual job seeker survey in our new publication, “2022 HERC Job Seeker Survey Report: Reaching, Attracting, and Keeping Today’s Higher Ed Professional.” Employers continue to grapple with the “Great Resignation,” trying to fill job vacancies and address quickly evolving employee needs. One of our goals for the report is to help higher education employers identify actionable, realistic, and impactful improvements to finding, selecting, and retaining staff and. Members can download the full report here . The report delves into how to grow the job candidate pool, appeal to job seekers, and retain employees. Some ...

San Diego State University to Serve as New Lead Institution for SoCal HERC

By Marcia Silva posted 05-17-2022
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We are excited to announce that San Diego State University (SDSU) will now serve as the lead institution for the Southern California Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (SoCal HERC). SoCal HERC includes more than 700 regional HERC colleagues and 30 diverse institutions, universities, research institutes, teaching hospitals, and community colleges, representing over 450,000 students. "SDSU is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive campus community through dedicated student support services and expanded recruitment efforts for faculty, staff and students," said Salvador Hector Ochoa, SDSU Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs. “This ...

Timely Insight Into Job Seeker Attitudes

By Marcia Silva posted 04-18-2022
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In today’s volatile job market, higher ed employers are trying to figure out if and how to adjust their efforts to recruit and retain diverse and talented faculty and staff. The HERC Central Team capitalized on our growing number of followers on LinkedIn to keep job seekers engaged even if they weren’t proactively searching for new jobs. We started conducting monthly polls on LinkedIn to get valuable, real-time information about job seeker attitudes and preferences. Below are the results of our recent LinkedIn Polls: Our January poll asked: “What is your top career goal in 2022?” Over half of respondents chose, “Find a new job” and, interestingly, just over ...

Reflections on 47 Years at Yale: Celebrating Valarie Stanley

By Marcia Silva posted 02-09-2022
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When Valarie Stanley started at Yale University Press in 1974, her HR specialist began talking to her about Yale’s retirement program. "I remember thinking to myself, 'Was she crazy? Retire from this place?'" Stanley said. "That was totally not my plan." Stanley did eventually leave Yale – nearly a half-century later. Her last day on the New Haven, Conn. campus was Dec. 31, 2021. Early Lesson Stanley did only stay at Yale University Press for 10 months, but she soon transferred to the Provost Office and stayed at the school in various roles for the rest of her career. Her first major project was preparing the school’s first affirmative action plan. Stanley ...

New Resource: HERC Diversity Recruitment Toolkit

By Marcia Silva posted 01-19-2022
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Is your institution ready to recruit for diversity/diverse candidates? To achieve real gains, your diversity recruitment strategy must be informed by your institution’s broader diversity, equity, and inclusion mission, and integrated into ongoing recruitment activities. HERC’s new Diversity Recruitment Toolkit includes the Diversity Recruitment Readiness Assessment, which drives decision-making for an inclusive recruitment strategy. The Readiness Assessment looks at six areas that impact and shape your inclusive recruitment efforts: Mission - A visible commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging clarifies goals and establishes accountability. ...

Advice from a Colleague: Brandy Foster, Wright State University

By Marcia Silva posted 11-08-2021
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Brandy Foster is the executive director of two major centers at Wright State University: The ONEIL Center and the Emergence Center at the university’s foundation. She is also a senior lecturer in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at Wright State, where she earned baccalaureate and master’s degrees in English Language & Literatures. Based on her experience rising up the ranks in higher ed, and even branching into a STEM field with a background in humanities, Foster offers these tips that can help you advance in your own career. Practice Intrapreneurship Universities are just really interesting microcosms of society. We have really ...