Research Reports

Research Reports

HERC conducts research to understand higher ed professionals' and job seekers' experiences and identify how HERC can best support a higher ed workplace where all individuals feel valued and empowered.

2024 HERC Job Seeker Survey Report

What Matters Most - Insights from the Higher Education Talent Community

As higher education employers continue to assess the impact of recent media attention on higher education, limited budgets, and competition from external employers, a new report from the Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC) provides timely insights into the higher education talent community, including what benefits are most attractive and the impact of campus culture on job interests. 

View 2024 HERC Job Seeker Survey Report »

2023 HERC Job Seeker Survey Report

Understanding the Higher Ed Workforce

As recruitment and retention remain top of mind for higher education employers, a new report from the Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC) provides a timely pulse check on today’s higher ed job seekers. The report provides insights on the current job seeker landscape, factors affecting employee retention, and the value of diversity and inclusion workplace efforts. 

View 2023 HERC Job Seeker Survey Report »

2022 HERC Job Seeker Survey Report

Reaching, Attracting, and Keeping Today's Higher Ed Professional

As employers continue to grapple with the “Great Resignation,” they are faced with filling job vacancies and addressing quickly evolving employee needs. The report delves into how to grow the job candidate pool, appeal to job seekers, and retain employees. 

View 2022 HERC Job Seeker Survey Report »

2021 HERC Job Seeker Survey Report

DEI and the Changing Perspectives in the Higher Ed Workforce

Continued concerns about workplace health and safety, combined with challenges in finding candidates for job openings, have put pressure on higher education employers to address the changing needs and expectations of job seekers and current staff and faculty. The report addresses four topics: job searching now, job advancement, expectations of employers, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

View 2021 HERC Job Seeker Survey Report »

Modernization, Development & DEI: The Future Role of Workforce Technology in Higher Education

In Partnership with NEOED

Published in 2021, the report, sourced from a survey of nearly 200 professionals working in higher education at a variety of two-year and four-year institutions, finds that with the end of the pandemic in sight, educational institutions are looking to take the opportunity to disrupt the status quo of recruitment, onboarding, and workforce development. 

View Modernization, Development & DEI Report »

Research Partners

With a steadfast commitment to support research-based practices to diversify and grow the higher education workforce, HERC serves as a research partner in academic and industry research initiatives. By facilitating access to timely data, HERC fosters collaboration, knowledge sharing, and the collective pursuit of solutions to some of higher ed's most pressing recruitment, hiring, and retention challenges. 

• Data Analytics Capstone Projects with Trinity University, Spring 2024: HERC supports its member institutions in attracting, hiring, and retaining a diverse and talented workforce. During Spring 2024, Trinity University partnered with HERC on two data analytics capstone projects focused on HERC’s job board. The two student groups utilized two years of job board data from January 2022 to December 2023. In one of the capstone projects, the group of students sought to discover meaningful patterns and determine the unique characteristics of a job posting that lead to more engagement (i.e., higher numbers of views and applications). The other group had a similar focus, but with a slightly different approach, initially focusing on the inclusion of “remote” in the posting title and salary information in the posting body. Learn More.
• The U.S. Academic Job Market Survives the SARS-CoV-2 Global Pandemic, April 2022: Many speculated that the faculty job market would be severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially for years. An examination of faculty job postings from 2018 to 2021 found that while they decreased in 2020, the market recovered in 2021. Individuals were also surveyed on how the pandemic affected their perceptions, behaviors, and outcomes of the faculty job market in 2019–20 and 2020–21. Approximately 10% of the faculty job offers made to 2019–20 survey respondents were reported as rescinded. While the faculty job market may have recovered, the effect of the pandemic on postdoctoral career choices may have future implications. Learn More.