In my experience, however, a degree is very helpful to working in HE, for several reasons.

1) It shows you have an interest in, and an aptitude for, the central service/product on offer by the university or college you are applying to – education is at the core of their business and their values, and you would be best placed if you can demonstrate the role it has had in your life as well.

2) Higher education is an increasingly complex and dynamic industry, and advanced studies lend themselves to the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills that are valued in that kind of environment.  Having a degree doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to be a flexible, adaptable, pro-active employee, but it may show that you have a pre-disposition towards this.

3) Working with others who have advanced degrees and/or who are at the top of their field – you won’t automatically be able to get the respect you deserve from a fellow staff member just because you’ve got some letters behind your name, but when you’re working in a place that places a great deal of importance on teaching and research, you may find it easier if you know your quantitative from qualitative evidence, and are able to demonstrate this tangibly not only from your professional working history, but also from having taken appropriate courses at some stage in your career.

All of this will of course depend to a certain extent the role that you have as well as your relationship with your peers and of course the institutional culture where you work.  But in my experience, you will likely find it easier to get settled in a new role if you have had some prior experience of university-level study and how a university organizes itself.  And certainly as a hiring manager, with all else being equal, I would certainly prioritise an applicant or a candidate for promotion who showed a continuing interest in their own personal and/or professional education, and would certainly encourage him or her to take courses at the institution.

Another option to consider is joining professional networks and memberships.  Most professionals working in higher education (on either the academic or administrative side) hold multiple memberships of relevant professional organisations, which are also selective and often also require studies at an appropriate level in order to gain membership.

There may be a “degree” of academic snobbery at work here, in that members of the academy expect that others in the organisation should have achieved a similar standard of education. But when you think about it in terms of an institution’s brand values and mission in society, what does it say if they conclude a degree isn’t important to success?

Why not try looking at a career in Higher Education? It may seem strange at a time when University funding cuts are being widely talked about but for me the pros far outwiegh the cons.

I worked in a corporate environment before I took a job in Higher Education and the contrast is startling. To work in an atmosphere that was not entirely focused on making money was a refreshing change. Most of the staff in HE both academic and non-academic are focused on improving the students’ experience. This is becoming increasingly so as the students are expecting more for their increased fees.

There are a wide variety of jobs (As the blog title says it’s Not Just Teaching) that are required in order to keep a university functioning. From marketing and PR jobs, careers advisers, administrators and even graphic designers, so any job in a university brings you into contact with a wide range of people with differing skills.

The pay and benefits are also good at most UK universities – they haven’t suffered the pay freezes that the public sector have and wages are still competitive with similar roles in the private sector. Many universities offer cut-price childcare and gym membership as additional benefits.

Holidays too are generous with most universities giving around 5 closure days/concessionary days over the year including a long break at Christmas without any extra holidays taken.

Opportunities for progression are often very good with opportunities across various departments allowing you to develop a wide range of skills.

Of course there are downsides too and not everyone will have found their experiences as good as mine; Funding cuts are a cause for concern and some smaller universities may merge which would cause some job losses. However, I think for those of us who are lucky enough to work in Higher Education should take the time now and again to appreciate how much worse our working lives could be and how fortunate we are.

I couldn’t help thinking that the current economic climate has something to do with this. After all, I know that competition for any job in the past few months has been fierce. Even most non-academic university vacancies nowadays attract several applications from redundant (or redundancy-fearing) City workers – usually well qualified and with lots of desirable competencies. This makes things harder and more complicated for everybody – candidates and recruiters alike. This makes the outcome of any job application even more unpredictable than it is anyway.

Some interesting HE employees

While City workers may or may not get the job at the end of the day, higher education is one of the foremost industries in the UK that is open to people from different and diverse backgrounds. Even from my limited experience working in the sector, I have met people from every possible background doing university work that is not always relevant to what they used to do before.

Let’s see if I can muster some of the most astonishing examples I have come across:

• Ex-wedding planner now managing business development activities
• Ex-airhostess now coordinating student internships
• Ex-journalist now writing and managing bids
• Ex-librarian now a Careers Advisor
• Ex-actress now an executive PA
• And let’s not forget me: an ex-political researcher and journalist who happened to fall into higher education and loved it so much that now I want to develop my career in the sector

Is all this good or bad?

Depending on whether you see the glass as half-full or half-empty, this openness can be seen as good or bad news. With the current economic climate, it may mean that competition becomes much harder, but not for those candidates who can demonstrate a real interest and knowledge of the sector and can show how their skills make them the right person for the job. Whether those skills come from higher education or elsewhere, it is those candidates who are ultimately going to get interviews and land the jobs.

For people already employed in the sector, this can only mean good news. With the exception of a few highly specialised positions, most non-academic posts require the same transferable skills. In my current role, I work with students, academics and external organisations. I do events coordination, marketing, bid writing support, website management and administration, all in between internal and external meetings. All my colleagues do the same, from my line manager to the department head. Some tasks are enjoyable, some are not. But the point is that we are lucky enough to gain a range of transferable skills that can be applied to a wide variety of different roles and functions. HE institutions do not normally discourage internal mobility, so it is not unusual for staff to move to a different department of the same institution for career development purposes. Similarly, HE hiring managers usually keep an open mind about the type of candidates they are looking to recruit and about the kind of experience those candidates bring along. It is not always necessary that your current role is an exact fit to the new vacancy if you have the required skills and are able to prove it.

I don’t know if I am overly optimistic, but to me, this all sounds like good news.