4 Rules for Success in the Higher Education Job Search

What does it mean to have a successful job search in higher education? The answer is similar to the same question asked about careers: it depends on what you value (and your current needs). It could be achieving tenure, having enough money to pay your mortgage, or simply working on a college campus because you believe in the mission of higher education and making an impact on students’ lives.

According to Bruce Feiler, author of seven New York Times bestsellers including “The Search,” success in a job search is not finding that one position — it’s discovering meaningful work.

Of course, not everyone has the privilege of looking solely for meaning. For many job seekers — especially in today’s uncertain environment — success may simply mean stability: a steady paycheck, benefits, or finally landing a role after months of searching. Yet, if you do have the opportunity to seek more meaningful work, Feiler’s book can be a great place to start.

“We’re moving from a means-based economy to a meaning-based economy,” he wrote.

This doesn’t mean “Anything goes,” “It all depends on what you’re feeling,” or “Success is in the eye of the beholder.” Anyone conducting a job search still needs guidance. Sure, there’s the tactical aspects of a search — networking, crafting application materials, and evaluating opportunities — but Feiler provides some insightful frameworks for thinking about the job search.

“Finding meaning in your work life is not as simple as beefing up your resume, identifying job openings, and going on interviews,” Feiler wrote. “If anything, those steps are the last part of the process. The real work is what precedes those steps.”

Feiler prescribes four rules for success — and, yes, meaning is part of them. But each of these rules is not an if-then reasoning for arriving at an answer. Just as your career or job search is not a project or a problem to be solved, success is a state of being. Here are the rules with additional commentary as it relates to higher education professionals:

#1 Success is Not Climbing; Success is Digging

It’s easy for higher education professionals to get caught up in climbing the ladder because of the hierarchical structure of administration, with all its associate directors, vice presidents, and assistants to the provost, as well as the promotion and tenure schedules for faculty. On top of that is the currency of prestige, whether it’s working for institutions that are classified as “elite” or getting your research published in the best journals.

Digging here is not about burying your career in a dead-end hole. It’s about looking within to figure out if you’re doing all the things the world is telling you that you should be doing and searching for a job and a career that excavates what you really want to be doing. Or maybe it’s digging into what you do best.

If you’re applying for a faculty role at a teaching-focused university, you might highlight your deep commitment to inclusive pedagogy and undergraduate mentoring instead of presenting the job as a step toward becoming department chair.

#2 Success is Not Individual; Success is Collective

No one succeeds alone. This might be difficult for some in higher education, especially early-career professionals, because your path to success is a relatively solitary effort. You might have great mentors, but earning a Ph.D. or a qualifying credential involves a lot of individual work.

Success in higher education is often being a product of your social environment. It comes from collaboration, committee work, research teams, and shared purpose. Isolated achievements matter, especially arriving at certain points like earning tenure, but long-term success and fulfillment depend on others.

Employers value collegiality, and so should you. Collective achievement is how and why colleges and universities exist. They are learning communities, not just affiliations for public intellectuals or shopping malls for degrees.

As an example, if you’re working in an academic advising office, think about how you coordinate with faculty, student services, and career development to launch a student success initiative that improves retention rates.

#3 Success is Not Means; Success is Meaning

Numbers + words = work. For too long, Feiler wrote, the numbers of money dominated this equation: the more you make, the more successful you are. However, now success is more of a function of words. “It’s about the meaning you assign to success,” he wrote. “And each person gets to decide that meaning for themselves.”

Few professionals enter their careers in higher education because of the salary. Even the highest paid presidents don’t measure success on numbers the way business executives think about their stock prices and the bottom line.

Key performance indicators like retention rates and enrollment numbers are part of the equation. But in higher education, success is most defined by emotions, not transactions. It’s hard for someone to know for sure the immediate value of higher education — they have to feel it. People are loyal to institutions and their values more than any other business. It’s a continuous state that’s mostly defined by words.

Meaning often comes from influencing students’ lives and futures. Choose opportunities where you can make a difference and seek institutions whose missions match your sense of purpose.

#4 Success is Not Status; Success is Story

Because success is not fixed or determined by a destination, narration is the important and consequential rule. The story you tell yourself and others about your work matters, and there’s more than one way to tell your story.

The narrative of growth, resilience, and contribution defines your professional journey. It makes your work life memorable, especially to hiring committees.

Build a coherent story across your experiences that connects your motivations, choices, and values, one that reflects real challenges and lessons learned.

Higher education provides people (students and the professionals who support them) a narrative arc: where you started, what you learned, and where you’re going.

Like stories, statuses change. But once a job title or certain status is achieved, it is temporary and fleeting.

The story, the search, and success are ongoing.

Quoting Orson Welles, Feiler notes that a happy ending depends on where you stop your story.

In Conclusion

In the end, success in the higher education job search isn’t about reaching a destination but about continually digging, connecting, finding meaning, and shaping a story that reflects who you are and why your work matters. There may be times when necessity outweighs meaning — and that’s okay. It’s a journey.