How to be noticed for senior management positions in academe

Getting yourself noticed for senior management positions is not only important because you get to practise the skills required to succeed in such positions; if you aren't noticed you are likely to miss out on opportunities. Most people don't notice when these roles are advertised, and some -- especially women -- do not want to put themselves forward. For these reasons, it is vitally important to be noticed as a potential candidate, before your ideal role becomes available. 

Follow the points below and I may tap you on the shoulder about becoming an academic leader.

Be Seen

Create a LinkedIn profile and keep it up to date, it only takes a few minutes each month. If you're worried you will get unwanted approaches, shut them out in your settings. Keep your university staff page up to date and comprehensive. If your institution's systems make updating it too hard, create your own website, or blog. Don’t forget to add the links to your LinkedIn profile.

Be Known as a Deft Administrator

If people notice you managing well, they are more likely to suggest you for a management role. Serving in Deputy or Acting positions is ideal, but these opportunities are few and can be hard to get. Consider other roles that will get your administrative skills noticed and valued by peers, such as editing a journal or becoming involved in a project. Showing your diplomacy, and your competence in getting things done to a level of excellence, not only earns respect from peers but impresses a selection panel.

In an upcoming post I will address the selection criteria used for academic leadership positions, following a research survey I am conducting of the higher education sector in Australia. In the meantime I will speak generally about the skills and experience required.

Acquire Relevant Skills and Experience

The ability to manage financial outcomes is increasingly important and yet many academics fall short in this vital area. Consider managing a conference or other event, and be able to talk about the financial outcomes (did it make money? how did you raise additional funds?). If you don't understand budgets at all, there are plenty of short courses designed for generalists.

Being able to manage change, is another capability of strong contenders for leadership. As change becomes the ‘new normal’ across campuses and disciplines, there are many change initiatives you can become actively involved in. Remember to be considered in your approaches and evaluate the impacts of your actions, so you can both articulate how you manage change and become better at it. Being able to drive change from the ground up is great for getting involved in your institution, in advocating for changes (both up and down), becoming good at consultation and building support for initiatives. 

Many successful academics do not want to serve in administration for their academic communities. It is true that management positions on campus today leave little time for research or teaching; while a good track record in both these areas remain prerequisite to being eligible. A desire for academic achievement through others, and through the sometimes exhausting processes of modern universities, is mandatory. And we do need more people willing and ready to step into these positions, with the respect and support of their colleagues, if we are to maintain the strength of our universities through the impending retirement of so many baby boomers currently in these roles. 

Two smart strategies Australia’s proposed new university will use to secure a future academic workforce

Laureate International Universities has applied to open the nation’s fifth private university (as reported in last week's Campus Review).


If approved by the South Australian State Government, the new enterprise will bear the grand title The International University of Australia. The Public Consultation Document is published here.


Australian universities generally are not planning how to retain what Laureate admits is every University's "key asset", its workforce; despite increasing challenges to attract and retain the people they require. Not so at The International University of Australia. Part of its proposed model is to attract PhD students by employing them as academics, noting that the Australian Postgraduate Award provides a stipend that is too low to attract people in professions who can make more money outside of academe. This is a canny way to also secure an on site workforce in fields -- hospitality, adult education, design and business management education -- where it is complex and difficult to manage an army of part time and contract teaching staff. Having teaching staff on site while they also do their research will inevitably lead to more contact with students. It also plans to establish a systematic mentoring process for junior staff. Both these strategies should help create a pipeline of talent in a challenging geographical market (Adelaide) and in a higher education sector that is about to wave bye-bye to a swathe of staff approaching retirement.


The Laureate group can also offer career pathways – opportunities to develop while also providing the lifestyle benefits of travel and living in new countries – that should also help attract and retain a bright young workforce. Other Australian institutions may not be able to provide their staff with the global reach of Laureate, but being smarter about how to attract and retain staff earlier in their careers – there is not much evidence of this going on.


In the short term, Laureate will be looking to appoint new research-focused staff in design, hospitality and global business, who have track records in winning grants. If you are an institution with people like these on staff, I recommend you look at how you might need to retain them. If that’s you, and you’d like some advice on your CV presentation, feel free to get in touch with me.