It is possible to think strategically about acquiring online adjunct professor jobs, but it requires a distinctly innovative assessment of the post-secondary academic labor market to be successful. Over the last decade, and quite possibly the last twenty years, the available faculty positions at colleges and universities have changed from the tenured job, which is not subject to budget cuts, to the hire-at-will adjunct instructor, a position that can be filled or not filled as the budget cuts and student populations dictate. Further, in recent years, the emergence of distance education as a mature technology has created a very inexpensive vehicle for the distribution of college classes when compared to the enormous costs associated with building and maintaining a physical college campus.
Of course, it is these exact same economic considerations, adjunct are considerably cheaper than tenured professors in sheer economic terms, that have created the atmosphere in which academic entrepreneurism is thriving and which is giving alert intellectuals with earned graduate degrees the ability to harness online adjunct jobs as a growth industry. Make no mistake about it, teaching for online bachelor degree programs and online master degree programs offered by schools that provide their students with the opportunity to earn an electrical engineering bachelor degree online, a health administration degree online or an online masters degree in school counseling can permit practically anyone with a master’s degree or Ph.D. to earn a decent living from a personal computer.
Many new and returning college students are enrolling in online college classes because it is simply more convenient to earn an online computer science degree or an online marketing degree from an inexpensive laptop accessing the Internet than it is to drive to a remote college campus located in a congested urban center or on the edge of town after working all day at one or more jobs and taking care of family obligations. In the same way, online adjunct instructors are finding that online teaching for academic institutions that have figured out the economic efficiency of online college degree programs is much more viable as a career path than waiting for the practically non-existent tenured position to open up.
Given these circumstances, it is important to understand that the popularity of online college classes is growing each day and that very popularity is creating a need for individuals with the appropriate academic credentials, an earned graduate degree at a minimum, and the technical skills set to fill the online adjunct faculty positions with online bachelor degree programs and online master degree programs. More important, it is vital that online adjunct instructors understand the labor dynamics that now exist in the colleges and universities that offer an online bachelor degree and online graduate degrees in a variety of academic subjects since there is a growing opportunity to earn multiple income streams by learning how to strategically apply for and land the online adjunct jobs.
Make no mistake about it: the individual who can develop the technical skill set required to navigate successfully an online academic interface and who can develop the time management skills necessary to constantly search for new online adjunct instructor positions while coordinating the teaching of five or six online classes filled with students earning, say, an online engineering degree will do quite well in terms of being constantly employed and financially satisfied, but it will all begin with strategic thinking about online adjunct professor jobs.
