Tarrant County College FAQ

The management is wonderful. I worked with amazing team members and other lifeguards. Made some good friends. You act as both gym supervisor and lifeguard so you never get bored. Management is very understanding of college students trying to work towards their future.

Scheduling can be a bit difficult because it is based off of the classes offered in the gym.

Benefits are great and matching retirement

Not many to speak about

I have no advice for management

time off, holidays, sick days, vacation

Red tape, write ups, slow, wasteful, bureaucracy

You get to work with students and in our department you build a relationship with them because we work closely with them throughout the semester. They come to trust us and often seek our advice. The best part is seeing how much they've grown once they graduate or transfer. My interactions with them are the best part of this job. TCC offers great benefits (if you are full-time), an unheard of amount of time off and a pretty laid back environment (depending on your department). I work in a small department with a fantastic supervisor so my experience has been great. Your medical insurance is paid by TCC (employee only), the vision and dental are dirt cheap. You can also benefit from a TexFlex spending account and basic life insurance (paid by the college). We get a week for Spring Break and 2 1/2 weeks for Christmas (sometimes it is 3 full weeks if the semester dates align right). Faculty gets a week for Thanksgiving but staff only gets Thanksgiving and the Friday after. All of this, is in addition to the vacation and sick leave (separate accruals) you earn each month. During the Summer we work 4-10 hour days and are off on Fridays (you either love it or hate it: I happen to love it).

There is a glaring discrepancy when it comes to pay. If you are staff (which is what my position is considered) the only way you make what would be considered "good money" is as an Administrator (Coordinator, Assistant Director or Director). Advisors and Counselors also make decent money but otherwise you will probably need another salary to combine with yours in order to have any quality of lifestyle. What they ask of Administrative Assistants and what they pay them is ridiculous. We have some staff (mainly the above mentioned Admin. Assistants) that have to visit our Food Pantry just to make it through the month. Full time positions are hard to come by and when they do open up you have way too many people applying for the one position. Nepotism is alive and well here so good luck getting your foot in the door or even advancing. There seems to be a shift in this mindset but as with any change, it is slow. I read another review that mentioned having to leave TCC, advance and then return: that is a VERY accurate statement. However, if you are hired you are pretty much set, even if you don't do your job well: I've rarely heard of people being fired (at least on my campus). We have an employee that I'm sure would have been terminated anywhere else but there's not much accountability around here nor consequences for inappropriate behavior or being unprofessional. Also be ware, there is difference between part-time and on-call (Part-time is guarnteed 19.5 hours a week, on-call positions are at the mercy of the departments needs). When there are campus events on-call positions will be the ones in the office working while everyone else is attending (for some this creates tension because on-call positions can sometimes be treated like "second-class citizens").

This goes to District not just Management (because they are beholden to district policies): find a way to invest in your CURRENT employees. Even if advancement is not an option, allow for growth within a position. Some individuals actually enjoy there current role and do not want to be forced to change positions for better pay in order to survive. Ask the people on the ground floor for their input: we work with the students on a daily basis and know their struggles/challenges. We're their voice and any change that is made should have them in mind first and foremost if we are to truly be a Student-Ready college. As a note to Glassdoor: Allen Goben is not the "CEO". He was the President at the Northeast Campus (but no longer holds that position). Dr. Eugene Giovannini is the current Chancellor (or "CEO").

professional development, pay, locations are optional

not much room for advancement