Struggling, but there are opportunities to be a hero
Pros
1. Friday afternoons off (in most departments). 2. Christian environment. 3. Low expectations for you as an employee (if you are marginally good elsewhere, you are excellent here). 4. Educational benefits for you, your spouse, and your kids. 5. Opportunity for making big changes if you are willing to be a leader and really get involved. 6. Lots of retirements in the next five years will mean lots of opportunity (if you have an advanced degree). 7. The people who work here really do want to do the right thing. 8. If you are a traditional Adventist, you will probably feel like you are working with "your people" and will be happy to not have Sabbath conflicts (though there are lots of ways to work on Sabbaths without getting paid). 9. Our students are really lovely to work with. That's my favorite part of the job!
Cons
1. Quite a bit of cultural baggage; it's a very conservative Christian environment. 2. You almost always need to be a traditional Seventh-day Adventist to work here. 3. Hidden expectations from everyone that you will do much more than your job entails. They are struggling financially so everyone needs to volunteer to do more to keep things running. 4. You need to have a degree beyond a bachelor's to move up within the organization, and some positions require a doctorate for administrator roles. It doesn't seem to matter what degree you have, as long as it's advanced. This means that sometimes the people who are not the most qualified experience-wise get the job because they have an advanced degree. 5. Low pay compared to the corporate world. 6. Lack of commitment to simplification; everything seems much more complex and takes much longer than it needs to. 7. Because employees know each other outside of work, there are times when difficult conversations/decision do not happen because "well, we're good friends" or "we're related." This adds a level of politics that is not helpful for productivity or making tough decisions. 8. I would only recommend working here if you are a conservative Adventist or are willing to play games to appear to be a conservative Adventist. 9. A lot of employees here have either only worked at Andrews or have only worked within the Adventist system. This creates a lack of outside experience which is handicapping to the organization.
