I decided to build a job search site

If you’re like me, and you may be since you’re reading this post,  you get ideas for apps , websites and services all the time. I know I do. What I am bad at is actually executing these ideas. Sometimes I write a little code, other times I buy a domain name that would fit …

I decided to build a job search site Read More »

The post I decided to build a job search site appeared first on HighEdWebTech.

If you’re like me, and you may be since you’re reading this post,  you get ideas for apps , websites and services all the time. I know I do. What I am bad at is actually executing these ideas. Sometimes I write a little code, other times I buy a domain name that would fit my idea and then life happens and before you know it I have a bunch of folders, some code and domain names but no real sites to speak of.  I’m trying to break that cycle.

I worked in higher ed from 1998 to 2016. It was both the best and hardest career choice I could have made and it was awesome. I met so many awesome colleagues, team members, friends and more across that time. I left and went to the private sector for two years, but it wasn’t a great fit. At that point, I went full-time on my own at my digital agency, Gas Mark 8.  I kept looking for higher ed roles, interviewed for several (including a few full-day on campus interviews) but nothing went my way. What can you do — it happens.

Over the last 6 years since I left higher ed, I’ve seen so many amazing people leave the industry. It started pre-pandemic, the last 3 years have really been hard on higher education and there’s been a large exodus of talent. There are a lot of reasons for that, and we know many of them (pay, remote work, career advancement, difficult environments, the big sea change in education, and so on.) There has been a very large brain drain, and that’s a bummer.

I’m bummed because I love higher ed and it’s important. I don’t know what the future holds for it, but I believe in what its about. I have one child a year away from finishing college and one a year away from starting. They’re working with amazing faculty and staff and taking advantage of all the opportunities they can. It’s so critical as they get ready to go out into the world.

Back in 2013 or 2014, I created a very quick and dirty job search website that provided links to the HR listing pages of colleges and universities around me in Cleveland, where I live. I was curious about what was out there, and made a simple tool. I shared it with some folks on my team, and added more cities like Erie and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was just for me mostly, and had very little in terms of design or usability. I did, however, notic