I get SO many questions about my role as an adjunct professor; I can’t believe I haven’t talked about it here before. Today I wanted to share more details on my second job including how I got into it and why I love teaching!

When John and I got engaged in 2009, I was looking for a way to make extra money to help save for the wedding. I remember a few of my friends taking extra retail jobs on the side to save up for some pricier wedding items when they got married. I was right in the beginning of my career and already working a lot of unpredictable hours and I couldn’t imagine having to leave my day job and head over to a retail store to work the night away.

One of my friends randomly mentioned to me that I should look into teaching since I had a Master’s degree. I didn’t realize teaching was something I could do, I always thought that it was something you might consider when you retired. So shout out to everyone with a Master’s degree – you are eligible to teach at the college level! After she planted the seed, I started looking into it and I found a friend of a friend that had done it before. I met her for lunch and picked her brain on how to get started.

The first thing you need to do is develop a Curriculum Vitae (CV), it’s like a resume, but structured for academia. Then I just started looking for adjunct jobs and applied. I got a break early on at The Art Institute of Michigan. They were looking for someone to teach public relations for their fashion students.

Before I could land the job, I had to come in for a teaching audition. I prepared a PR 101 presentation, practiced it on John a few times, and then presented it to a room of faculty. They liked the presentation and I got the job! I ended up teaching a variety of classes at The Art Institute for six years.

A few years ago, I was getting busy at work and The Art Institute decided to close its Michigan location so I stopped teaching. Not long after I started my own business (you can read more about that here), a position opened up at The University of Michigan – Dearborn (my alma mater)! This was such an amazing opportunity for me, especially since I had taken the same classes and graduated from the same program.

I LOVE teaching, but aside from that, it’s become a great way for me save up for big events and vacations. If you’re looking to get into teaching, here are a few tips to get you started:

• Finish your Master’s degree
• Turn your resume into a curriculum vitae (CV)
• Find opportunities to guest lecture at local universities (you can add those opportunities to your CV later)
• Start with private universities – they offer a lot of guidance and training upfront and smaller class sizes which is great when you are new to teaching
• Draft your own “teaching philosophy“

Aside from being a great side hustle, I love teaching and mentoring students at the beginning of their careers. It can be so rewarding and it’s a great opportunity for me to continue sharpening my skills.

If you are an adjunct drop me a line, I would love to connect!