Pros
First, you will grow as a professional. Not because formal professional development programs, HR policies, or a feeling that the company truly values you and your colleagues. If anything, the exact opposite is true. Rather, you will grow because you will be disappointed. Laughed at behind your back. You won’t get that promotion after years of hard work. The politics coming from the C-suite will paralyze any good ideas coming from you or your colleagues. Executives will care more about which airline or hotel they choose for the points than any of your ideas. You will also learn what it’s like not to be trusted. What it’s like when senior leaders hold months of ‘strategy’ meetings behind closed doors resulting in ended partnerships, severe layoffs, and weeks of self-doubt. You will have to find ways to tell potential students and partners that Navitas, as a global education company, no longer prioritizes the largest destination for international students—the United States. You will learn to play serious office politics. Will you become a favorite of those in charge? How far will you be willing to go to do their bidding? And who’s to say that this is worth it—especially if student recruitment numbers plummet? Have a back-up plan if you take employment. Don’t stop looking for new opportunities, and make friends with those that have been through the ringer the last few months. Reach out to former employees, instructors, and partners that have been made expendable.
Cons
What others have said about a company losing its soul is absolutely true. If you are a potential employee, part-time faculty member, or potential university partner, go somewhere else. This is a company facing threats from Australia (Thanks Camino!), the UK, and across North America. While US enrollment numbers have fallen by 50%, others like Shorelight Education and INTO have actually grown by investing in their people and technology. Just look at what happened at the University of New Hampshire, one of Navitas’s oldest US partners before Fall 2019. UNH was Navitas’ highest ranked US partner, with a new president that was eager to build a stronger private-public partnership. He even wrote a book about it, “The Insider’s Guide to Working with Universities.” Did Navitas executives read it? Buy it? Even look at the outside cover? I don’t think so. Not when they’re too busy cutting jobs, damaging the reputations of former adjunct faculty members, and trying to squeeze out a positive EBITDA. Its North American leadership team should resign out of sheer incompetence, lack of empathy, and a long list of broken promises. When you take a job, and you’re told you need to move and you don’t—what kind of message does that say to others that did?
