Pros
The students at VCU are non-traditional for the most part. They are determined, gritty and independent - as the marketing goes, they are UNCOMMON. I agree. Because of this, being a Career Coach here is challenging and fast-paced; there is a need to be iterative and agile. I love that part! The team is collaborative, interesting and open to new ideas. You need to have "bias toward action" to be successful here. No time for too much deliberation; try something, change if needed and try again.
Cons
Being a huge institution with lots of layers, there are bureaucratic issues that can be crazy-making. HR is not as helpful since they direct you to online resources (often dated and hard to understand) and things can take a lot of time to get approval. Some departments are more flexible than others. Success here at VCU depends on where you work, who your manager is and how focused the Dean is on "student success" vs. tenured faculty's focus on keeping things the same.
