Was classified staff; my experience incredibly frustrating/stressful overall
Pros
Staff workshops, training, professional development. Access to technology, monitors/computers/printers/software better than anywhere I had/have worked. Had my very own office with a door I could close, which was the main reason I stayed several years as I could focus on my mountain of work uninterrupted by gossipy chatty coworkers. Was able to refine, alter, customize, and streamline processes and procedures to make workflow more sensible for the department, students, faculty which was very rewarding. Extremely adept communicators around campus, whether it be via email, in person, or over the phone; I hadn't worked with professionals this bright and haven't, unfortunately, since. I've utilized a lot of what I picked up at VT every day since. Working with some of the brightest, funniest, coolest students in the world.
Cons
Pay was a complete and total joke, with the "total compensation" calculator being based on the assumption that no other jobs offer benefits at all. The reality is the low pay means employees leave. Period. Mountains upon mountains of work due to lack of money for human resources in the department was more stressful than any job in the private business sector I had ever had or had since; "time management" and "prioritizing" were silly buzzwords my supervisor used when I brought up the asinine workload when the reality was there were not enough humans to do everything. Period. Being merely staff in a world of faculty means being treated like a lower-level slave; sometimes this is implied and sometimes this is more outright but it's always very present. Being "put in your place" after a few years tears staffers' psyches down to nothing. Having to pay for parking. Departmental bullies, commonly older women bullying younger women. This concept is quite common and can be overt or passive-aggressive, and it was a large reason I finally left. Despite networking and applying to jobs that I'm MORE qualified for all over campus for YEARS, I still couldn't get a better-suited role anywhere at VT so I just said forget it and left for good. It was a bitter end.
