Should You Be Job Dropping or Opting Out of Promotions?
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One of the latest workplace trends is where professionals are rejecting the traditional career climb and turning down promotions to pursue roles with fewer demands and responsibilities. Similarly, professionals might "opt out" of managerial positions and prefer to remain individual contributors.
Trends like job dropping, quiet quitting, and give evocative names to tendencies or practices that have always occurred. Job dropping and opting out have long been a part of higher education, especially on the faculty side where administration is seemingly the next step. But as institutions are faced with economic pressures and attempt to spread more administrative duties across fewer managers, higher education professionals might now be more likely to reconsider traditional career paths.
Whatever your situation, it helps to be aware of your goals and if you should be job dropping or opting out of a promotion.
Reasons To Reject the Ladder
There's a lot to learn from the many reasons why professors avoid roles as department chairs, associate deans, and other leadership positions. It's rarely their lack of ambition. Earning a Ph.D., acquiring knowledge, relating to students, and honing crafts within their discipline are all rewards of academic life. But there aren't many opportunities for promotion for faculty after earning tenure, aside from maybe an endowed professorship. No wonder some experience .
Administration provides new challenges and opportunities to advance. But this comes at a cost and without proportional incentives.
Christiane Schroeter, a professor of marketing and entrepreneurship at California Polytechnic State University, could have opted into a role as department chair, but instead chose a different path.
"As a professor moving into a department head position, your 四虎影视 load gets reduced tremendously and gets replaced with mostly meetings," Schroeter said. "You would trade it for the research, the 四虎影视, the flexibility. Of course, you will get more money, but at the same time you would really become much more exposed to a rigid schedule. I could not see myself in that role because I would give up a lot of things that give me joy right now."
Schroeter branched out as a public communicator, starting her own podcast, writing books, becoming a TEDx speaker. Succeeding in this space is not easy. But instead of advancing into administration, Schroeter asked herself, "Where else is my passion going to make up for (opting out)?"
Knowing the Tradeoffs
Other faculty might leave tenured positions for roles with better resources, opportunities to continue research, or other ways to impact students and the public good. Salary is always a consideration. But the financial incentives for taking the next step to become a department chair might be a course release and a stipend or temporary pay increase that is 5-15% of their salary.
Faculty often enjoy a high degree of autonomy in their 四虎影视, scholarship, and service. Administrators, on the other hand, typically must work within existing institutional processes, building consensus and ensuring that policies are followed, or what Schroeter describes as being "a puzzle piece in a system." While this can mean they have less individual autonomy, many professionals derive satisfaction from the opportunity to influence an institution on a greater level.
The lesson for both faculty and staff, and inspiring leaders alike, is to truly know what motivates you, weigh all the tradeoffs, and not follow someone else's idea of success in your profession.
"You don't need to necessarily get a higher title to accomplish higher fulfillment," Schroeter said. "For me, fulfillment actually comes from reaching out to people that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to reach."
Five Tips for Your Next Move
Even if you have a clear goal, knowing what to do next in your career can be difficult. Here are five tips for opting out or job dropping the right way.
Opt Out Before Dropping.
Experiment with increased responsibilities before taking a promotion. Volunteer to lead a committee that requires you to apply different skills. Start making decisions at a smaller scale to simulate what life would be like as a promoted administrator. That way, if you don't like it, you can decide with certainty to opt out rather than taking the promotion and later dropping to another less demanding job. It might actually be easier or more fulfilling than you previously thought.
Take Small, Steady Steps.
Schroeter's for taking a big goal and breaking it down into small steps -- Simplify, Tell, Examine, Praise -- and a multiplier of Repeat. "It's about designing a career through small, intentional choices instead of defaulting to the next rung," Schroeter said. According to Schroeter, what's different from the is her process of reflecting on what's working well and then doing more of that in the future: "It's like compounding interest when you're saving money that gets you closer to your goal." Big, drastic change can be intimidating and jarring. Instead, practice going petite by doing the small things you do best.
Tell Your Story.
Schroeter considers it a disservice to avoid sharing what you enjoy doing -- and what you don't enjoy. If you'd rather work closely with students and avoid meetings, say so. Tell your boss. Tell the search committee that's probably wondering why you are willing to take a "lesser" job. If you're good at what you enjoy doing, you might be promoted to do it. People might assume you wanted to be a department head and weren't selected. Have a clear purpose and coherent narrative so that people who are making decisions that affect your career can position you for success.
Protect What You Value.
What do you find yourself guarding in your career -- your craft or your voice? Schroeter observed how women in academia are often steered toward service and administrative roles, so declining them becomes a way to protect their scholarship. She also noted that opting out of leadership positions can result in one fewer voice at the table and one less role model for other women. When you make your career decision, think about the ground you want to be gaining and protecting.
Grow Toward Your Mission, Not "Up."
Schroeter sees herself less as climbing a ladder and more as a tree extending its roots into the community. For some people, fulfillment comes from leading teams and shaping institutional strategy. For others, it comes from 四虎影视, creating, mentoring, conducting research, or serving the public in ways that don't require a bigger title or more direct reports. The pressure to keep moving upward can make it seem as though every promotion is a measure of success. But growth isn't always vertical. Sometimes the most meaningful career moves involve deepening your expertise, expanding your impact, or pursuing work that better aligns with your values and strengths.
Bottom Line
While Schroeter's experience centers on the faculty-to-administration pathway, similar decisions play out across higher education. A director may decline an AVP role, an admissions counselor may decide not to manage a team, or an HR professional may choose to deepen their expertise rather than pursue executive leadership. In each case, the question isn't whether you should be job-dropping or opting out of a promotion. The question is whether the next step brings you closer to the work that energizes you and the life you want to build. A successful career isn't defined by the titles you collect but by the purpose you pursue and the impact you make along the way.
