Dr. Heidy Contreras used various websites for a year looking for a job while in Southern California conducting her post-doctoral work at the University of Arizona.
Then she found the Higher Education Recruitment Consortium, or HERC, website, which lists all positions such as custodians, administrators and other faculty positions at colleges, universities and research institutions throughout the country.
Contreras wanted a job in California for both professional and personal reasons.
“My husband was working in Irvine, [Calif.], while I was doing my post-doc in Arizona,” said the 33-year-old Guatemala native who is now an assistant biology professor at the University of La Verne.
“He was really supporting us because post-docs don’t really make that much money. I was looking for something in Southern California or somewhere in the region. I not only found my ideal job, but using HERC got me back to Southern California where my mom and grandma are. I believe in family.”
HERC, based in Ben Lomond, Calif., uses its “dual career” hiring services to help couples find jobs at the same institution or in the same region.
For instance, Contreras saw job postings at schools in Southern California for professors, clerks and provosts. Contreras and her husband, Kyle Pickus, reside in faculty housing on the La Verne campus. While Contreras can walk to class and teach, Pickus’ commute to his marketing job in Irvine takes about 35 minutes. As of March 30, HERC had nearly 18,000 faculty, staff and administrator job postings on its website representing more than 550 colleges, universities and research institutions.
