Somebody's post on a Social medium triggered this. What is a job? Salary plus perks. The salary is in cash, and tangible. The rest is in the form of mostly intangible benefits, or perks, if you will. I am talking of higher education, and institutions which are reasonably well known as good employers, private or government.
The first perk in a good institution is good students. If they interact in a class, do their assignments reasonably well, and so on, it is quite a satisfying outing for the faculty. Doctoral students can perhaps stretch this feeling further, in discussions outside class too.
Autonomy to drive your own interests is another great perk. You can produce some output in terms of case writing, publications, text books or conference papers, depending on your interests and motivation. Institutional support helps, naturally.
Organising events for the institution or its stakeholders, can be a useful activity with a lot of learning. Alumni meets or short term programs for executives, or for faculty, are some examples. Industry seminars are another avenue to bring about greater interaction and understanding. Tracking internships or getting cases written by students are possibilities.
Even when I was in admin. positions, I met many students while mentoring them, or participating in events they organised, or helping them make films.. some did!
All in all, a fulfilling career can be built in a good academic institution. The bonus sometimes is a lot of alumni who are still in touch after they have moved out. Some become friends for life! Like Jogeswari, who took me to play an international Golf tournament through GOLFTRIPZ.
