Pros
+ Rice's many departments give new hires and seasoned employees diverse job opportunities and volunteer opportunities. + Many excellent, inspirational leaders at all levels of the organization. + Great place to begin one's career, with many opportunities for advancement. + Excellent benefits including fair pay, affordable insurance, significant paid time off, education benefits, training courses, great athletic/workout facility and much more. + Inclusive, fun campus environment. + Excellent, engaged students; caring, dedicated staff; and groundbreaking faculty. + Beautiful campus environment. + Many student discounts are extended to staff and faculty, such as free tickets to the symphony, Astros baseball tickets, etc. + Satisfaction from assisting students in attaining transformative educational experiences. + Excellent environment for lifelong learners. Working at Rice gives you high awareness of campus events. Go see Bill Clinton, the Dalai Lama or travel guru Rick Steves give a lecture. Attend a panel discussion on the death penalty, sustainable food production or global business initiatives. Volunteer with the campus community gardens. Serve on a committee to build new skills. The opportunities are overwhelming. + Exceptional work is often rewarded with promotions, awards and other recognition.
Cons
- Some less-than-inspirational leaders at the Director level and above. A poor director can make their direct reports' job experience miserable regardless of the excellence of Rice University as a whole. - While is not impossible to get reprimanded (and potentially demoted) if you don't perform with a minimum level of professionalism, it IS possible to be a poor employee for years on end and still retain your job. This is a huge drain on hard working team members. - Some staff jobs are quite non-hierarchical, which can make the job overwhelming. It can be very difficult to juggle the expectations of your Director and Deans; plus be a good manager to your direct reports; plus meet the expectations of your departmental colleagues and cross-departmental colleagues; plus satisfy hundreds of students; plus assist scores of professors. Not all Rice jobs have this challenge, but when your job is like this it can be difficult to manage. -Potentially lower pay than corporate jobs requiring similar skills. -To get ahead, you may have to work very smart and hard. Those who merely meet their job requirements can stay in the same position forever, with annual raises that do not even match the rate of inflation.