director of admissions

financial planner

student coordinator

instructor

service coordinator

Visual College of Art and Design

there are two major departments - operations and admissions. the two departments are constantly at each other's throats; we are all told across all campuses that we aren't allowed to talk to each other.. each team is given different information that conflicts with each other. this becomes very frustrating because it's like we're constantly working against each other when in reality we should be working together towards a common goal. it makes everything more difficult than it needs to be - it looks bad to the students as well when one person is saying one thing, and the other person is saying the complete opposite. it makes for a very competitive atmosphere... however admissions are given priority by upper mgmt. if anything with admissions goes wrong, they immediately throw operations under the bus, without hesitation. for your own safety, do not talk to admissions, not even a "lovely weather today". they can and will use this against you by telling their superiors the reason they couldn't make their sales goals is that you were talking to them nonstop, distracting them from doing their job. if they have nothing bad that they can say against you, they will make up something. even if they seem nice and will pretend to be your best friend, it's best to just ignore them completely. operations have to pick up all the slack from admissions, yet admissions get all the benefits (raise promotion bonuses recognition etc) while operations get nothing, not even the budget for bare minimum supplies to run a school. 

additionally, we are told we are not allowed to share information across campuses. so if someone doesn't know the operations or procedures on certain things, there's nobody you can turn to ask for help. if you do, you'll most likely be told "you should already know how to do this" and be left hanging. most likely you will not receive any training on how to do your job, instead, you will just get in trouble for making mistakes, and be told that it's your own fault; not allowed to use the excuse "nobody ever told me or trained me". everyone who knew anything about the school, how things are supposed to go, what things need to get done and how and why - they have all left. nobody is left that knows what is going on.

it's a little bit like being in the "upside-down" - everything that should make sense isn't the norm. everything that doesn't make any sense, is the norm. instead of paying money for materials, time and resources needed to run the campus properly, they would rather cut corners at every opportunity. be prepared to work overtime doing meaningless tasks that could be done quickly and easily if they bought a licence for a proper program. don't be expected to be compensated for working overtime. don't worry if you don't get the things you're asked to get done, done. they are impossible, unrealistic expectations to put on anyone. it's like trying to bilge water from a sinking boat with a teaspoon - without plugging the holes first.

be very careful if you decide to work here - especially if you're a woman in this workplace. all upper management is all male. there's only 1 female campus director (need i say more?). you will be expected to jump through every hoop imaginable just "in order to keep your job". you can work yourself to death and still be denied raises/promotions, you can get awarded for outstanding achievement - and still be threatened to be fired in the same week, the same day even, after years of working there. be prepared to be constantly yelled at, intimidated, belittled, and threatened to be fired daily and/or weekly by multiple men you've never met in person for "not being peppy enough" - when your male coworkers do the bare minimum and are praised for it. if you do decide to work here, take a page out of their book; do the bare minimum, keep your head low. don't show that you are competent, don't work too hard, never work overtime. if you do that, everyone will come to you expecting you to do their work for them. any experience it might give you isn't worth it, you won't be proving that you are a good team-player; you will be the only kid in the group project doing all the work while the others coast. it will not prove to upper management that you are a hard and loyal worker, it will only prove that they can walk all over you and take advantage of you and you won't stand up for yourself. it will not help your chances with a raise or promotion, they will tell you there are plenty of opportunities for advancement - this is a lie, there are no opportunities for advancement. i only wish I realised all of these things sooner before it was too late.

I had 8 years of overall experience in sales and 3-4 years of experience in Education Industry. I joined there as Assistant Director of Admissions. With 3 week of rubbish training which was 85% general sales training and 15% about VCAD, I started my job. They offered me decent salary. They will hire you, give you to work on old leads, which was contacted by other employees for over 100 times. Later after 2 months (including 3 weeks of training), they fired me for no reason. Not only my but in 2 months they hired almost 15 new employees for similar role and terminated about 10 same employees. The management is worst, most toxic place I have ever worked in. Even if you go to washroom break, you have to make an entry on a piece of paper. The management is not sure about what they are doing and what they want from employees. You can never have a secure job at this place, in fact everyday you go home thinking this would be your last day. Even if this is your last option, don't go. Big big big red flag. They are a professional scamers.

Don’t do it. Just don’t. I come from a sales background so I was prepared to meet objectives. But this place will not only take your self confidence, happiness and positive energy, they will take your soul. It is misleading in so many ways. Zero ethics. Corrupt and money driven culture, misleading students. I was ‘recruited’ because of my skill set and previous work experience, along with 15 other individuals. The environment is ruthless, heavy micro management and the largest turnover rate I have ever seen within a company. The management has zero leadership skills and basically treats you as a robot. You are to enrol students, integrity and morals are not included in this process. Would leave at the end of the day questioning my own character and what I was willing to accept for myself in this workplace. Just don’t. You will regret it. Have standards and choose better for yourself and your mental health. 

Upon joining this institution, I was initially swayed by the reviews and decided to give it a chance, but I quickly realized I had made a significant misjudgment. The challenges of this role are numerous and pervasive, stemming from the management's lack of integrity and a troubling mix of micromanagement and a disregard for the principle of transparency, which is supposedly one of the school's core values. The environment is rife with insincere praise and breaches of staff privacy, contributing to a deeply toxic workplace where employees feel compelled to be constantly vigilant and unable to trust their colleagues. Open dialogue is not encouraged, and differing viewpoints are often met with aggression, which not only suppresses creativity but also cultivates a climate of fear, making staff hesitant to express concerns or propose enhancements.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of positive feedback to provide.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
High staff turnover due to below standard compensation and micromanagement from parent company. 
Low student engagement due to outdated curriculum, and compliance with Alberta student loan stipulations. Too much administrative work that doesn’t allow time for real student support.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Poor, disenfranchised, lack of collegiality.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Isolation, stressful and complete lack of autonomy from on site management on down.

Following up on countless student inquiries, and helping individuals realize their potential. You must be driven with your strong purpose to help other individuals make their choices to get into a new career and go to school. In admissions you help your student get all the way to the starting line, and the student takes the training wheels off and they are on their way with the support of the instructors and student services. 
Professional attitude, and knowing that not everyone has their bags packed, and ready to go to school is needed to remain successful in this role. 

No work life balance. You can work 10 extra hours in a week and if you need to leave early you still need to make up that time. Do whatever it takes to sign up students even if they are not qualified. Bully them if neededd. The goal is to sign up a student and hope they last at least 60 days so that the school makes some money. There is little to no ethics involved in this position. The training was basically reading a script and customizing it to your liking. Additional development was listening to a 9-minute Victor Antonio YouTube video during Friday sales meetings. 20% of the staff in Calgary have been fired without cause or explanation. Culture is toxic at best.

Awful work environment. Lack of process. Management has no clue what they are doing. They hired 20 people at once and promised alot of stuff but never delivered on it. 2 weeks down the road they hired another 12 ppl as they were already expecting ppl to quit. It was more like a sweat shop environment. Half of the people quit within a month. The were very sneaky about hiding the covid - 19 incident. It's all numbers game that's all. All they do is micro managing. Even the manager for the wasn't happy abt his Job either as he was  busy interviewing for another job while he was at work. During the training they would just try to make the job sound very fun and interesting but it isn't  Was a  SITH  show. Would recommend to stay away from this place. 

Instructors are undervalued, overworked, and underpaid. No benefits, only paid for instruction time and general lack of respect. They push you to pass students when not warranted. Require hours of paperwork and unpaid time for prep and marking. Hourly pay is well below industry standards. I worked for both online and on campus divisions, both were managed extremely poorly and unprofessionally. They are very much a business and will allow students entry that do not have the right qualifications which in turn ends up in a high drop out rate and debt for students. The only upside is that I now have experience to work somewhere better. 

Typical day at work; call potential students, work with them on potentially applying if they want to. Upper management is terrible- they treat people like garbage and seem oblivious about it. The culture is toxic. VP should be fired but seems to be immune to bad results and reviews. too many admissions trainers/managers. pros: great colleagues, we all laugh in disbelief at the place we find ourselves working in. quite a diverse group, which is good too. motivated students are quite inspiring.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Director of admissions 19 salaries reported	$54,737 per year
Financial planner 6 salaries reported	$43,750 per year
Student coordinator 4 salaries reported	$41,625 per year
Instructor 7 salaries reported	$40.00 per hour
Service coordinator 1 salary reported	$43,500 per year

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