How To Become An Adjunct Lecturer: What It Is and Career Path

What is an adjunct lecturer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Expert

Rebecca Sarver

As an adjunct lecturer, your main duty is to teach college classes. That said, your responsibilities will be very similar to that of any other professor or college educator.

Aside from delivering lectures to college students, your duties as an adjunct lecturer also involve preparing teaching materials, creating course guides, uploading lecture slides online, and assessing students on their learning. You may also be responsible for facilitating seminars and conducting practical activities to further enhance students' learning.

Like any other educator position, you must have a bachelor's degree in a relevant major to become an adjunct lecturer. At the same time, you must have a valid teaching license to qualify, as well as proven experience in classroom management. To be successful as an adjunct lecturer, however, you must also have a deep understanding of instructional techniques, which may have to be out-of-the-box sometimes in order to be effective.

As for the salary, you can make around $77,000 as an adjunct lecturer, depending on your level and experience, and expertise.

What general advice would you give to an Adjunct Lecturer?

Rebecca Sarver

Lecturer in Human Services Studies, Elmira College

Listen more than you talk. There is so much to be learned from clients, seasoned human service workers, and the community that you work within. By listening and observing versus always feeling compelled to speak, you will learn job skills, people skills, and your clients' needs.

ScoreAdjunct LecturerUS Average

Salary

6.2

Avg. Salary $79,657

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.9

Growth Rate 12%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.28%

Asian 12.83%

Black or African American 7.09%

Hispanic or Latino 10.10%

Unknown 4.92%

White 64.78%

Gender

female 49.53%

male 50.47%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress Level

6.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.5

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

3.6

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an adjunct lecturer

Explore adjunct lecturer education requirements

Most common adjunct lecturer degrees

Bachelor's

48.6 %

Master's

37.0 %

Doctorate

9.6 %

Start to develop specific adjunct lecturer skills

Skills	Percentages
C++	9.54%
Undergraduate Courses	8.28%
Syllabus	7.64%
Rehabilitation	7.37%
Mathematics	5.21%

Research adjunct lecturer duties and responsibilities

Develop the course syllabus to achieve personal and departmental proficiency and performance goals.
Instruct respiratory therapy and medical assistant students on human anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, and the pathological basis of diseases.
Prepare lesson plans for freshman seminar course.
Teach pure and apply mathematics to engineering students.

Prepare your adjunct lecturer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your adjunct lecturer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an adjunct lecturer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

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Apply for adjunct lecturer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for an adjunct lecturer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do adjunct lecturers rate their job?

-/5

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Adjunct Lecturer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Sep 2019

Pros

being able to carry research and interact with students

Cons

salary and the requirements