Lecturer vs Professor

A lecturer is a professional that teaches college-level students but also has a career outside of the classroom, while a professor is strictly a teacher of college-level students. Lecturers often have another career and are hired to teach a specific course pertaining to their career. Academic institutions hire lecturers based on their career experience and accomplishments, meaning that a lecturer may not need to be educated to the Ph.D. level in order to teach. This is seen most often with business lecturers.

What should I study to become a lecturer?

There is not one specific course to study to become a lecturer. Most lecturers will hold a master's degree or doctorate degree, although it is possible to receive entry-level positions with little potential for growth if you hold just a bachelor's degree.

How To Become A Lecturer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a lecturer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Rebecca Sarver

A lecturer is a teacher who prepares and delivers classes in various settings. Lecturers develop material for courses and create lesson plans and use different platforms and methods to get the content through. They engage with students and support them, monitoring their progress, or tutoring them if necessary. They conduct and evaluate examinations as well.

Lecturers are experts in their field. They may work at universities or colleges or other higher education institutions. They do presentations of their research at conferences, publish articles in scholarly papers, and manage research funding.

Excellent presentation skills and passionate knowledge about your subject is a must if you want to work as a lecturer. Teaching is not a 9 to 5 job, you have a lot of work to do after your official teaching hours are up, so you really have to love what you are doing to be able to keep at it. On the other hand, you will be working in a position that is considered the second most beneficial for society's well-being, right after military personnel.

What general advice would you give to a 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.

ScoreLecturerUS Average

Salary

4.8

Avg. Salary $61,988

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.9

Growth rate 12%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.28%

Asian 17.68%

Black or African American 6.23%

Hispanic or Latino 8.97%

Unknown 4.78%

White 62.06%

Gender

female 45.45%

male 54.55%

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 a lecturer

Explore lecturer education requirements

Most common lecturer degrees

Bachelor's

49.1 %

Master's

32.8 %

Doctorate

12.7 %

Start to develop specific lecturer skills

Skills	Percentages
Semester	20.14%
Philosophy	9.76%
Syllabus	5.32%
Course Materials	4.58%
Literature	4.10%

Research lecturer duties and responsibilities

Create web sites and documentation, using HTML, to manage various projects.
Manage a database, compile, retrieve, review and analyze test scores.
Develop and lead ELA lessons at the 8th grade level, with an emphasis on critical reading and literary analysis.
Establish and maintain practical pharmacology, anatomy and physiology labs.

Prepare your lecturer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your 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 a lecturer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable lecturer resume templates

Build a professional lecturer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your lecturer resume.

Apply for lecturer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a 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 did you land your first lecturer job

Jamie Maglietta

Lecturer, (ON CAM) Ready

Your career journey of how you became a Lecturer: I've worked in television news for nearly 20 years across Fox News Channel, MSNBC, and CNN. My experience in the field and control room helps me bring real world experience to topics discussed in the classroom. I have been a lecturer, including at Harvard. I have spoken about podcast development, networking, and media training. I am interested in being a lecturer in communications, journalism, and marketing.

How do lecturers rate their job?

3/5

Based on 1 ratings

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Lecturer reviews

3.0

A zippia user wrote a review on Sep 2019

Pros

being able to carry research and interact with students

Cons

salary and the requirements

A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2019