My dad was a former dean of a university, but he left his job and is now a specialist at a company. The three options are “Yes, currently employed…”, “No, retired…”, and “Never employed…”
Should I put that he is retired?
Retired as an adj: having left one’s job and ceased to work.
Retire as verb: leave one’s job and cease to work, typically upon reaching the normal age for leaving employment; (sub-definition): compel (an employee) to leave their job, especially before they have reached the normal age for leaving employment.
The purpose in asking the question is that some colleges offer tuition waivers for immediate members for current staff. Within that group, some continue that benefit to retirees. The benefit generally ceases when the employee resigns as opposed to retires.
But your dad will certainly know if he left the university with retiree benefits.
What was the nature of him leaving? One can retire from a position, get retiree benefits, etc and decide to re-enter the work force. I’ve seen this with individuals who need health insurance. Of course, resigning to accept another position is different.
I was an adjunct professor for a couple of years at a University my DD will be applying to. My DD asked her high school college counselor which of the three options to select given my prior position at the University. Her counselor was unsure and asked a couple of current college admissions reps which option was the appropriate option. Both admissions reps said “retired” was the appropriate option for a former adjunct professor.
Based on that I would suspect that a former University dean would also select “retired” from the three options.
@cupugu thanks for giving me this perspective! so although my dad has a non-academia job now, it’s still okay for me to choose “retired” from the three options?
When they don’t give you the perfect option, you use what’s closest. For title, you can use “former xxx.” Separately, the CA asks current occupation. They know many academics move on to other work.