by Shannon Healy | Jun 7, 2010 | Job Search
Hey readers, it’s been awhile! My last #JobHunt entry was about re-entering the job search: handling the rejection of round one and keeping your spirits up for round two. I am happy to say that this is the last blog I will ever write that can be tagged with “#JobHunt,” as I have officially accepted my first full-time position!
I feel like I need to quote the Grateful Dead here – “What a long, strange trip it’s been.” What started last January with the first postings showing up on the OPE and TPE websites has finally ended in early June with a job offer and an acceptance.
And I couldn’t be happier. I found a position that, although it’s not in my top choice for geographic area, is probably a better fit for me than anything I applied for in round one. It just took me five months of interviews, rejections, campus visits, phone calls, parking lot pep talks, and intense one-on-one time with HigherEdJobs to realize what I was looking for and how to get it.
I found a position that is half Residence Life and half Student Activities, which is perfect for my already varied background in Student Affairs. I get to work with a variety of students in a lot of different ways. I’ve met some of my future coworkers, and that was a major part of my thought process when making the decision: Could I see myself hanging out with these people? That’s very important to me when I realize I’ll be moving over 1000 miles away from home.
My biggest piece of advice to those who will be job hunting next year: Use your resources! There are so many people in the field willing to help out, by looking over a resume, sharing a job posting, helping your formulate answers to common questions, and sending you funny text messages when you visit campuses to keep you calm. Not just professionals – some of your biggest support will come from other grad students who are also out searching. You’re all in the same boat, and it’s nice to know you’re not out in the job search sea alone! Plus, the thought of sharing a high-five when you all connect at a conference is a great motivator.
(And if you ever get the chance to blog about your experiences – whether for a website or just for yourself – do it! It’s a nice way to think through a lot of things related to the job search, without having to actually search.)
I talked a lot in my first entry about finding the perfect job, but that even working on a tropical island means having to deal with some jellyfish. I know there will probably be some jellyfish to deal with in my first year, but I’m looking forward to getting started in my new position. There’s a lot to learn, and I’m excited to take all my knowledge and experience from grad school and see how it works in the real world. It may not be a tropical paradise, but I’m looking forward to a lot of sunny days!
Though this is my last entry in the #JobHunt series, don’t rule out me returning now and then to blog about my first year as a professional in the field. I’m sure there are many more stories, revelations, and interesting tales to come. To everyone who has followed along my job search from the beginning – thank you! I really couldn’t have done it without all the kind words and supportive messages! Thank you!
Shannon Healy
Shannon Healy is a new student affairs professional.
(Editor’s note: I’d say more, but she forgot to tell me where! But you will definitely hear more from her in the future, as I do hope to have her blog about her first year as a professional. In the meantime, I am sure she’ll eventually tell her vast Twitter following. Or maybe she could just post a comment below.)
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by Shannon Healy | Apr 15, 2010 | Job Search, The Placement Experience
Welcome to Job Hunt Round 2: Electric Boogaloo!
For the record, I have no idea where that reference came from, nor do I know what an Electric Boogaloo actually is. But it sounds like fun, and I am determined to have fun with reentering the job search process. I’ve done the whole placement conference thing, and experienced the whole multiple rejection thing. Had that soul-crushing moment where two of my top three schools rejected me within the same two hour span. And… now I’m over it.
So now I’m starting the search over again, but it feels like a lot less pressure this time. There’s no cramming 10+ interviews into two days. There’s no rush to schedule, research, pack, travel, interview, et cetera. Although I know that for many positions I’m competing with up to 50 applicants again, I’m not forced to sit in a room with them before my interview and wonder how we compare. And there’s none of that added stress of wondering if you’ll be rejected or not and what it will be like. I’ve been rejected. It’s not fun. But I’ve learned it’s not the end of the world either.
I’ve mostly run out of schools to apply to in my original, admittedly small, geographic preference area. Several supervisors and mentors have shared insights about other places in the US that might fit what I’m looking for in a climate. (That would be no earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, or tornadoes.) So I’ve expanded to truly have a nationwide search, and have found some interesting opportunities that I wouldn’t have found otherwise.
As I said in an earlier post, I am lucky to not have anything in life that keeps me tied to a certain area. Though my original search area overwhelmingly rejected me, I still have 47 other states with opportunities. And there are still positions being posted!
So many people tried to tell me that life wasn’t over after placement conferences. That those were not the be-all, end-all of job postings. It was hard to believe that during placement conference season when the Twitter streams, Facebook statuses, and real-life conversations of all my friends revolved around Oshkosh and Chicago. But I have found that although the number of postings has slowed since late February, they have not stopped. Jobs are still opening up, and that is promising as well.
So far I’ve found a couple more jobs that I’m interested in, and am sending out another batch of applications tomorrow. It’s a lot more laid back to be in round two. There’s not as much pressure, there’s not as much stress, and there’s even more support and parking lot pep talks than round one. Besides, if I don’t find a job until August I’ve got all summer to travel, sleep, and learn to surf.
[Editor’s Note: Shannon’s a millennial, so she is too young to really know what the early days of rap and break-dancing were all about. For readers in a similar state of ignorance, “Electric Boogaloo” is a reference to Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo, a movie where break-dancing brings enemies together to save their neighborhood from a bunch of “suits.” Apparently boogaloo is also a type of Latin music and a type of lyre or harp, like King David played in the Bible. The things you can learn from the internet!]
[Editor’s note, part 2: Shannon will be a guest on the Higher Ed Career Coach BlogTalkRadio show Friday April 16 at 11 am EST. We’ll be discussing rejection and starting over in your job search. We’ll also be talking to Stacy Oliver about”parking lot pep talks” and other ways to help job seekers stay encouraged. Bryan Koval will be co-hosting, and I will try to sound smart, say practical things, and not make up to much stuff. Listen in and call in with your job search questions or comments, as they relate to rejection and starting over. Here’s the URL: http://tobtr.com/s/1009384 ]
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by Shannon Healy | Apr 8, 2010 | Job Search
I didn’t want to have to write this blog post. The idea has been swirling in my head for a couple weeks now, but I didn’t want to wave the white flag just yet. But the time has come to sit down, reflect, and write a blog about rejection. I’m not completed out of all search processes I entered just yet, but many doors have shut and others are doing that slow, squeaky, about to close thing. So, a blog about rejection.
It sucks! I wish I could put it more eloquently, but there’s really no pretty way to say it. It is probably best described with that plane crash/explosion sound effect. I know that rejection can be a learning experience. What could I have done better? Differently? Sooner? Take time to evaluate the experience and my performance, make changes, and go at it again. But it’s an incredibly draining experience.
Somewhere along the way of multiple interviews at conferences, over the phone, and on campuses, I just seemed to fall out of the process with schools. Either I didn’t fit what they were looking for in a new hire, or I flubbed an answer, or I decided that what they were offering just wasn’t right for me.
THAT took some guts, let me tell you. Turning down offers for second interviews or campus visits, not knowing if that would be my only shot at a job. In the end I decided that I really needed to have at least two of three things in a job: a good location, responsibilities that were interesting and challenging, and a nearby support system. If a job didn’t have those, I couldn’t do it.
I know it is better to be unemployed for a bit and wait for a job that’s the right fit to open up, even if that does mean waiting past graduation, or into summer. That’s incredibly scary though, not knowing what I’ll be doing once I graduate. I also can’t imagine returning home and working at Target or the local bowling alley with my Masters.
I also dread the thought of starting the job search process all over again. To be back at square one will be frustrating. Not only because it involves searching out positions I’m interested in again, doing the research again, interviewing again. But also because I feel like a bit of a failure not getting a job from the first round of searching. I would hate for that to dent my confidence going into round two.
I think the only humorous part of rejection so far has been getting a FOAD letter for a job that I didn’t even apply for. (For those not familiar with the acronym, check urbandictionary.com if you don’t mind some profanity.) Apparently I was horrid in the interview I didn’t have. I’m not even sure how my name got mixed up in their pile of applicants. It was especially weird because it was sent to my office, not my apartment address. Oh well. I hung it up on my fridge, and it is now a daily source of amusement.
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by Shannon Healy | Mar 22, 2010 | Job Search, The Placement Experience
Next!
I have an 0n-campus interview! Let the celebratory dance party start!
But also – I have an on-campus interview! Let the overwhelming fear and worry begin as well. This school is one of my top 3 choices, and I’m hoping it goes well. It’s also the only school I’ve heard back from so far, so I’m trying not to let that affect me too much. Lots of schools are still recovering from OPE, TPE, or NASPA. Some are now on spring break and some are attending ACPA. I fully admit that I stalked down the academic calendar for all the schools I interviewed with to find out when their spring break was and tried to infer anything I could from that. In summary: not so much. Still a waiting game.
But I will not let the fact that I haven’t heard anything lately discourage me. It will sit in the back of my mind bothering me, but I won’t let it get me down. Instead, I will celebrate this one small triumph in the job search process. It does feel good. I like that I have some positive news to post on here. Now it’s just preparing for that very big jump of 30 minute interview to 36 hours spent interviewing. Bit of a difference. I’ve attended an etiquette dinner twice, so I have an idea of how to eat a meal while interviewing. My cohort has had professional development sessions on what to do (and not to do) at an on-campus interview. I think I’ve been told all I can about it. I’m ready to jump in there and do it, while at the same time incredibly worried that I’ll jump in and realize I forgot how to swim.
The nice part is how supportive my cohort has been. There’s 24 of us all out there struggling for jobs right now, and it’s nice when people are truly excited when you call and tell them your good news. They’re willing to jump on furniture with you in celebration, or go for dessert and drown your sorrows when news comes back that isn’t so good. When so many of us are looking in the same region or at the same school or even same position, it’s nice that people are spreading good feelings and not getting overly competitive.
Off to dance while looking over campus brochures and job descriptions. I’ll keep you posted!
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by Shannon Healy | Mar 7, 2010 | Job Search, The Placement Experience
Placement is Over...Now the Waiting Begins. Woo-hoo.
OPE and TPE are now done. While it’s incredibly nice to be done with placement conferences, I can’t help but feel a bit antsy about what happens next.
Up until now, my job search has been completely under my own control. I decided which schools I would send interest letters to, which interviews I would accept and when to schedule them, what to say in interviews and thank you notes. Everything was up to me. Now that interviews and socials and thank you notes are all said and done, it’s up to the school and the interview team to decide if they want to bring me to the next step.
This scares me. There’s nothing else I can really do outside of preparing for second interviews, or hopefully an on-campus interview. It’s just sitting and waiting. The ball is in their court, and that makes me nervous. I know I should take this time to relax (and do my thesis), but it’s hard not to go over each interaction over and over again in my head to decide what I should have done differently.
The thing I’m needing to work on now is phone interviews. During a couple of interviews the school mentioned doing interviews over the phone before bringing anyone on campus as a way to save money. I hate the phone. I’m not that great on it, because you can never tell how the interviewer is feeling about things. Are they slightly smiling and nodding and seemingly interested in what you’re saying? Are they frowning and shaking their head “no” and glancing at the clock? On the phone you can’t tell if they’ve already written “no way” on your application and picked up the latest People Magazine crossword puzzle.
Some people have heard my horrible phone interview story from last year when I did interviews for my summer practicum. I talk with my hands, and got very excited during one story and accidentally threw the phone across the room, where it hit the floor and hung up. Completely mortified, I called back and profusely apologized. Thankfully the interviewer just laughed and said the next question was about how I deal with unexpected complications on the job. This is still not a situation I’d like to repeat, however.
So now I’m taking some time to travel the Midwest on my Lake Michigan Circle Tour and get my mind off interviews and job placement and things. I’m fairly confident I’ll get a job – I’ve done well in my classes, have a strong resume, and have (what I think is a) fun personality. It’s just this time in between step one and step two that is probably going to drive me crazy.
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