by Mickey Fitch | Apr 21, 2010 | Career Skills, Job Search, life purpose
If money is all you love, then that is what you shall receive*
In this article, contributor Mickey Fitch takes readers on a values Q & A that they can apply in their own job searches, as well as personal lives.
When I was in college, at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, I was both a hall government representative as well as a community advisor. As part of the training and development for these roles, we attended a retreat at a local camp. Our supervising hall director would hold a “values auction,” where we would bid against our fellow staff for different values such as honesty, clear communication, competition, and difference. These auctions were interesting to me then, but what is fascinating to me now, as a student affairs professional, is this: The items I won at these auctions are now traits that I consider to be my strengths!
During a job search, it’s tempting to let your values take a back seat to getting the “right” job. It’s easy to spend more time looking at the duties listed in the job posting than looking at what isn’t found there: benefits, values, and institutional culture. Day in and day out, the overall picture of the position is what keeps us happy, motivated, and contributing to the success of our university, and to ourselves as people. Our job descriptions are not our life descriptions, people!
So, let me offer a few thoughts about values:
1) Your values define you as a person. Like character traits, they don’t change from job to job, or university to university.
2) While professionals talk a lot about values, it’s usually in the context of training, evaluation, or discussing problems we are having at work/with the job.
3) On the other hand, we often try to teach values to our students, or to get them to examine their own.
Does anyone else see the irony here? We are teaching and preaching, but don’t necessarily walk our own walk!
Since many of our readers are currently in job searches, I thought it would be appropriate to share the following series of questions to ask yourself, during your career exploration. (Although these topics aren’t as two-sided as I will present them, take the continuum into account as you think about them).
Do you value…
- Competition, or collaboration with peers/other colleagues?
- Regular, casual feedback, or formal evaluations?
- Individual/director decision-making, or team decision-making?
- Working alone everyday, or working with many others?
- Clear, written expectations and goals, or a general direction?
- Electronic primary communication, or non-electronic communication?
- Hands-on supervision, or hands-off supervision?
- Chains of approval, or immediate decision-making?
- Similar age/experience/education peers, or a variety of backgrounds represented?
- Clear, honest, direct communication with peers/supervisors, or passive, indirect communication?
To be more specific to our field, do you prefer…
- Structured learning communities, or general education programs?
- Supervision of several buildings/programs/operations, or supervision of one?
- Department-funded programming, or student activity fee-funded programming?
- National greek chapter affiliation, or local/university greek chapters?
- Traditional two-bed housing, or a variety of housing options?
- Being on call 24/7 or the opportunity to unplug from work each day?
- Departments as “silos,” or constant collaboration across campus?
What matters most to you, personally?:
- Living in a city, the country or the suburbs?
- Do you need full medical coverage, or is partial coverage acceptable?
- Full institution/employee contribution to a retirement plan vs. little/no investment
- Is proximity to an airport a major consideration?
- Finding employment in town for a partner? (Or is it okay if your partner must travel/stay behind?)
- Nearby opportunities for outdoor recreation? (Or are you willing to travel for outdoor recreation?)
- Would you prefer a position with a large salary, but few soft benefits, or a smaller salary with many soft benefits?
- How close do you need to be to members of your personal support network?
- What access do you need to shopping? (How far are you willing to travel to shop for things you need?)
- Will you have opportunities in the community to meet a potential partner in town, or will you have to travel? (If travel is necessary, are you willing to travel?)
- If you identify as an underrepresented person, do you need a community within your town or is it okay for you to travel to the nearest city to find other members of your community? (You can replace ‘community’ with food needs, personal needs, worship needs, cultural needs, etc., as well.)
Doing an internal audit of yourself and your own values is essential. I encourage you to have conversations like these with your peers, your teammates, and supervisors. And for those in relationships, have this conversation to see what values brought you and your partner together. For me, knowing my values is like knowing how to read a compass…they help guide and steer me not only when conditions are rough, but also when the sun in shining!
Have a question about values, or want to chat more with me about it? Please leave a comment!
Mickey Fitch is a higher education professional who has crafted her career around the residence life experience on the college campus. Mickey loves to tell stories and help students make the most of their residential experience on campus. A native to the upper Midwest, Mickey is currently undergoing a job search to find her opportunity to serve in residence life. On the personal side, Mickey is an avid fisherman and outdoorswoman and is currently engaged in a life-changing health and fitness journey! You can learn more about her at mickeyfitch.weebly.com.
*Caption is a quote from Star Wars (the first of the real ones.) Princess Leia says it to Han Solo, as he collects his reward to take back to Jabba the Hutt.
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by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Mar 29, 2010 | Career Skills, Coaching, Job Search, The Placement Experience
This guy doesn't need a career coach. But he may need an attitude adjustment. Who are you pointing at, fool?
If you work in higher education, you are probably already a pretty successful person, and have some pretty good ideas about where you want to go in life. Teaching positions require graduate education, and many administrative posts also require at least a master’s degree.
You’re also surrounded by many great resources, including experienced colleagues, supervisors, and even students who help inspire and motivate you. Teaching and advising are activities that stir your soul, as well as your mind. You are periodically, if not frequently, reminded of your purpose, and you probably have more opportunities than some to pursue your academic and professional interests.
So why would you need a career coach? Aren’t you already smart enough to help yourself? Can’t you connect with plenty of people who can help you, who won’t charge you a fee?
Honestly, on some levels, the answers lean toward an argument against spending your time and money for a professional coach. But these answers are also mostly likely arrived at upon a surface-level examination of your life and career, and a certain level of buy-in to some stereotypes and expectations that society applies to being a member of the faculty.
Look a little deeper, and you may discover some very compelling reasons to consider coaching.
First and foremost, getting a coach doesn’t say anything about your intellectual ability. Plenty of really smart people work with coaches to keep them accountable, help them achieve work/life balance, and set and meet personal and professional goals. Prominent CEOs hire coaches. Corporations do, too. In fact, many corporations are hiring in-house coaches to help their employees be more satisfied with their careers and more balanced in their lives.
Second, it’s true that you have friends, colleagues, your supervisor, and your students to help and support you. But can these people dedicate the time and personal attention to you that you need? Will they commit to your personal success over their own needs or the needs of the department or institution? Will they support your personal and professional development, even if it means taking you away from your job, your staff and students, or the institution? Will they keep your concerns, aspirations and goals confidential? Will they hold you accountable for meeting your goals, or do they have their own things to worry about?
Getting a coach is a great way to put your dreams, goals, and even your barriers out there, and to explore them. It’s an investment in your success. It’s also a great way to hold yourself accountable in meeting your goals, so that you can achieve them.
So maybe the question isn’t “Why do I need a career coach?,” but instead “Don’t I deserve one?”
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by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Mar 25, 2010 | Career Skills, Job Search, The Placement Experience
Today was a good day.
It started simply enough. I had a scheduled call with a potential new client, and it went well. She was happy with our consultation and at the end booked her initial sessions (4 of them), and indicated a possibility that she might be looking for longer-term coaching.
Getting this new client topped off what was a pretty good week for me in general. During the ACPA conference, which I could not attend, I remained engaged and involved in the many conversations people were having, via Twitter. I found great ideas shared in people’s tweets. I joined some ongoing side banter about a #fakeacpa conference with all sorts of people from all over, many of which are also members of the weekly #sachat community sponsored by the Student Affairs Collaborative Blog.It was fun to stay engaged and be a part of all these conversations.
During my weekly small group coaching session on Sunday, one client at ACPA called in to say he was offered a campus interview at a school he is really interested in. I’d helped him prep for his phone interview before the conference, and it was nice to see him making the kind of progress he’s been working for and envisioning in our talks. I was able to connect with and encourage several candidates who I’ve connected with via Twitter as well.
When I left my secure job at Penn State last November, I took a great leap of faith into the unknown territory of starting my own business. I did it for a lot of different reasons and in my heart I have never felt like it was a mistake. But it was nice to see that after several months of hard work, and of putting myself out there, that the universe was finally coming around to meet me halfway, and maybe in some way, telling me to stay the course.
After lunch, I got the e-mails about my new client’s payment for her sessions, and another one I couldn’t have expected. Her sister was having a job interview today and wanted to get some coaching to be ready. She asked if I could meet via phone with her at 2 pm today. I called her but got her voicemail, so I sent her an encouraging e-mail, in hopes that she would at get it before her interview and at least know I had tried to reach her. She called back shortly thereafter, and we talked for about half an hour before her interview. She later wrote me an e-mail thanking me for the talk and idicating she would like to schedule another meeting about possibly working with me long-term.
All these varied events reaffirmed for me the value in taking leaps of faith, and trusting that when you follow your heart, trust yourself and work hard, that good things will happen. Reading over the e-mail I sent her, I thought how applicable it is in relation to my own situation, as well as those of the many student affairs job seekers who are smack in the middle of their own searches right now, and trying to evaluate possibilities and choose the right next steps in their lives and careers.
I’ve adapted the e-mail below, and hope it will provide some needed encouragement and inspiration to anyone contemplating not only life and career changes, but the leaps of faith required to bring them to life.
Dear Job Seeker:
It looks like you have great experience. If we don’t get a chance to talk 1-on-1, here are some quick thoughts for you….Faith in yourself and your abilities brought you this far in your job search. Whether you are graduating and looking for that first job, or looking to make a step up, down or sideways on the career ladder, in your heart you know there is a reason, and you know it is good. Your work is good and the fact you have so many great examples to show is a testament to that fact. You don’t need to convince yourself you are successful enough to get your next job. You clearly are.
With most employers, experience is not as important as motivation, talent, and fit. You have the first two for sure. You worked hard to get through grad school, or to succeed in your current or last job. When you committed to this search, you had faith in yourself and felt some possibilities would emerge if you trusted yourself enough.
So you made it this far in some processes, and it wasn’t an accident. You took the leap, and so did they. Something must be working, because they invited you to interview. This doesn’t happen usually out of a sense of charity. If you aren’t good, or your style and temperament aren’t a good match, you don’t get invited to the next step.
Well, you got invited. Go in with faith enough to be yourself and if it is meant to be, fate will open the next door. It may be in the way of offering you the job you really want, or it could be in their faith at giving you a shot, even if they go with someone else. Inviting someone to interview for a position is an act of faith. Taking an interview is another one. If your mutual faith is well-founded, it will survive past the interview, and the next door will open when it is time.
Until then, believe in yourself, be yourself, and go kick that interview’s a** three ways from Sunday. Good luck with your search!
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by Mickey Fitch | Mar 13, 2010 | Career Skills, Job Search, The Placement Experience
Occasionally on Higher Ed Career Coach, we need to take a break from our day in/day out professional lives and have a laugh about what we do (or should be doing). Join writer Mickey Fitch as she laughs and writes about the “lighter side” of working in student affairs.
At this point in the year, job search frenzy is at its peak, and all student affairs folks are abuzz with this placement exchange and that career conference.
(See Fig. 1 for a detailed explanation of the job search process.)
This is a really stressful time for year…for the searchers and the employers! But, it’s also a really fun time of year, and we forget that sometimes. So, in order to bring more fun to our lives, let’s share a few stories that might make you chuckle and also learn a few lessons.
(Click for enlarged image.)
Cherry Coke Makes Campus Interviews Easier. When I interviewed for my Hall Director position at Iowa State University, I was very excited about the new suit and shirts I had bought. I was also very excited about the possibility of working at ISU. My interview day was going great, and then we went to one of the dining centers for lunch. Feeling a little low on energy, I decided to have a few glasses of Cherry Coke to up the energy level a bit for the next round of interviews. My host and a few other Hall Directors walked me around and helped me get to the Coke machine. As I put my cup up to the machine and pushed the button, Cherry Coke blasted outward in every direction instead of into my cup. Turns out the dining staff had not put the cap on the end of the spout that helps form the stream into the cup. And there I was….with my brand new expensive suit, with my fancy shirt….covered in Cherry Coke. Luckily, two good things happened for me: 1) I was staying in an apartment on campus that was close to the dining center and 2) I had packed another shirt that matched my suit. As it were, I went back to my lunch, poked some jokes at myself and we all had a laugh about my Cherry Coke misfortune. With a few minutes extra over lunch (which always happens) I was able to run back to the apartment and get rid of my suit coat and stained shirt, and put on a fresh shirt. Not only did this give me a chance to show my “true colors” (i.e. my sense of humor) to my interviewers, but it allowed me a few quiet moments to gather my wits and get focused for the afternoon. Moral of that story: always bring two shirts…and a great sense of humor.
The Miss That Prefers Mister. We all know that when you’re writing cover letters to potential employers, that it helps to be very proper and address them to Mr. or Ms. Soandso. But what do you do when you don’t know the gender of the person to whom you are writing? Well, at the time I decided to just go with the gender of people I had known with the same name, which was female. A few weeks later I get told by one of my friends that this person is actually a man, not a woman. Fast forward a few weeks to the Oshkosh Placement Exchange (the big interviewing conference from residence life folks) and I am interviewing for all the graduate assistantships and grad schools I really wanted to get into. There I am, waiting in the lounge for my name to be called (insert clapping and cheering), and as I am walking back with my interviewer, he introduces himself. As the person I wrote the letter to….the person whom I referred to as Ms. Potential Employer. Being the honest and humble person I am, I apologize profusely about the gender mistake in my cover letter. We both turn red and have a little chuckle over it, but I am thinking that this mistake cost me the opportunity to go to my #1 graduate school. Well, how did it turn out? One year later when I was not only attending that school and working in that department, I was asked to be on the graduate staff search committee…and I made the recommendation that we have the “big boss” put Mr. in front of his name. Guess little mistakes are good things to laugh at…and learn from.
Emergencies Happen. A friend of mine was at a on campus interview for a high level position a year ago. He was really nervous, but also really excited, at the possibilities that lie within this university and job. As anyone who has done a mid or senior level search knows, typically some type of “open campus presentation” occurs through your interview day. Sometimes you know the topic beforehand and are able to prepare a detailed presentation, sometimes you are given the topic just hours beforehand. In his case, he was given the topic a week prior and was really jazzed about it because it was an area of expertise for him. He had handouts, a powerpoint presentation, and some YouTube videos with interactive elements. He was determined that his half-hour presentation was going to knock the socks off his interviewers and would be the icing on the cake for them to hire him. About ten minutes into his presentation, the fire alarm in the building he was presenting in went off. Completely thrown off, he evacuated the building with everyone else. Unfortunately, the alarm could not be silenced despite it being a false alarm. Being a warm day outside, the head of the interview group asked him if he would be able to continue the presentation outside away from the building. He did, and he made quite the impression: his impromptu presentation away from his computer/handouts/videos landed him the job just two hours after leaving campus! Moral of that story: emergencies happen. You can’t plan for them, but you can prepare for the worst. Know your material, and know yourself and you will do just fine.
Karaoke Brought Us Together!
Karaoke Helps Get You Jobs. A few years ago I attended the Oshkosh Placement Exchange again, this time as an interviewer for the second time. As an employer, life at OPE is much more relaxed and fun. One night, a few colleagues and I decided to meet up at one of the local establishments that was known for its great karaoke nights. With Oshkosh, Wisconsin being the somewhat smaller town that it is, the bar was overrun with employers catching up and some brave candidates out for a relaxing brew. There were a few candidates there that it seemed “everyone” was really interested in, and one of those candidates just happened to be getting up on the stage every few songs to sing. I was impressed: not only was a candidate seeming very relaxed, having a few drinks, but also was nailing every song he sang. That next night, Karaoke Guy was swarmed by employers at the socials and I had heard that he had been offered several on campus visits right then and there at OPE. Moral of that story: Be yourself….always. In student affairs, we are hiring for not just a job, but a lifestyle. Showing your true colors helps employers see who they are getting as a whole package.
Have a great job searching story that makes you laugh, cringe, cry, or do all of the above? I’d love to hear it, please leave a comment below! And check back often for more “On the Lighter Side”!
Mickey Fitch is a higher education professional who has crafted her career around the residence life experience on the college campus. Mickey loves to tell stories and help students make the most of their residential experience on campus. A native to the upper Midwest, Mickey is currently undergoing a job search to find her opportunity to serve in residence life. On the personal side, Mickey is an avid fisherman and outdoorswoman and is currently engaged in a life-changing health and fitness journey! You can learn more about her at mickeyfitch.weebly.com.
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by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Mar 11, 2010 | Book Reviews, Career Skills
For the most part, pending and recent graduates do not know how to search for a job.
There’s a strong need for quick, easy-to-digest information about entry-level job searching.
So @heatherhuhman wrote ‘#ENTRYLEVELtweet’ to fulfill that need.
I wish I could say I was creative enough to have come up with the comments above, all of which are under 140 characters. But I am not.
Heather Huhman, however, is. And she’s created a simple, effective book, chock full of job search advice for the Twitter generation, all delivered in snippets of 140 characters or less.
Readers will easily digest the practical wisdom doled out in the book, on subjects including identifying your “unique you,” developing career tools, networking, applying for internships and entry-level jobs, accepting and rejecting offers, and succeeding on the job.
Huhman, Founder and President of Come Recommended, is an expert on helping students and recent college graduates pursue their dream careers. Besides her website, she has nearly 9,000 followers on Twitter, is a career expert for the CAREEREALISM Twitter Advice Project, the job search expert for Campus Calm, a contributor to One Day, One Job, One Day, One Internship, Intern Advocate and Personal Branding Blog and author of the e-books Relocating for an Entry-Level Job: Why You Probably Have to & How to Do It (2010) and Gen Y Meets the Workforce: Launching Your Career During Economic Uncertainty (2008).
My favorite tweet: Individuals in your life love you dearly and give you advice with the best intentions. But they’re probably wrong.
#EntryLevelTweet is powerful in its simplicity, and makes for an easy read. It would also make a great gift for upcoming graduates and entry level job seekers you know.
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by sean@higheredcareercoach.com | Feb 12, 2010 | Career Skills
Yesterday’s #sachat(s) on the student affairs job search and placement were very informative and it was great to see so many people eager to help all the job seekers out there. I was especially excited, because, well…this is one of my “things.” I like helping people with their job searches. It really gives me a sense of satisfaction to talk with people, or to help them with their resumes, cover letters and graduate school apps/statements of purpose. In the same spirit, this edition of Take 5 features 5 great resources on the web to assist job seekers with their searches.
- First, #sachat and the Student Affairs Collaborative Blog. This is a great community as well as being a source of information on Student Affairs, Higher Education and Collaborative Learning. #sachats happen each Thursdayt at 1 pm EST and 7 pm EST, and anyone with a Twitter account can join in by hash-tagging their tweets with #sachat. You can use Twitter Search, TweetGrid, or any popular Twitter client that supports hashtag searches.
- One of my favorite career sites is Career Adventure by Kristi Daeda. She always has great advice and resources, like the section of the site on Resumes and Porfolios. There are several good articles in there about CVs vs. Resumes, including When a Resume Just Won’t Do: Writing Your CV
- The Author in Residence Articles on HigherEdJobs.Com is a great new series that everyone should check out.
- BusinessCard 2.0 is a pretty sweet site that lets you create a business card with some interactive features. You can put in a bio, share your social networking sites and links and more, including embedding it on your blog or web page. Visitors can interact with the widget, flip through the mini-pages, send you a message, or download your vCard, all without leaving your web site. You can view my BusinessCard 2.0 here. I will be embedding in my sites soon.
- And lastly, a plug for something I am offering a Free Group for Student Affairs Job Seekers. This will be limited to 10 or so people and the group will meet each week via teleconference call to share questions, advice and support as they move through their job searches. To register, go to the event registration form here. The small size of the group should allow for good conversation and sharing. I am offering it for free so I can get some practice with coaching groups, and yes, I am offering it for free. In the interest of full diclosure, I will share information about my individual coaching services wiht participants, but I have promised also to not “hard sell” anyone, because a) I hate that crap, and b) if I am helpful as a coach, that pretty much speaks for itself, and will hopefully lead to referrals and eventually, to paid clients. This whole business thing is new to me, so please bear with me as I figure out how to do all this business stuff the right way.
Thanks for reading. Please come back soon for more articles and resources, including the periodic contributions of guest bloggers Bryan Koval (on his doctoral program experience) and Shannon Healy, on her search for her first full-time position in Student Affairs.
If you are interested in guest blogging about a subject related to Higher Ed/Student Affairs careers, please contact me at sean@higheredcareercoach.com or via tweet to hiedcareercoach.
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