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 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 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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by Shannon Healy | Mar 1, 2010 | Job Search, The Placement Experience
I’m finally back on my home campus, trying to adjust to life after OPE. The conference itself was only three days, but it felt like a week and a half! The drive back from Oshkosh to West Michigan was quiet. My passenger and I decompressed a bit from the crazy schedule we had just functioned on, and looked back on how our preferences had changed, our prospects had changed, and how important personality really was.
I heard a lot beforehand about how you are interviewing a school just as much as they are interviewing you. I think this was good to know, and possibly not stressed enough. I know lots of people in my cohort are worried about finding a job, any job, but how well you could converse with the interview team during your 30 minutes with them was important. There were some interviews where conversation flowed well, but didn’t necessarily go so well at the social. There were some schools that I hope I redeemed myself with at the social because the conversation was much better.
Socials are very overwhelming. I definitely felt like the introvert in me was just in pain this whole time. Packed into a room of 500+ people, trying to smile and weave through the crowd, trying to catch the eye of that elusive school that you love. I tried to not look like I was on the prowl too much, so if representatives from a school were currently tied up in conversation I’d try to do another loop of the room and come back to them later. I spent a good amount of time at the social talking to candidates I had met throughout the conference in the lounges. Not only could we be a little bit “off our game” with candidates, but we helped each other look busy while waiting and kept an eye out for our chance to hop in to a conversation with a school. It was great having people I barely knew be so supportive and not be offended at all when you suddenly said “I’m going in!”
Overall, I loved my conference experience, and I really hope that the positive energy I felt I had with some schools really continues as everyone heads back to their home campus to talk about phone interviews and on-campus visits. I wasn’t nervous the whole weekend UNTIL the drive back when I started thinking about where things could have gone better, and wondering if I’d hear from some schools. I guess it’s better than the nerves setting in while interviewing, but I’m definitely anxious about this next step and where things are headed!
My next step? Figuring out what my plan for TPE is…
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by Shannon Healy | Feb 27, 2010 | Job Search, The Placement Experience
Shannon shares her experience with the OshKosh Placement Exchange
I’m writing this from the Oshkosh Placement Exchange. It’s day 2 here, and a bit calmer than yesterday. Yesterday was a live showing of “The All RA Floor” and it was intense. A little overwhelming when you walk in and there’s not a bare inch of wall space left uncovered by posters and advertisements and fliers enticing you to apply at a certain school. There’s cheering in the lounges, and everyone keeps hugging and smiling for twelve hours straightand it’s a bit tiring. But fun, don’t get me wrong. This whole weekend experience has been fun.
Yesterday was the first day, and I had six interviews scheduled. My first was one at 10 am, and I was surprised how calm I felt while sitting in the lounge waiting for them to come call my name. I was thinking by that point the nerves would have set in, but I had the really good advice of knowing that I was interviewing them as much as they were interviewing me. I know that sounds incredibly cheesy, but it really did keep me calm. I knew I could go into these interviews and be myself and that any school would know exactly what they were getting. And if they didn’t like who that was, I was okay with that, because I feel really confident in my experiences.
Some interviews went really well, and it was hard to not do some fist pumps as soon as I was out of the room, or to restrain myself from dancing down the hallway back to the elevators. Some interviews just flowed nicely and I got along with the interview teams well and I had lots of personal things to write in a thank you note. Other interviews I walked out of feeling kind of “meh” about. For whatever reason – personality, hearing more about the job, having a curveball question- just left me with a feeling like while it could have been better, it probably could have been worse. There’s only been one interview so far where I walked out feeling rather ambiguous towards the position. While they didn’t seem interested or engaged during the interview itself, as I was leaving afterward they were very fun and friendly about the social and seeing me again. Out of the first day of interviews I got two second interviews, bringing my total for Day 2 to six interviews.
It’s hard to believe right now that it’s already 3 pm, yet I’m only halfway through my day. I have two more interviews this afternoon, then an evening full of socials. I’m going to suggest a future professional development on mingling, because it’s so hard for me to walk right up to someone and start up a conversation when we’ve already talked for an hour, and have been conversing through thank you notes in mailboxes. Hopefully it goes well though.
My apologies for such a rambling sort of blog post. It’s been a very long and very busy two days. You’ll all be excited to know that I did name drop the #sachat in one interview, and they were really intrigued by the concept of free, weekly professional development. So good job to all of you – the word is spreading!
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by Shannon Healy | Feb 23, 2010 | Job Search, The Placement Experience
Shannon is rocking her new suit. These are just rocks.
I am writing this while wearing my new suit, and let me just tell you: I am rocking it. And that is an especially good feeling considering the adventure that went into getting it. I am horrible at being a girl. I don’t like dressing up that much and have no idea what colors complement nicely or how to accessorize. So a week ago I went to the mall with my brave face on, ready to wander around in the career section trying to figure out how to buy a suit without the help of my mom.
I think this is a sign that I’m a true Millennial. Even at age 24 I wished my mom was there to be in the store telling me to turn around and making me stand with my arms out and pushing down the tops of my shoes and asked if they pinched my toes. So I found the most mom-like worker I could and asked her for help.
I think I made this woman’s dream come true.
She had a wonderful time dragging me around the store, grabbing ruffled tops and silk shells and all sorts of coats and things that would have taken me six hours to find by myself. She shoved me in a dressing room with two armloads full of hangers and said “Ooohh, I just can’t wait to see them on you!” About ten minutes later she came back with some more pieces, one being a single strap, bright red, sequined monstrosity that I would not wear in a million years.
After two hours spent in the dressing room spinning around for her I finally gave in to four different pieces she had picked out, knowing I would be returning them the next time I had a spare Saturday. I just can’t have someone else tell me to wear this and this and this. I’ve really got to feel comfortable in it.
This past weekend I went back to the mall and returned the crazily expensive items that had been picked out for me last week. $50 for a cream-colored t-shirt? No, thank you. I then spent a good couple hours walking around a completely different store, trying things on together, and dancing in the mirror. I think the true sign that you really feel good about a piece of clothing is if you’re able to dance like a goof in it. Everything I got is pretty basic (no stripes or patterns or oversize ruffles), but I think it all goes together nicely. And I made sure my blacks match, thanks to advice from my grandma.
Now I’m feeling even more confident about doing interviews. Things are really coming together. I guess they have to be – OPE is only four days away!
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