#jobhunt No. 1

Let’s just get this bit of nerdiness out of the way from the get go: Yes, I am using a Twitter hash tag as the title of my blog.  I wouldn’t have the task of blogging about the adventure of my job hunt if it weren’t for Twitter, so it’s a bit of a nod to Sean Cook and Higher Ed Career Coach for letting me take up space on their site.

So who am I? My name is Shannon Healy and I’m in the final semester of my grad program in Student Affairs. So in the midst of writing a thesis, attending class, working an assistantship and job hunting, I’ll also be blogging to tell you all about how that last process is going. I currently work for Housing and Residence Life on a college campus as an Assistant Living Center Director. I’m a Millennial, so the idea that all these people will be logging on to read about ME does excite me a bit, I won’t lie. I’m also a worrier, so the idea that all these people will be logging on to read about me also scares me quite a bit. I also worry about what I’m getting myself into conducting my first actual job search.

Thankfully I have been able to connect with a wonderful network of Student Affairs professionals on Twitter who have been telling me tips and tricks for placement conferences, sharing encouraging quotes, and giving me their pieces of advice. Best advice I have received so far? “There’s no such thing as a dream job. Heck, even the guy who won the job of living on a tropical island ended up getting stung by a jelly fish.”

Since being asked if I was interested in writing a blog, I have started the job search process. Step one: narrowing down where I wanted to search. Fifty is a lot of different states to choose from. I knew I wanted to include the Midwest in my search. I like winter. I’m not sure if I want to leave behind the snow just yet. Then we had a few days of negative temperatures and suddenly California wasn’t looking so bad. I have the luxury of not having to worry about a significant other. This is perhaps the one time in my life I’m happy I’m single. But I’m pretty much free to choose where I want to go, which is nice. Having more freedom in where I can go means I can really find jobs that appeal to me in any state.

I chose 15 schools to contact for interviews at the Oshkosh Placement Exchange. Then I spent about three days writing custom letters of interest describing why I am interested in their jobs. I just sent those out this past Monday, which was a huge weight off my shoulders. After that it was just sitting with my fingers crossed waiting to hear back.

As of right now I’ve heard back from approximately half that they want to schedule interviews.  I’m also being contacted by some schools that either read my resumé or are doing a mass mailing asking if I want to interview. These are pretty easy to say “Thanks, but no thanks” to,  because they’re outside my geographical limits, or just aren’t the kind of position I’m looking for. What’s tougher though is being contacted by schools in my original search that didn’t make it to the final 15. Do I want to schedule interviews since I’m not hearing back from some that did make the cut? Do I want to hold out to hear from the ones I originally contacted? Right now I just kind of sit and stare at the emails in my inbox, unsure. As an inbox zero-ist, this also drives me nuts.

My biggest fear at this point is not interviews or campus visits or the dreaded “So tell me a little bit about yourself” question. It’s wondering what happens if I don’t find a job at the end of all this and have to write some horrible post about how I failed miserably. I’ll make sure to include pictures of my box of Kleenex and pint of ice cream should that happen.

Finally, in full disclosure: I have never written a blog or conducted a job search before. I’m hoping my first attempt at both goes well. And that I don’t get stung by any jellyfish along the way.