Job Hunt: Infinity

Job Searching Job searching is such a pain. It’s a long, lengthy process with very little transparency. You apply, spend at least an hour on an application, and the worst that can happen isn’t a “no”, it’s nothing. It’s never hearing from a person again. My biggest advice is to not compromise. Apply for jobs you want, not just ones that will build your resume, not just ones you qualify for, not just ones you could do for a few years. Apply for jobs you want to do. I repeat: do not compromise. Don’t take a job to get your foot in the door (hint: it probably won’t work). Don’t take a support staff position so you can “gain skills” (hint: no one cares about your support skills). Just don’t. My story is real, it’s frustrating, it’s not linear, it doesn’t have a happy ending (yet). Trailing and Leading Spouse On top of just job searching for myself, I also need to consider my spouse. Most of my searches were regionally bound due to my husband’s stable job. He carried the benefits and most o...

I attended a session on exploring if Student Affairs is a profession. It wasn’t an us vs. them conversation, it was a group of professionals from different fields and view points discussing if student affairs is a profession according to their lens. There was someone from NASPA to give the association standpoint, someone who looked at SA through an anthropological lens, another through an historical lens. It was really interesting. One person in the Q&A portion mentioned that this type of session continues the us vs them mentality, and I respectfully disagree. We should be critical of ourselves and our profession. Here are some of the things this session made me think about: Do we need grad programs? Perhaps we should start picking up outside professionals and gear professional development toward theory and professional practice to bring in diversity and cutting back on the reliance on Student Affairs Masters Degrees CAS standards How to move more programs to following sug...

The number of positions I applied to: 6 in 2014 (was offered a new position in the beginning of March) 27 in 2013 11 in 2012 22 in 2011 I was granted 6 interviews in total (11% of the jobs I applied to). States where I applied includes: NY, NC, IN, TX, IL, FL, virtual/work from home, and VA. I applied to positions that included: Admissions counselor/advisor, academic advising, campus activities, retention, HEOP, veterans services, internship advising, program coordinator, orientation and first year programs, financial aid, tutoring coordinator, staff assistant, and office manager. The six interviews were for: two part-time positions (2011), 1 interim position (2011), 1 staff assistant position (2011), 1 veterans services coordinator (2014), and 1 office manager (2014). I was offered: 1 part-time position, the staff assistant position, and the office manager position (where I am now). My experiences include: over 2 years in higher education, studying abroad, MS in ...