My Full Circle
I am happy to announce that I have accepted a job offer at a community college in the Northeast! I will be a staff assistant in the Admissions Office, and my primary task will be to manage the newly purchased texting & email marketing system. I’ll also continue to work with students in the dual enrollment program.
I remember sitting with the vice president after accepting the offer. I stared at her dumbly. “So I can tell people now?” I asked. She laughed and said yeah, I could tell people. It’s a sealed deal.
There are so many positive points that ultimately impacted my decision, like a state job, a diverse student population, an institution that’s open to new ideas and changes, professional development opportunities, and having the ability to learn something entirely new and implement change on huge level. My role is incredibly tecchy and not at all what I envisioned myself to be doing once I graduated. The opportunity, however, presented itself and I couldn’t say no.
I did understand that I would sacrifice the opportunity to work one-on-one with students. A large part of my experience as a graduate assistant (at a private institution) was supporting students individually by building rapport and teaching them how to academically succeed. I absolutely loved it, and I’m truly going to miss it. An advisor position opened at my assistantship around the time I was moving forward with the community college position, and it was suggested that I stay with the private institution. Ultimately though, I want grow, and I will have the opportunity to experience such growth with the position that I just accepted.
Looking back on my job search, it was bizarre. I applied to 25 jobs, and I was pretty much rejected by all of them. I had a phone interview with one institution that never called me. I nearly had a phone interview that never happened because I accidentally noted that I was bilingual on the application. I had one formal interview with a department that I interned for and wasn’t offered the job. I had a second informal interview for the same department and landed myself a job. Both offices that I interned for encouraged me to work for them. It’s weird, and I feel very lucky that this worked out the way it did.
I want to wish the best of luck to all my colleagues that are still navigating the job search. You will be ok. You are educated and you are qualified, and you got this.
All the best,
-b
Witty Title
I apologize for my delayed update! I recently had a death in the family, and that coupled with last minute research papers and finals has led me to feel like I'm moving too fast to function. I can't believe that last weekend was my graduation. I can't believe that I'm finished. It has yet to sink in, I think.
I had an impromptu interview for the internal position that I applied to. I was happily sitting at my intern desk when I was suddenly informed that I would be interviewing at 1pm. A few hours later I found myself in a room interviewing with a group of people that I've interacted with over the past year. To be honest, I was really distracted by upcoming funeral arrangements, so I don't even remember what I said during the interview.
I must have pulled it together though, because the search committee asked how soon I would be able to work full-time. I guess things are finally moving forward.
Yes, No, Maybe
Another week gone by, and I still am no closer with good news on the job front, surprise surprise.I did however receive the lovely news that I could potentially be unemployed by July, thanks to a revelation from HR. The sitch is that despite being hired for a 12-month graduate assistantship from August to August, since I am graduating they technically term my status at the end of June...awesome. I did have a reassuring conversation with my supervisor that she would look into it and find a way to keep me at least until August, but yeah, the frying pan is heating up. I'm trying to keep my cool as I have faith that everything will work out the way it is supposed to; however, my dwindling funds in my bank account will only last me so long, so something has to give, like yesterday.
I have lined up a couple new positions that I intend to apply for this week, one in study abroad and the other in alumni relations. The study abroad job sounds the most exciting; it's more of a coordinator position working remotely with resident directors at various study abroad sites and providing assistance with the logistical and programmatic needs. While it definitely seems interesting, something tells me that this position probably requires some late nights and early mornings with the time difference. I'll give it a shot anyhow and see what happens with it.
Lastly, the internal opportunity form my pro-bono work at my institution's career center is moving at a glacial pace, but movement nonetheless. The latest is that they are moving forward with posting a position that will backfill the responsibilities of the recently departed team member I mentioned back in post #14. Problem is that since it's a full-time position, they have to do a full out search, so that will delay things certainly be a while, and not to mention actually having to compete for the position. It's a headache, but will be worthwhile if I'm able to have the satisfaction of something full time in the end. Fingers crossed. Why can't it be just like in elementary school where if you liked someone, you wrote them a note with the boxes: yes, no, or maybe? Blargh.
Alive and Kicking (and maybe screaming)
Hello world! I apologize for disappearing last week; I was mired up to my neck with remnants responsibilities involved with the last few days of classes. On the upside, I can happily report that I am officially through with all grad school classes foreva eva foreva eva!!!! A.K.A. as in until I go back for my PhD in 5 years.
Anyhow, I am still on the job hunt :(. I just received word today that the Associate Director of Employer Relations position passed on me, but I am by no means disheartened by the news. As I mentioned prior, the management style of the Director really concerned me, and if they had made me the offer, I would have had a difficult time figuring out how I would have turned them down, now I don't have to. The only irksome detail was that instead of giving me the courteous to deliver the news in a meaningful way, I received a canned email from the institution's HR system. Really? I wash my hands of it.
In more positive news, I happened to get a call to interview for a Career Counselor/Assistant Director position for a private liberal arts institution located about 2 hours south of me. I anticipated getting the call mainly because through my networking at ACPA, I happened to meet someone from this institution who told me about the potential opening, and they contacted me a few weeks ago to notify me that applications were being accepted. I applied, and lo and behold, I had a phone interview last Thursday. I had to interview with 5, count em 5 people! The five included the director, several staff, and a faculty member.
It was the first phone interview I have ever had with so many people, and I definitely had to pace myself to calm my nerves. Because of the number of people, I tried to make myself as conversational as possible, but alas the interviewers were pretty stone cold. Nonetheless, I feel as though it went over fairly well as the Director shared with me the next steps, which will involve a half-day visit and a presentation. Intuition tells me that if they weren't interested they wouldn't have told me the next steps. More to report on it shortly I hope, but to be truthful, I am on the fence on this one too because I really don't want to move to another city. I love where I am, but if I don't find something, my love for the city won't outweigh my bills. I have this sinking suspicion that I'm going to visit this campus and fall in love with it. Hmm.
Lastly, there's no news about my internal pro-bono job at my institution either. They are moving.so.slow and it's killing me. I have had several conversations with my "supervisor" and every time it's full of something and nothing at the same time. The latest is that there seems to be financial budget for the role that I would be considered for...however, there are four other positions that are technically ahead of this position. Therefore, there's no clear forecast on when things will move. The bureaucracy of being at large institution is rearing its ugly and unbecoming head at me, and I don't like it at all. I will try to hold out, but something has to give. I'm good for it, so c'mon hire me!
Anyhow, I appreciate the process and know that things will work themselves out. To a better tomorrow and hope for better news. Happy hunting!
Ray of Sunshine
Prepare for the revelation of my super secret opportunity: An internal listing was recently posted for the office that I currently intern at. It's an entirely new position, and I've heard rumors regarding this position for months. The job would include a lot of the tasks that I already perform in addition to managing the new email communications management system. The listing will close May 16, so wish me luck!
Forever Jinxed
Let's talk about how much I wanted to throttle every one of my family members on the morning of my phone interview.
Just a little back story: After undergrad, I made the decision to move back in with my family to save money while pursuing my Master's degree. When accommodating their schedules, I planned my phone interview for a time when no one would be home. The interview was for 11am.
Let's do a roll call:
- 9:12am My sister calls because she's sick at school and needs someone to pick her up. Upon arrival she is immediately sequestered in a room with threats of complete silence or else.
- 10:15am Unbeknownst to me, my brother has a doctor's appointment. He and my mother leave the house. I'm slightly annoyed because I had planned to do a little "out loud practicing" beforehand.
- 10:22am My other brother pulls into the driveway. I should mention that he drives a utility van that has an engine loud enough to warrant a noise ordinance. He sets the dogs off. He wants to take the dogs to the gas station. I chase him out of the house. I almost feel badly about it.
- 11:00am I sit and wait. I wait some more. At 11:45am I call it quits. I send an email (which was our initial point of contact) expressing my concern. Hours later I receive a reply. The contact person explains that she didn't receive my email response confirming the appointment, and she left for vacation the next day and only returned this morning. She apologizes and requests a time to reschedule the appointment.
To be perfectly honest, I was very upset. I’m not trying to discredit this college or anything like that, but I had taken time off of work, rearranged my appointments with students, and really prepared for an interview that never happened. It felt like a horrible waste of time. I know that things happen, but it was such an inconvenience!
Now I must leave you all in suspense, because my response to this email was dictated by that super secret thing that I can’t quite talk about yet.
But yeah, I’m 0-2 with this interview thing.
