The Other Side of the Desk: A former recruiter’s perspective #17/18

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!