The New Girl #10

Helloooooo Campus Candidate!

This past week, I went on my very first on-campus interview ever at an institution just down the road from where I currently am at. The day covered a majority of what I was expecting in terms of people I would meet, conversation topics I would talk about, questions I still had about the process or position, and things of the sort. Overall, my favorite part was getting to meet the people I would hopefully be working with. Everyone has their own story and I was interested in knowing how each individual got to where they were and what they truly enjoyed about their current position. If down the road, I am able to work with these wonderful individuals, I would know the fuel that fires their flame of passion for working with students on a college campus.

I think if I could go back and redo the day over again, I would do even more research on the entire school. I did most of my research on the individual department but knowing how that piece of metal fits into the overall machine would be helpful to see how the university functions as a whole to help prepare college students to become fully engaged citizens in today's society. Knowing more about the institution could have helped me ask more detailed and specific questions about how the department works with other departments on campus as well as get a more in depth feel for the relationship between the departments.  

If I had to share a helpful tip, it would be: Be yourself. I know there is always pressure to stick out as the best candidate and judgement if you say something wrong or have a different philosophy. However, if you don't believe in their current philosophy or you felt judged by giving honest answers, would you feel comfortable working for that department or trying to implement new, upcoming ideas? I know it is a rough world out there and its stressful finding the right "fit" but it will come and when it does, it'll be just what you are looking for. If it is not, then it is simply a stepping stone to get you there. Stay positive. It is hard when your number one choice turns you down to do anything but smile. Yes it stinks, but crying over it, won't change the fact that they said no. Move on and look forward to what's next. Have a new number one school or reconsider your factors for your job search to include more schools. There is a school out there that is looking for someone like you!  Be patient.  This is the most important. Schools need time, especially to work through Human Resources, but they also need time to meet for their search committee, bring candidates to campus, do reference checks, conduct interviews, review information, and make a decision or recommendation. Take a deep breath and if you feel like you are out in the dark, reach out to the chair and ask for an update on their timeline. Most schools will be transparent or give you a timeline so you know when to expect to hear from you. and most importantly, Believe in yourself! You got this and you can do it!! 

Until next time fellow job searchers! You know you love the job search! XOXO Graduate Girl

True Life | I’m on the #SASearch #10

My TPE Experience

As of noon today, I can say I am officially done with TPE! This was definitely one of the best experiences I’ve had during my time job searching. I’ve learned a lot about myself and about those in the field of higher education that I could possibly be working with. 

So as I mentioned before, I’ve only had one interview going into TPE. That interview was on Thursday and while I was there, the lady interviewing me told me to keep applying to other jobs since I had only come in with a few (I didn’t tell her she was my only one). I took her advice and applied to two more jobs while I was there. One job said no and the other job said they would interview me as well. 

Both interviews I had were for anticipated positions so after TPE it is a waiting game. However, both interviews went really well. The lady I interviewed with first asked me for a second interview. She was very helpful with letting me know exactly where I was in the candidates and with how fast her timeline was as well. She gave me good advice which was to never forget that my skills and qualifications are great. She also told me that she can see that I am going places and that even if things don’t work out with her institution she wants to keep in touch. I thought that was definitely nice of her!

Overall, TPE was a great experience. I think the fact that I didn’t have as many interviews made me have a different experience than someone who was searching for res life positions and was booked with interviews.  I loved that they offered round table discussions where professionals in the field would give 30-45 minute discussions on different topics related to TPE and Interviewing. I went to a few of them which ranged in topics from Second Round Interviews to On Campus Interviews to How to Ask Informative Questions. These were all definitely informative and something I would recommend those who attend TPE next year go to!

I’m excited to see where these jobs will go and to see what else will appear as time goes on. Now to get ready for NASPA 2015!

Graduation Countdown = 55 Days

True Life | I’m on the #SASearch #9

New Orleans Here I Come...

As I write this, I am sitting at the airport waiting for my plane to New Orleans. In a couple of hours, I will be at TPE and NASPA. The first few days I will be in NOLA, I will be at TPE then I am staying for the actual conference as well. 

When I registered for TPE, I started to receive interview requests for jobs not in my ideal location. Against my supervisor’s suggestions, I denied them all. Because of that, I only have one interview set up for TPE at the moment. I know that they say you’ll get more once you get there but it would have been nice to have maybe 2 or 3 set up ahead of time. It would have given me time to prep and to make sure I knew enough about the institution.  

Since I am very location restricted, there weren’t too many jobs available in the area I am looking for.  Plus, the jobs that they did have in the area were mostly res life or something else that wasn’t in one of the areas I was looking for. I’m hoping that while I’m down there, I find other jobs that I could possibly apply for. 

On another note, I made plans to move down with my partner the day after graduation. He got his one way flight for the weekend of graduation and then we are driving down to the DC area the day after. Since I decided to only search in that area (MD, VA & DC), I thought it would be easier to be living in the area than job searching from 6 hours away.  I’ve found a few more jobs that I am thinking of applying to in the area and will be once I get settled in NOLA. 

Other than that, there isn’t too much to report. It’s been kind of slow for the job searching so I’m hoping it will pick up soon. 

Once, I get settled into TPE and make it through the experience, I’ll report in and let you know how it all went!

Graduation Countdown= 59 Days

The New Girl #9

Guess What!?!

On-Campus Interviews!

And so it begins. I officially received my first on-campus interview! Wahoo! 

It is so exciting talking to someone who is interested in my candidacy and bringing me to their campus to meet their colleagues and students I could be working with. To prepare, I have been practicing questions and reflecting on my experiences and situations I have encountered and worked through. There were a few questions that I stumbled through during my job fair at the Oshkosh Placement Exchange which I have reflected on and have developed a better answer for.

Tell me about yourself-
This is the perfect opportunity to sell my qualifications to the interviewers. I plan to briefly describe my experiences, skills, accomplishments, goals and personal qualities.I will explain my interest for the position, and how I plan to make a contribution there. As a recent graduate, I think it is also important to tie in my educational qualifications and any specific classes I took that are relevant to the position.

What sets you apart from the crowd?
I wanted to communicate my experiences but I feared of sounding arrogant. I want to communicate self-confidence so I plan to talk about observations that other people have made about my work, or successes as well as feedback that I used to become a better professional. I also am going to focus on the position that I am applying for and what truly sparks my interest in that certain position. My answer will be unique to reflect who I am and what I have all accomplished. Essentially, to me, the interviewers are asking 'why should I hire you?'

Tell me about a time you didn't perform to your capabilities and what did you learn from that situation?
I really wanted to be honest with this question but I also didn't want to shoot a hole in the bottom of my boat. It made me reflect on a negative situation and how it didn't go as plan, but it also demonstrated that I should learn something from good and bad experiences. I plan to use the same situation and then expand on the better judgement I now have as a result of that learning experience. It also will give me a chance to describe a stressful project I worked on and specific actions I took to organize myself and how I kept myself calm and professional under pressure.

Helpful Tips!!
There are always questions that stump me and I feel like it may negatively affect me in the hiring process. In order to combat that, I have asked to have the question repeated or rephrased to give me more time to think of an answer.

Also to prepare for on-campus interviews, I've done more researching about that particular institution as well as entertainment in the area as I may end up living there and will need to get away from campus sometimes. I'm really big into coffee shops and shopping as well as trying local restaurants. During my visit after my interviews, I plan to spend some time in the local area exploring before I drive back.

Until next week my friends, you know you love campus visits, XOXO Graduate Girl

True Life | I’m on the #SASearch #8

ACPA

I am fresh off the plane from being at my first ACPA conference. I can tell you it was quite the experience. There were so many people there, so many amazing sessions and so many socials/ meetings that I had no idea what to do with myself. My experience at the conference could be a whole other blog post but I wanted to talk about my experience with Career Central.

So as I mentioned last week, I had two interviews scheduled on Thursday. One interview was for a multicultural affairs job and the other interview was for two positions which were Student Activities and Academic Advising related.  I got there about an hour before my interviews and got an orientation on the area. Once the orientation was done, I went to the candidate area to read over the materials I had. About 15 minutes before my first interview, I went to the waiting area. As the time got closer, I got more and more nervous. I was sitting there and then I heard my name being called. Here goes nothing!

My first interview was with the multicultural affairs job. As soon as we got to the table, it felt very relaxing. My interviewer, who would be my direct supervisor, got right into talking about the job, the school and the feel of what the office does. She asked me a couple questions related to things that were on the job description. All the questions were things I expected so it was good. I then got to ask her some questions that I had prepped. The whole interview lasted a little less than half an hour.

When I finished with that interview, I went back to the waiting area for my next interview. The first mistake I made was that I didn’t block the half hour before or after my first interview to give me some time to regroup. When I realized I should have done that, it was too late. I waited for my name to be called again and within a couple of minutes it was. This time, someone other than the person I had been in contact with came to get me. We walked back to the table where I met the other interviewer. This interview was also like the other one. Although they had more questions, it felt more like a conversation. There was a lot of laughing which made me feel extremely good.

After my interviews, I went back to the candidate area to write my thank you notes. I chatted with a couple other candidates and then dropped the notes off and was done for the day. At Career Central they give you a mailbox which you can check whenever you want. On Friday, I had gone to check my mailbox and had a note from my first interviewer that she wanted to schedule a second interview!

On Saturday, I went to my interview prepared for a longer interview. However, that wasn’t the case. When she came over to me, she suggested we go to get coffee and talk a little more about the area around the college and the job. We sat outside and chatted for about an hour. It again felt really relaxed. I didn’t feel like I was on an interview but rather that I was chatting with a colleague. 

One thing I noticed was that the interview setting wasn’t as distracting as I thought it would be. I was able to focus on the interviews and not get distracted by other people talking or walking by. It was easy to tune into the interview and focus on what they were saying or asking. 

I think both interviews went really well. I am excited to see where things go from here. Both interviews said we would hear back until April so I have a bit of a wait. 

Til next time!

Graduation Countdown = 67 days

The New Girl #8

The Waiting Game Begins...

Well I made it. The dreaded week after a job fair. Some of my colleagues have already faced rejections from certain schools and positive feedback from others. I have heard mostly positive, Thank God!

I also have my spring break coming up this next week and I'm leaving my office to go home and relax with family. I've posted an away message to let others know how to best contact me or when to expect to hear a response from me.

Staying organized has definitely helped through out my search and I have one article that I read this past January to thank: "5 Tips to Keep Your Job Search Organized" by Jennifer Fry on CareerMinds (http://careerminds.com/blog/5-tips-to-keep-your-job-search-organized/)

Jennifer states 5 keys to staying organized: Establish a workplace, Choose a "shift", Make a to-do-list, Create a record, and keep one folder. Easy enough right? Okay, let me break it down a little further for you.

Establish a workplace
I choose my office simply because it was a convenient place for me to keep everything in one place. I also had access to a computer and a printer.

Choose a "shift"
Set a side a time each day to work on your job search or to do research on an institution. Days are always busy and time slides through our fingers before we know it so setting aside a specific time helps stay on track for a productive job search.

Make a to-do-list
No matter how hard I work, I can never do everything in one sitting. This is were to do lists become helpful. It reminds me all of what I still need to complete so I can start focused and not cluttered when my "shift" time rolls around.

Create a record
I started an excel sheet with the list of schools and positions I applied to. I also included what about that school excited me or what I could bring to the school that I did not readily see on their website.

Keep one folder
I like paper so I printed off everything I could. I have a binder that I keep the job descriptions posted in. I also have an online folder where I keep websites and my excel sheet handy so I'm not searching the piles of papers on my desk or trying to remember where I saved an article on my desk drive.



Well I hope you all are well on your way to your job searches and have already applied. I think the big difference I have noticed between my Graduate school job search and my full time position is going through the Human Resources at institutions, it takes a bit more time so I'm learning to be patient!

You know you love the anticipation! XOXO Graduate Girl

True Life | I’m on the #SASearch #7

Placement Jobs

So as I mentioned in my last post, I am attending both Career Central and TPE in a couple weeks. Since I’ve signed up, I’ve gotten about 5 or 6 interview requests. However, all the jobs have been outside of the regions I am searching in and almost all of them are for Residence Life, which isn’t completely a no but it isn’t my first choice. One of my supervisors told me that I should accept the interviews anyways so that I could practice my interviewing skills especially since some of them would be over Skype. However, I’ve also heard the opposite. Why interview if you know you’re not going to take it. Up until recently, I’ve declined them all.

I got an interview request for Career Central which threw me off at first because I wasn’t going to interview there. The job however, seemed to be something that I would definitely be interested in. It isn’t in one of my areas but it was definitely something I could see myself doing. I applied to that job and then received two more requests for another set of jobs at a different school (two positions, same school). I applied to those as well.

I’m very nervous to have interviews in less than two days. I’ve already started my deep research into the school and departments. I’m excited to interview but of course, as an introvert going into the interview is always nerve racking. But I think if I’m prepared, I’ll be all set.

I was on TPE’s site earlier and I noticed that the same jobs I am interviewing for at Career Central will be at TPE. I know that a lot of schools do that so I wasn’t too surprised. Talking about TPE, I still haven’t secured any interviews there. I messaged one school about interviewing and haven’t heard back yet. So I’m hoping I get that one at least.

Comparing the two association’s webpages, I like both of them for the most part. The one feature that I really like that Career Central has that TPE doesn’t is a mailbox. When you go to message an employer or receive an invitation to interview, it all goes through the mailbox so it keeps everything in one place and you can track messages. TPE sends messages through the email you’ve signed up with so sometimes, your messages can get lost and you can’t track messages you’ve sent to employers.

I can’t believe I’m headed to  ACPA today and that tomorrow, I’ll have two interviews. I’ll report in once I get to ACPA and get settled in!

 Graduation Countdown = 72 Days!

The New Girl #7

The Eagle has left the Coop, 

I Repeat, 

The Eagle Has Left The Coop..

So, Last week I was on my way to the Oshkosh Placement Exchange in Oshkosh, Wisconsin with a few of my fellow co-workers. There were so many things running in my head that I wasn't sure where to start, hence the reason I forgot to post in this blog!

A few things I did earlier last week after I set up interviews with the institutions was research. Prep work is exciting for me because it gives me an insight into the place I could be working at or individuals that I could be working with.

While I was at the conference, I smiled and was courteous to everyone I met. You never know who worked for which institution in the past so it was also important to not talk badly about anyone. I was informed that if I needed to vent, I should go to the bathroom and stomp it out and grit my teeth and moan, but not to do it in public! Very important tip as you also don't know who is listening in the waiting areas, in the stairwell or in the elevator.

While in interviews, when it was my turn to ask questions, I wrote down their answers. My questions ranged from the type of staff in the building to traditional programs that were put on all the way to supervisors I would have or student conferences I would have the opportunity to attend as an advisor.

ALSO! SUPER IMPORTANT! Always ask what the timeline is for the search process. It is nice to know if the institution is going to any other job fairs or not. I also inquired about the number of openings that were available, and if they were confirmed or anticipated. Good information to know and important for any search process in moving forward.

After going through the Oshkosh Placement Exchange, I now need to sit down and review my notes. Each institution is so unique and different from the others, from the location to the opportunities available to the pet policy to even the job description! There are many factors to consider and I don't want to consider anyone out, but I do want to have a good idea of which school I am most interested in.

I'm going to start an Excel spreadsheet so I will be able to compare schools and what is all available to me!

Until next time, You know you love the job search! XOXO Graduate Girl