Venting

This time of year can be very stressful —

• Graduate school pressures have started to intensify.
• You are readying yourself for the placement centers at national conferences.
• This spring is your very first job search.
• You may have outgrown your first professional job.
• Or, simply, it is time for a change.

One of our previous graduate student bloggers spoke about the importance of venting, being able to let off some steam with one or two individuals when necessary. They can be close friends, a supervisor, even a parent. Their function is more to listen than to offer advice; someone who knows the occasional irrational rant is more a product of the job search than your sanity. When the stress level begins to overflow they are someone you can turn to in order to help relieve anxieties, apprehensions, dread, heart palpitations, nervous tension, tenseness, and plain old worry.

Scheduling Conference Interviews

After you have spent time browsing through the job listings on the conference webpage, it is important to begin setting up interviews right away. Create a list of institutions and positions that really interest you. I have heard the advice time and again to only pursue positions and institutions that you can truly see yourself wanting to work. “You do not want to waste their time, and there is no need to waste your time either.” Once you have identified these positions, you can begin to email the contact person for the position. Do not wait for the institution to contact you, it is important to be proactive and demonstrate your interest early.

Think of your email to the contact person as a concise cover letter. It is important to address the contact person with their conference mailbox number, and remember to include your mailbox number with your signature as well. These are used to officially schedule the interview. Your email should let the employer know that you have seen the job description on the conference website, and share your enthusiasm for wanting to schedule an interview at the conference. Choose a couple of points from the job description that has really peaked your interest, and let the contact know why you would like to interview. Include your resume as an attachment to the email, and communicate to the contact that you look forward to hearing from them with regards to setting up an interview at the conference.

Within a day or two, you can expect to hear back from the contact. They will indicate whether your skills and experiences are a good fit with the position at their institution. If the contact is interested in scheduling an interview, you will be asked to provide a few times that work with your schedule at the conference. Allow yourself at least 30 minutes between interviews to ensure that you have time to get from one interview to the next. Many candidates will be transitioning between interviews, and it could take some time to catch the elevator or take the stairs. It is also important to consider how many interviews you realistically think you can successfully complete in one day. It is great to learn about various institutions and each interview is an opportunity, but if you cannot be your best it may not be worth doing 15 interviews in a day. Finally, leave some open time on the last two days of the conference for second round interviews. Best wishes on scheduling your conference interviews!

Amy Moreno-Kieffer
Co-Editor
Student Affairs Job Hunting Blog

Preparing for a Conference Placement Exchange

This will be the first in a series of posts about attending a conference placement exchange. Once you have registered for the conference, it is helpful to spend some time getting familiar and comfortable with the conference website. I have found that there is a lot of great information to help you prepare for a successful conference experience. Information to take particular note of includes the conference schedule, transportation services and availability, lodging, facility layout, and information services that will be available (e.g. photocopying, fax, etc.). Another helpful section of the webpage discusses what you can do to prepare for the conference; what to expect while at the conference; and common practices of following up with institutions you are interested in afterwards. Taking the time to browse each area of the webpage will leave you feeling a little less surprised and anxious once you arrive at the conference.

There are also a few important tasks that need to be completed prior to the conference:

• Make reservations for lodging as soon as possible. It is often helpful to stay on-site, however there are often hotels in the vicinity as well. Consider rooming with other candidates that will be interviewing to save on costs, and to have as an added support network. Lodging fills up fast, so reserve yours as soon as possible.
  
• Figure out transportation. Again, it is helpful to carpool with colleagues to save on the cost of gas, and to have company if you are traveling a long distance. Consider renting a vehicle to ensure that your transportation is reliable and comfortable.
  
• Choose your wardrobe. It is helpful to have multiple options, and you want to at least have a different shirt to wear under your suit each day. To be on the safe side, consider packing extra dress pants and shoes just in case. Safety pins always come in handy as well.
  
• Have your resume critiqued, and look into doing a mock interview or two. It is helpful to have professionals in the field provide feedback on your resume, and you can never practice interviewing too much.
  
• Schedule interviews with institutions you are interested in. You may receive many emails from institutions asking to interview with you, but do not wait for the institutions you really like to contact you first. (My post will discuss how to approach employers to schedule an interview.)
  
• Research commonly asked interview questions. Ask colleagues working in an area you are interested in if they have a list of commonly asked questions. The conference website may also have a list available. This will be a great opportunity to reflect on your experiences and practice how you would communicate your skills to potential employers.

Stay tuned for the next post on scheduling conference interviews.

Amy Moreno-Kieffer
Co-Editor
Student Affairs Job Hunting Blog

Creating Your Network

Over the past few years job seeking graduate students have blogged about their experiences for StudentAffairs.com. Many have provided insightful tips during their search. Throughout the next few weeks we will list some of their observations which could prove helpful during your student affairs job hunt.

Networking — As you start your job search it is critical to network with everyone you have come in contact with during your graduate/professional years. This could include administrative staff at the institution you are interning or currently working, individuals you may have met at conferences or other student affairs gatherings, fellow graduate students/colleagues — anyone you can inform of your job hunting quest. There are a number of reasons to let the word out:

• People might not know you are looking. As simple as that might sound there will be people–acquaintances, friends, friends of friends–who don’t know. They could provide possible job leads.
  
• Colleges and universities do not always come to the big conferences to conduct job searches. Schools may not advertise nationally, but keep their search confined regionally or even locally. Your network of contacts can relay to you information about these more localized searches.
  
• Think future tense. The networking you do now may not bear fruit for weeks, even months, but you are positioning yourself for when something does open up.
  
• While there is a rhythm to the job search season, position openings do pop up unexpectantly. This is when your network feelers can pay dividends by quickly informing you of such openings.

Remember — when you begin to network do not be bashful or shy about spreading the word of your candidacy. Networking is a critical tool to add to your job hunting portfolio. You’d be surprised how many of your friends or colleagues landed a position because of their networking activities.

Stay Organized

With all of the positions that you are applying for at various institutions, you may ask yourself how you are going to keep everything in order. One of the most effective ways I have learned to keep track of the positions and institutions I am applying is to create an Excel spreadsheet.

1. In your first column you can list the name of the institution, those that you have already applied to and those that you are interested in.
   
2. The job title can be listed in the second column, since the name of a job can have many variations.
   
3. In the third column I have the location of the institution. You can create a column to indicate whether or not they will be attending a conference and/or placement exchange that you are attending.
   
4. The next column will include the date in which you applied for the position, followed by a column indicating the application deadline.
   
5. A column indicating the current status may be helpful to keep track of where you are at in the interview process (i.e. Have had a phone interview, Skype interview, and now waiting to be invited for an on-campus interview).
   
6. Finally, create a column for the Salary, start date, and a ranking of your interest in the position.

As you create your spreadsheet, you may think of other columns that will be helpful during your search.

A second way that I am keeping the job applications organized is through folders on my computer:

• I have a ‘Job Search’ folder on my desktop.
  
• Inside the folder I have created individual folders for each institution I am applying for a position.
  
• Inside the folder I save the cover letter, resume, and reference list that I have submitted as my application.
  
• In addition, I am able to save the job description as well as any Equal Opportunity forms I submit.

Feel free to share your organization ideas with us as well!

Amy Moreno-Kieffer
Co-Editor
Student Affairs Job Hunting Blog